Gave him some down time and when we were nearing towards 5 weeks of the cycle and he still wasn’t sound I went ahead and got us on the schedule to be reset. I asked if he would grind a breakover into the toe bc he is in flat keg shoes and he did. But his thoughts were that he just got too long so he set the shoe back, shortened and rounded the toes more than ever. Leather pad and equipak. This seemed quite a big change but I mean if it worked, awesome. All I know is that while we were waiting for the left shoe while it was off, we walked and turned a bit and I didn’t notice any obvious soreness. As SOON as that shoe was nailed on though, he was ouchy! I don’t know if he got a close nail maybe because he had nailed one in and took it back out saying it wasn’t doing anything...? Ugh yeah that’s just what we need.
The shoes stayed on for 5 days and I had them pulled. He was BAD. Lame at the walk and I don’t think I have ever seen him THAT sore footed ever. It seemed to be both feet hurting. He was really bad without the shoes as well but luckily I have Softride boots that made him immediately more comfortable. Perhaps the equipak was ultimately too much pressure under the shoe. At first maybe it felt nice but over time and concussion from any movement it got to be too much and it was impossible for him to get away from it! Sometimes equipak can set very firm and it felt that way when we took it out. Even just 2 days later he was walking normal again in boots.
So this is where I feel very lucky that I have had another horse to ride. This horse is an experienced hunter who is a kick ride type that has been allowing me to get back into jumping! He has been really great in dealing with losing my rides with Shorty again.
Shorty is going to remain barefoot for the time being. While he is much more comfortable just 2 weeks out of shoes, he is landing TOE FIRST barefoot and I fear he might have been trotting this way since March! I looked back at video....he had been doing so well that I had forgotten to do this check and be mindful of it. Poor movement turns into worse movement which will turn into clinical lameness. So that’s 3 months of deteriorating movement and possible damage and it will take at least that much time if not more to reverse. The good thing is that he is consistently moving heel first in boots! So he does wear boots 24/7. We have about 1 million heel landings to go in order to come back from all those toe stabs he’s done this year. This is very much a rehabilitation much like I did in 2017, but this time at least his feet are in much better condition.
Diet! I am finally going to invest in the high quality mineral trace supplements that are suggested on both the ECIR group and the Barefoot Navicular Rehab group. I’ve already cut out grain per our vet, he’s been getting alfalfa pellets, a multivitamin, and mid quality grass hay. I’ve seen these mineral products before but it seemed costly. I now see that you do get exactly what you pay for! Iron can be quite high in forage and water and a lot of feeds and supplements do not add enough Copper and Zinc for the correct balance to high Iron.. In fact some like Triple Crown add ADDITIONAL Iron!! Between Mega Cell AND Remission Shorty is getting around 300mg Zinc, and these formulas provide 500-800mg! Another example, Mega Cell vitamin supp is providing LESS than 1g of Lysine. These have upwards 10g of Lysine! Most grains do provide a healthy amount of Lysine, but since he’s not on any, we’re depending on our vitamin/mineral supplement to do that. So, recommended choices are:
California Trace Plus
Horse Tech’s Arizona Copper Complete
K.I.S. Trace minerals
I am going with Horsetechs and they are sending me a free sample to try first! It has high amounts of Vitamin E so I can also stop what I’m currently buying for that.
Even a couple years ago I know a lot of it is diet diet diet, especially having a horse that is a high insulin responder. So no grain this time, no fresh grass, no trying to make a cheaper supplement work for us. We are going all out to give him his best chance to grow a new hoof from the inside out. Will be looking for heel first landings and caudal hoof development. There’s really nothing left to lose and he’s improved so much already from being crippled literally 2 weeks ago. I have already spoken to a trimmer who believes the same and will not take him back to steel shoes as quickly as the others have. We’ll just have to see where this goes.
