I am going to see if the farrier can make it out here to do that, otherwise I’ll just pull it anyway and boot him.
@steelerino - Out of curiosity, are you seeing that based on the first pictures or the second ones with shoes on? What do you see that makes you say that? Our late winter mud was so bad here, I wouldn’t be surprised - hopefully my thrush porotcol (daily soaks or at least flushes with diluted ACV, thrush treatment applied daily) would help with WL as well.
@Mcl1 I tried a horse years ago that I fell in love with despite his horrendous feet. And his foot that had white line looked very similar to the bottom edges of that left front. I sadly didn’t buy him but his hoof pics and X-rays were bad! White line needs a specific treatment or even hoof resection if it’s bad enough. You can’t get it out typically with anything topical
His feet definitely did look similar to that when he first came here. I assumed/was told it was from stomping at flies (and he has really aggressive clips on his shoes which didn’t help) - but it definitely could be WL. After his stint in boots his feet looked way better but maybe it was/is still lurking in there. Looking forward to hopefully getting some answers on Tuesday…
I spoke to my farrier and he could come out tonight but basically said at this point it would be a full reset and he does not want to do that if they are going to pull the shoes so soon. Waiting on a call back from the vet to get his thoughts. As of now, shoe still feels secure (2 of 4 nails on one side are still fully in and secure after I tapped the clinches down) and horse is 100% sound but I definitely don’t want to risk a loose shoe damaging his hoof wall.
That doesn’t look too awful. If he’s sound on it, I’d leave it as is until your appointment. Then the vet can decide what they want to do.
If you’re looking at angles they should be able to radiograph with shoes on? I definitely have plenty of x rays with shoes
If you leave it on, you might want to duct tape around it so he’s less likely to catch it again between now and your appointment.
My horse Red bent a shoe last year. Usually, when he doesn’t bend them too bad, I leave them on until I can get the farrier to fix it. Obviously, if they are bent too bad, then I pull them.
Well … overnight, he bent the shoe worse and then caused a nail to go up into his foot. It abscessed and it was a whole MONTH+ ordeal, and then it even re-surfaced again another month later. Made our summer shot.
You can bet I was angry at myself for not pulling the shoe.
So my vote is therefore to pull the shoe!!! One bad experience sure ruins it.
They can do a lameness exam without his shoe. He does not need to be “sound”. That’s not the point of the lameness exam.
I’m going to politely disagree with this, for this case. If there is an artificially induced shortness, like from a sprung shoe, or a shoe on one front foot and not the other, etc, it can absolutely impact the exam, and for the cost and trouble of doing it I wouldn’t risk the results on this. I’d reschedule.
Thank you everyone for your advice, I really appreciate it!
Didn’t hear back from the vet so at this point I likely will not until Monday. As of now, the shoe is still on and secure, and he is still 100% sound on it (and he is pretty quick to show when he is uncomfortable). Luckily he lives in my backyard so I have been checking the shoe all throughout the day to make sure it is still secure - if it starts to loosen, I’ll pull it. This is the first time he has ever sprung a shoe, he doesn’t usually overreach or catch him self - but him and his brother play constantly so I would imagine he caught it during a game of tag 
.
@endlessclimb Selfishly, I really don’t want to reschedule because I have been stressing about the worst case scenarios for the past few weeks and just want answers (and don’t want to see him lame for another 2 weeks post shoeing) - BUT logically, I know you are right and if the vet thinks that is the best course of action to get a good exam, I will.
I will say that I was impressed by my farrier responsiveness to this - he was traveling on the other side of the state yesterday and was willing to drive way out of his way to come last night if needed. He also is familiar with the vet so hopefully it all bodes well for him being open and responsive to shoeing changes.
Disagree. For one, my vet books out MONTHS for lameness exams. (She’s good.) No way I’d reschedule when I’ve already waited.
Secondly, lots of things the vet can do, including pulling the opposite shoe, nerve blocking, etc, in order to still conduct the lameness exam. Perhaps I am lucky that my vet is married to a farrier so she often ropes him in for things like this too when he is needed.
Well, the vet did end up calling and said to leave the shoe as is or pull it off but he said definitely not to reset it - he said it depends on the type of shoe as to whether they can x-ray with it on or not.
Good news is that the shoe hasn’t budged, bad news is that in a further attempt to get out of his lameness exam, horse found a way to scrape/puncture his chest yesterday. He went to a more local vet this morning and got it cleaned up and we got him started on antibiotics. Luckily he doesn’t seem to be in much pain, he let them clip and examine it without a fuss. They said he should be fine to go tomorrow. Honestly it was probably a good “warm up” for tomorrow because it’s my first time hauling him and we weren’t sure how he and his brother would handle being separated but they both did well.
Ah, horses.
In the past, my vet has xrayed my horses with shoes on, and they even wear a 3 degree wedge pad, without issue for the xrays.
Let us know how it goes!!
Just got back from the vet. He flexed and blocked the RF foot and confirmed slight lameness that was isolated to that foot. I also asked him to flex his hinds because I have at times felt like he may be slightly stiff in his LH, vet said maybe a very slight reaction but nothing he would consider clinically significant.
Xrayed all fours, with multiple views of the RF. He said angles, coffin bone, navicular, all look good - horse just has thin soles on his fronts, especially his right front. Said to have the farrier take off more toe and not to trim the soles at all. He said we could try Equipac pads if the horse stays sore, but otherwise to just reset his shoes and put him back in work as long as he is comfortable.
I wish you good luck!
I had an odd thought reading through this. One thing I would ask your farrier to do is to go gently when clinching the nails. I remember one farrier we worked with once who would hit too hard on the toe clips on one mares feet and she would be sore after every shoeing for a couple of days. We asked him to go more gently and the problem stopped.
I wonder if your horse also, because he has thin soles, has a very small area to drive the nails into. I dealt with this years ago with an OTTB that came off the track with the most awful angles. It took about two years to get him back on track and he was very sensitive to a nail. I agree with others, tell the farrier no trimming the sole, bring back the toe, and try to keep on shorter cycles if you can. Usually the thin soles is actually a long toe / stretched hoof capsule issue that goes away with good farriery. Rim pads like you are doing might help - if you can find Durasole in your area, I’ve found it works tremendously for thin soled horses to toughen up the sole and build a callous.
Just tossing this out there, but I had a similar outcome last time I did foot rads after some frustrating persistent soreness–just thin soles and some NPA behind. Nothin crazy but also nothing to make huge changes with huge expected rewards. Yay but also sigh, ykwim?
I put that horse in casts. First in front, then all around, then added leather pads and leather based packing in front. It made SUCH a huge difference for her, and her hoof quality is SO much better now. Would not hesitate one bit to go that route again, it really worked great.
Perhaps an avenue to consider, or at least keep in your back pocket, if the shoeing changes don’t work out!
Did the vet give you the angles? I feel like historically I wasn’t given this information and just got things like “thin soles” until I specifically started asking for the palmar angle.
Equipak will help build sole depth in addition to providing some cushioning.
I had one like this, super sensitive to nail. The farrier went down a size in the nail and presto, no more soreness. Easiest lameness fix I ever had.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
