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Re: [RC] Help ! From other farriers and/or vets - Jennifer Fleet

This may be of zero help but....
 
Maybe this mare's internal supportive hoof structures are weak, and when shoes are applied, thereby lifting the foot a little off the ground, the middle of the foot is prolapsing?  She might need some sort of frog support when shod (pads w/built in frog support) to keep everything, including the coffin bone, from trying to prolapse downward.  This puts stress on all the supportive ligaments and laminae, and can also make the sole sensitive due to pressure.  Not pressure from the ground, but pressure from above the sole, inside the foot from everything pressing downward.
 
You can get frog support pads from a variety of places..they look like regular pads but have an additional thickness the shape of a triangle added to the bottom, right where the horse's frog is.  So they essentially allow the frog to make contact with the ground (through the triangle on the pad) despite the perimeter of the foot being lifted off the ground by the shoe.  My gelding is in these pads...we use the Natural Balance ones...I think they're called EDSS frog support pads.
 
In a barefoot horse this is not an issue, as the the hoof wall is able to wear down, allowing the frog to contact the ground, supporting the internal hoof structures.  This is what made me think of this possibility, since you say when she's barefoot, she's sound, but when shod, she goes lame.
 
Might be a long shot, but maybe worth trying?  You're only out the cost of the pads and packing material if it doesn't work.
 
Good luck,
Jennifer

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Ann Spencer
Sent: Nov 3, 2005 11:03 AM
To: Jody Rogers-Buttram , ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] Help ! From other farriers and/or vets

I suppose it could be an injury and maybe that x-rays will show something.  So, the vet is most likely in the future for her.  But, I did think I would see if anyone here had any ideas....that I haven't thought of.  Again, if I pull the shoes and turn her out for...a month or more...she will come back sound.  Shoe her...ride her one time...lame again.
 
Maybe she is equating shoes with lameness.  I have heard of horses being 'mentally' lame but not physically lame.  But I wonder why you don't just let her go barefoot for a few weeks???  Sensitivity can be so subjective.  But then, I don't use shoes.  Maybe later if I ever get the time to do a LOT more riding.  It takes a LONG time to get the hoof wall grown out.  Some horses don't take to a bit well and so are ridden with hackamore of some sort or a halter, etc.  Seems to me the horse is trying to tell you something but not able to communicate it very well.  Good luck. 

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