My farrier remarked today how my gelding had a bruised left toe, something he hadn't seen much of until this shoeing cycle. He was explaining to me the kinetics of movement when the horse lands toe first because of possibly avoiding a heel first landing due to soreness or a tight flexor tendon. He showed me the pink bruised line and I am thinking how else this might have happened?
We are upping up trot volume in rehab but we are in a hogfuel arena. We trail ride and the footing varies from road surface to compressed ground/small gravel. At any rate, is there anything I can do for my guy's comfort? His new shoes also have equi pack and pads.
My farrier showed me the the old shoe wear and it is even m-l and both toes are worn exactly the same amount. I would have thought the left would be worn more heavily if he had bruised his toe. Thoughts please?
Hi, I imagine you mean a pink horizontal line in the toe wall. This can happen for a number of reasons, including toe first landing, hoof imbalance, bash to the coronet, etc. Can also signify metabolic issues, though if it's only evident in one hoof(assume they all white?) that's less likely.
Depending a bit on the surface & the way they're shod, whether regular flat shoes, etc, all horses will wear the toes or shoes more.
My gelding always wears the toe of his shoes more. He also has in the past had alot of bruising on both feet. When farrier would pull shoes there would be... a ring of bruising around the hoof where shoe was.
Bruising indicated along the entire hoof where the shoe was? Does/did he look like he was foot tender? My guy displayed reluctance to walk down steep hills. There's a steep trail to the lake for our trail riding. Since he's got pads and "magic cushion" - that goopy brown stuff between the pad and sole, improvement has been consistent over the shoeing cycle. Which is why I was still surprised to see bruising.
He also trips (less now) but possibly he did himself one too many on the hard surface. Also, that left bruised toe is half white and half black, fwiw.
Tripping is also due to the above, generally due to imbalanced hooves. Can you post pics? The reason I ask about white feet is that if this is the only white one, it may be just that you can't see the bruising in the others.
The bruising was around the entire hoof were shoe was that was present all summer last summer. Yes he was tender footed didnt like going down hills either. He was also tender footed on hard ground and hated going over gravel,would try to dodge into the brush to avoid gravel.
Yes he could be trippy at times but more so just very tender footed. Shoes with pads and silicone between pad and sole he was fine. Could never just put shoes on he would be to tender footed and short strided.
He also hated having the shoes nailed on half way through summer had to traq him for shoeing. He was never a fan of having shoes nailed on though even as a 4 year old....hes now a 10 year old so been doing the shoeing thing for a while.
Here's a number of pics from the last week of the 3rd cycle (we are at 5 week cycle) and and the shoeing couple of days ago. We (why is it I always say we when it's he) have 3 white feet and one black and white foot. The new pads put on are a little bit thicker than the previous ones.
Those pictures are nice. But pictures can only tell so much and can distort what's actually there. Considering that, it appears that the horse's quarters are hanging over the edge of the shoe (the sides). Usually the back half of the shoe is a little bit wider to allow for the hoof to expand when the horse puts weight on it. Is this what you see?
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