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What wurk can I do with my little Dun?

2K views 20 replies 18 participants last post by  Ne0n Zero 
#1 ·
I have just been given a horse with a hoof problem, it has grown to the left as well as the frog, the leg is twisted and a sidebone has grown. It doesnt seem to give him any trubble, but I dont wont to push him. He will jump things by himself and when i ride him he seems fine. But does any one have any idea’s what I can do to help him and what wurk would be best for him?

pippinblue
 

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#3 ·
WOW :O I wouldn't be even thinking about lunging him, let alone riding with a hoof/hooves like that. You will cause injury to him, it won't necessarily show up as lameness immediately, but if he has a sidebone and twisted leg, you will be putting un necassary strain on his joints/soft tissue and in a few months to a couple of years he will come up unsound and there won't be much you can do about it.

Get straight onto a reputable farrier, they will probably have to trim the hoof back over a matter of months. To trim it to a normal shape immediately would be impossible and would wreak havoc on his legs. Probably he will be corrective shod as well.
With a hoof bad enough to cause a sidebone and twisted leg, you really don't want to be working him untill the hoof is as close to normal as possible and he has had some xrays to determine what structural damage has been done to his joints and pedal bone which may well have rotated by now.
Please don't work this horse yet!
 
#7 ·
A hoof gets like that when you either have an inexperienced farrier or you let the feet go too long at an incorrect angle. You need to talk to some different farriers, and find one that has experience with corrective shoeing/trimming. They will slowly bring hoof angle back over the course of a couple of trimmings. Then they can put corrective shoeing on his front feet and get the angle of the bone going the right way again. The users who have told you not to ride your horse are right; imagine walking around all day with one of your legs turned turned out. It may not hurt, but you'll work harder and the other leg will get sore in weird places. Same thing with horses, it will also develop the muscles non-porportionally, and that will screw up his balance. No matter what, this will probably take 6 - 8 months to fix.
 
#8 ·
Rudolf has seen a farrier and it has been trimmed back now. We are going to see if the spur to the right grows again and if it does then he needs it. I don’t know how his hoof got like this. But I do know that he is crazy when outside. He gets through every fence. He galloped at it yesterday and got his hoof stuck pulled back and turned up lame.
I think the posting I put in sounds like as soon as I got him I’ve just ridden him what ever the weather! But I haven’t! I have only taken him for a 5 min hack at a work once.
I am sorry if my post sounded like that.
It will take months to get the hoof back if it will come back.
What do you think the hoof will come out to be like? I understand that he will always have trouble with it.
pippinblue
 
#11 ·
I'm not a ferrier so I don't know what his hoof will look like, but I think that with a lot of patience and time you will get better results than if you push him to run around. I know you can watch him every second and what he does in the pasture - who knows. Are you thinking about some corrective shoeing to help his legs and him be more comfortable, that way maybe he won't do himself any harm when he's 'jack'n' around in the pasture.
As for me I would still work with him, but it wouldn't be riding orientated. You could work on ground manners, work on some cues to lower his head, things like that so you guys get to be around eachother, bonding and all. This maybe a set back as far as you getting to ride, but it could be a huge advantage for you to get a horse who has had a lot of practice with manners and anything else you can think of.
 
#14 ·
I think with regular farrier work, he could live a relatively normal painfree life...

I would be inclined to stay away from shoes though, as any extra strain on the hoof and joint already afflicted will not be good; and a corrective shoe is going to 'force' his foot, and joint back into a proper place...gradually, yes, but it's alot more painful than having a farrier come out and keep him filed and trimmed very regularly.
 
#15 ·
Find a certified barefoot trimmer in your area. They are trained to work with cases like this and correct this sort of thing.

Make sure they can provide you with photos of their work and references that you can call. I would NOT try and shoe this horse, I can only see it getting worse if you do that. I agree that yes, some horses do require shoes, but in this case, I'd try a CERTIFIED barefoot trimmer first.
 
#16 ·
A horse I know had hoof problems that could have turned into this if left alone - He was cow hocked, and out in the hips majorly - So he stepped wonky with one hind to compensate for the hip, and the hoof wore unevenly, which made him walk wonkier, which made it wear more unevenly, so on and so forth, a vicious cycle. His hoof was slanted entirely to the inside, but nowhere near the degree of this. Our farrier cut it back as best he could and gave us the number for a chiropractor - He came and fixed the hip issue and then the plan was to trim it back again and out a specially weighted shoe on for a few weeks and then pull it if all went well. But - The owner (he was leased) wouldn't let him have shoes so I don't doubt it has gone bad again.

From my experience - He should be fixable with a knowledgable farrier and some dedication. I would also highly reccomend getting a chiropractor out to see him - It is highly likely that soreness in some other part of the body started the whole ball rolling.
 
#17 ·
I would also be interested in seeing his feet after a fresh trim. Confo shots may be helpful too, I agree that it may be soreness elsewhere that started this.

My retired mare has a partially fused hip that makes her toe out in the back so she always gets wings/flares that have to be managed. Without being trimmed every 4-6 weeks, they get out of control.

Doesn't really matter if the ride was only 5 minutes, I wouldn't be adding any addition stress and weight to his crippled foot. He's already carting around hundreds of pounds, if he's overweight, I'd highly reccommend a diet to get him down to a working weight, just to lighten the load on his feet. If he's getting through every fence you have, I think your fence needs work. Again, I feel your pain on that one - our fence seems fine, holds everyone we put in it, OTHER than my mom's 12 year old QH/Arabian mare...I swear she's a houdini! SO, brand new fence went up in the dead of winter last year and now she stays in with the new electric fencer. It was either that or we had to get rid of her - if you can't keep your horse home, you shouldn't have it. When they get out and roam, they're not only endangering themselves but everyone on the roads. Typically ours stayed in the farmer's fields, but that's not the point...they weren't in the pasture where I left them! LOL hope this all makes sense, no offense intended...
 
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