I have been struggling with my gelding with lameness issues for almost a month now.
First it started that he was just adjusting to the hard ground.
After that he blew an abcess in his rear right hoof.
I had rear shoes put on him due to a large crack that was in his rear left.
We thought we were in the clear and he seemed to be getting a lot better. I started walking him in the arena because he isn't moving around a bunch in his pasture and he was walking great, still a little short at the trot but I was attributing that to him being stiff from not moving around a whole lot.
Well this morning I went out to see him after two days of not seeing him and when I got there he was completely dead lame. I tried to figure out which hoof it was but he was limping on both fronts. So I picked them out, saw a couple small rocks while doing so (he was not happy about picking them up at all), and then headed into town for a bit. When I got back about an hour later he was completely fine and back to how he had been. No limping what so ever. He appeared a little short at the walk, but wasn't hesitant to walk or extend the walk at all and did so with very little encouragement.
I tested picking up his hooves again and he picked them all up without any issues.
Could it have just been the rocks were maybe pushing into his hoof when he would walk so he was limping which would explain him being fine once I picked his hooves?
It just seemed odd that a horse could go from being completely lame, limping extremely bad, to being just fine and not limping at all?
I am wondering if I should put front shoes on him? Would it help him adjust? I am holding off on calling a vet out since he is so wishy washy right now. He has been fine for 5 days then all the sudden lame, then an hour later fine.
First it started that he was just adjusting to the hard ground.
After that he blew an abcess in his rear right hoof.
I had rear shoes put on him due to a large crack that was in his rear left.
We thought we were in the clear and he seemed to be getting a lot better. I started walking him in the arena because he isn't moving around a bunch in his pasture and he was walking great, still a little short at the trot but I was attributing that to him being stiff from not moving around a whole lot.
Well this morning I went out to see him after two days of not seeing him and when I got there he was completely dead lame. I tried to figure out which hoof it was but he was limping on both fronts. So I picked them out, saw a couple small rocks while doing so (he was not happy about picking them up at all), and then headed into town for a bit. When I got back about an hour later he was completely fine and back to how he had been. No limping what so ever. He appeared a little short at the walk, but wasn't hesitant to walk or extend the walk at all and did so with very little encouragement.
I tested picking up his hooves again and he picked them all up without any issues.
Could it have just been the rocks were maybe pushing into his hoof when he would walk so he was limping which would explain him being fine once I picked his hooves?
It just seemed odd that a horse could go from being completely lame, limping extremely bad, to being just fine and not limping at all?
I am wondering if I should put front shoes on him? Would it help him adjust? I am holding off on calling a vet out since he is so wishy washy right now. He has been fine for 5 days then all the sudden lame, then an hour later fine.