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This Sucks

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  SkyeAngel 
#1 ·
So my horse Cody that we bought 2 months ago foundered in 3 feet! o_O Im so frusterated. Now we have to put special shoeing on him and he has to be on special food, and its costing a fortune! (he is worth it. I love my boy.) How do I keep him from foundering again; or is there no way too? Cuz i know that if a horse founders once he is likely to founder again, I just wanna know if there is a way to maybe NOT have him founder again... that would be nice. Our farrier (not a nice guy) said we should just get rid of him and that he was no no good. I wanted to kick him soooo bad(but he only charges $30 per horse so I didnt.)--Hopefully he was kidding but I was (well, lets just say MAD). But his feet seem to be getting better. We switched his feed and are keeping him off of grass, and putting some moisture holding junk on his hooves, but yeah, he does kinda look better and its only been a week, so I hope that is a good sign.

Any Advice would be nice. :D
 
#2 ·
Founder is usually feed related. The most obvious ways to prevent it are to watch your horses feed and excercise to make sure they stay a healthy weight. Make sure you introduce feed changes gradually and do not feed too much carbs or starch in one feed. Monitor the grass they can access and restrict their grazing if it is too lush and rich. Try to keep the feed your horses get simple.

Some horses are more likely to founder than others, now you know he is likely to, keep a close eye on his diet, you may need to limit his grass and grain intake. I personally don't like giving my horses any sugary or molassased feeds for this reason. If at any point you are unsure about what to feed or feed amounts, try to remember to be safe rather than sorry. Be cautious, and don't be afraid to consult your vet, or a nutrition specialist.

Good luck in treating him
 
#3 ·
Has he been seen by a good equine Vet? Has he been diagnosed as Insulin Resistant (IR)? Has he been checked for Cushings? Have his feet been xrayed?

Was he obese when he foundered? Are you even sure he foundered or did he just have a bout with laminitis? You cannot tell without xrays.

Too much information is missing to be of much help. There are specific things that need to be done for different causes and different conditions.

Laminitis just mean 'sore feet' because of inflammation in the laminae.

Founder means that the coffin bone (P-3 or third phalynx) has actually detached from the hoof wall and is in some state of rotation. The coffin bone can rotate downward at the toe until it comes through the horse's sole. Founder is much more serious than a bout of laminitis that did not go that far.

In the mean time, do not let this horse have any access to any grass and stop ALL grain feeding. Feed only grass hay and if he is IR, his grass hay may need to be tested. Once a horse had had one bout of laminitis, they are more prone to subsequent bouts and they tend to get more serious each time.
 
#4 ·
Well, we JUST got Cody, weve had him a month or two, and he was underweight. The people who sold him to us got him super under-weight and there are TONS of picks of him eating green grass. He had bad feet when we adopted him, and it was only 1 hoof that started to founder, our farrier told us to not let him eat much grass, so we didn't, but he got worse, and 2 more feet came up with it. He was on sweet feed until last week (when the farrier came out) and so we took him off of the sweet feed and put him on something else (the farrier suggested... and my aunt does the feeding, I just pay cause I dont live with him. The Farrier also said that his feet need more moisture because they are getting too dry. So we have been putting this "wood tar"(thats not wwhat it is called, I just forget...) and his feet have gotten sugnificantly better just withen this week. So now the farrier is supposed to be out this weekend to put his special shoes on him, and he will hopefully be alot better soon.
 
#5 ·
Here are some pics from before...




So as you can see he was REALLY ribby (these are pics taken MONTHS after they rescued him.) They had him on a big green pasture to eat as much as he wanted; and gave him sweet feed every once in a while.

This is a pic I took last week and as you can tell he is not over weight...

 
#6 ·
Oh my goodness, you need to have a vet out straightaway. And fire the farrier if that's the best he can come up with and you aren't exaggerating. There's a very good reason he only charges $30, I'm sure (and to clarify, are we talking about trims or shoes?).

My word. Please please please get a vet out.

Could be related to the sweet feed. Could be a toxic plant. Could be he was ridden too hard. Could be a pre-existing condition. Could be he's not foundering at all but something else bad is going on. Could be life-threatening....need I go on?
 
#7 ·
He doesn't look too bad, weight wise.You have to be careful with underweight horses, you still have to choose your feed carefuuly, even though you want them to gain. The sweet feed may have had a lot to do with this, so I am glad you have stopped that now. I am glad that what you are doing so far has shown improvement, but please do bear in mind that farriers are not really qualified to offer medical advice. I wouldn't panic, but you do want to get a vet out to take a look, as the above poster mentioned there may well be other issues. Did you have a pre-purchase examination with a vet before you got him? If you didn't it might be a good idea to get him properly examined since he is new with you. The vet will also know more about feeding than your farrier.

Again, I am sure you will be responsible and I wish you luck with helping him get better. http://www.horseforum.com/horse-health/sucks-83544/#ixzz1JJ9X039M
 
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