It mostly happens while the horses sleep
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Yes it is for real. They chew on the feet while the horses sleep. At night you can see the rats running along the roof lines of the stalls. I found a couple that had drowned in my supplemental water bucket. It always amazes me on this forum about people that do not have a clue what they are talking about, try to discredit the actual evidence. My vet and farrier also verified that it was from rats. Do you wan’t me to post the picture of the rat I caught in a snap trap?
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Thank you Peggy for corroborating what is happening. My horse is a very chill guy and I guess they got him why he slept. Every night I had to wrap his feet and put Corona on his chestnuts, plus bell boots. It was awful. I talked to some former barn mates at a show and they said the rat problem is still bad.
How awful • I’m sorry anyone is having to suffer through such a hideous situation !
I had no idea this even happened •
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I don’t I think people are doubting you… I think it’s just really a horrifying prospect and your initial post did not provide evidence at all
The poster you replied to is not the OP, and did provide info and a photo in their first post. I didn’t know the OP was required to do the same.
I guess if I ask for help on anything I need to provide proof that my horse has it/it is happening first? Right.
It was just the tone of some of the posts that sounded like doubt. I mean, asking if something is “for real” instead of just saying, “hm, I did not know about this, that’s horrifying” or something along those lines.
It is “for real” and I did see the video awhile back that was posted upthread. The horse doesn’t have to be neglected or kept in poor conditions for it to happen either. Obviously once you’re aware of what is going on, you need to address it. I would think some cats could help 
but a topical application would be a place to start too.
I get that there are trolls around here, hence the doubt, but this isn’t trolling, and can happen.
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Thanks for the details, Peggy. Before I lost my old guy last year at 37 (natural causes, not rat related), I was fighting a huge battle with the mice and rats. My boarding barn was in Moorpark, and they could be really awful. My horse was out 12 hours during the day but stalled at night. I never saw any wounds on him, but he was a rather feisty and assertive OTTB even into his old age, so I doubt he would have tolerated their presence too close to him.
Oh, I’m sorry, but if I had a rat problem that bad that they were gnawing on my horses’ feet it would be no-holds-barred war. Poison included.
Along with everything else, of course, but poison would definitely be on the list.
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Oh yes I agree. Sorry about replying to the wrong OP. And when I asked if this was real it was not that I assumed OP was a troll but rather that it sounded surreal and frankly horrifying !
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Oh it is! Not going to lie, I was thoroughly grossed out when I first found out about this.
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Add me to the group that is shocked that so many people have never heard of this problem.
I think we have even had threads here on it before.
Will bell boots help at all? I realize a hungry rat can get thru them if they really want to, but I wonder if a well fitting double thick pull on bell boot might be enough of a deterrent that they go elsewhere.
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Interesting. Count me in as someone who has never had or heard of this being an issue… and I would think rats would go for easier food sources (of which in any barn, there are many).
Sounds like bellboots and a cat who likes working for a living are in order.
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I’m not sure bell boots would do it. The rats are going for the hairline where the hoof meets the coronet. I wouldn’t think a bell boot could be tight enough to cover that area sufficiently (without causing some pain/damage to the horse).
It’s a regional thing. I have never heard of it in the northeast. Never. No matter how badly rodent infested a barn is. It IS a thing in the south. I think weather/climate plays some role? Rodents never get a “hard season” in the winter that reduces their numbers? I’m not sure.
Even in warm climates… by the time you’re seeing this you have a REALLY BAD RODENT INFESTATION and they’re causing all sorts of other mischief. They are ALSO eating the grain, and the garbage, and other things. They’re not just going for the horses. That’s how many rodents you have when you start seeing this happen-- they’re so numerous they’re competing with each other for resources. This doesn’t happen with a mouse or two. This happens when the barn is literally OVERRUN.
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I thought the standard fitting pull on bell boot might be enough to make the rats move on to a target that is less work, that is all.
I do agree that there must be a pretty serious rodent problem there.
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I guess it can’t hurt to try, but I don’t see bell boots being terribly effective. They don’t really sit in one place and cover the coronary band. If anything I would try vetwrap and masking tape. Really though, you have to deal with the rodents. Anyone who has had them knows that NOTHING short of METAL will keep them from chewing on or through things. 
Easy Boot Coulds or RX’s cover the entire hoof and most of the pastern, would that help?
I must be thinking of something different than you are.
The bell boots I used covered the coronary band.
Random internet photo:
I do agree that a rat can chew thru them if the rat is wanting to. Like I said above, it is just a suggestion that might make the rats move on to an easier target.
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Rats burrow, too. A local barn to me has a big problem with them burrowing through the limestone under the mats.
We had a rat problem in the feed room for awhile. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I opened the feedroom door and 5 of them scattered. Talked to my BO to ask permission, then I unleashed hell. I knew how they were getting to the feed areas, and ziptied traps to the L beams they were using as the highway. Bang, bang, bang. Got about 3 or 4 before they got smart. Then I moved on to a multicatch trap, open for two nights, then closed on the third. Caught several more that way, drowned them in the pond. Then, when it was whittling down to just the smart ones left, it was poison time. Dropped it straight into the walls where they were living. My god, the stench was atrocious for DAYS. But then… no more rats, no more smells.
The start of the problem? One of them had figure out how to climb the barn and get inside the exterior hopper door. When it’s rats vs 6 tons of grain, yes I can and will use poison. Got quite a few of them taken care of before having to resort to that.
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Rats/rice can go right under that. Their little faces are tiny 
Bell boots do not work.
You can probably maintain a larger population of rodents in a place with no hard freeze as they have more places to live. Our population increases in the fall and then decreases somewhat.
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