Sensitive hooves - after trim - week 1

On the Saturday 18/09/10 Archie was a demonstration horse at a hoof trimming workshop. Archie had his shoes removed from his front hooves and a correct trim performed by Peter from Hoofworks. 

Archie is sensitive without shoes on his front hooves. This has been my main reason for shoes in the past.

This time we are working on strengthening Archie's hooves.

I am keeping notes on his progress.

Saturday 18 September 2010 

Barefoot trim

Sunday 19 September 2010

Archie is extremely sensitive and limping in both front hooves on grass and on hard gravel driveway. We walked very slow.

Monday 20 September 2010

Archie was cantering on the grass and showed no signs of sensitivity. However when walking on the hard driveway he was limping again but not as severe as Sunday.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

The sensitivity only appears to be on the right fore now when walking on the hard driveway. Today I took Archie up to the round yard and chased him around so he would trot freely. I noticed on this course sand surface he was limping slightly on his right fore.


Wednesday 22 September 2010

Got my file and Bug Buster liquid today. I practised my filing Archie's back hooves. I was surprised how much I remembered from the course. I was on my own and was able to work with no one holding his head. Very happy with this and keen to learn more.
Today I cleaned Archie's front hooves with metho and applied Bug Buster to the seedy to affected areas. I then wrapped his hooves in Vet wrap. It has been raining and the wrap will help the Bug Buster stay on long enough to be effective.


Archie was still sensitive walking on the driveway. Even when his feet were wrapped up.

Thursday 22 September 2010

Only the right foot had the vet wrap still on.

Archie is still sensitive on the driveway. We were walking on it with a long lead rope and I noticed he chose to step up on the grass.

I tried him in the round yard and I did not notice any sensitivity.

Saturday 24 September 2010

Today there was no limping on the driveway but he still chose to step up on the grass a couple of times. I'm guessing he still feels a bit sensitive on this surface.

Sensitive hooves - Archie's story so far

I have decided not to use vet's or farrier's names in this post.


Before I bought Archie, (18 months ago from Griffith NSW), I had a vet check done. The "NSW Vet" said he couldn't work Archie on hard ground because he just a barefoot trim done and too much had been cut off. He was sensitive. Archie was worked on the grass instead and was fine. The "NSW Vet" said Archie's hooves were healthy. He thought Archie would be OK in a few days. I purchased this horse and he travelled up to QLD with a transport company.

Six weeks later I had my first farrier appointment. My "Farrier 1" said  the "NSW Farrier" had not only cut too much off but she had also got the angles wrong.  Archie had had high heels and it was a very rough job. "Farrier 1" also said Archie's weight has been pushed forward giving him bad posture. "Farrier 1" corrected the angle.

Archie had also been a little sore in the muscle at the front of his shoulder (could be related to the bad posture due to high heels). Sometimes when I'd been riding him he had a slight limp. So Archie had some Bowen Therapy (equine muscle release therapy). He had a massage and a couple of days to rest.


The limping continued. We noticed it occurring while trotting Archie in the sand arena. It had been five weeks since my previous farrier appointment. I asked "Farrier 1" for advice. He noticed that Archie's posture was still very upright. He had continued to carry himself with his weight forward. The front of the hoof wall (toe) and front of sole had excessive wear. "Farrier 1" pointed to the front of Archie's sole and said this is where he's sore. 


"Farrier 1's" solution was to shoe Archie's on the front hooves only. It worked. Archie stopped limping.


During Spring and Summer 2009 I made the decision to try Archie barefoot again. The sensitivity was back. I persevered for a few months worked him on the grass only and avoided hard ground and sharp rocks when ever I could.

December 2009, (front left hoof). Archie had been barefoot trimmed for a few months. The nail holes have grown out. Unfortunately, because of the wet weather and Archie now has seedy toe in a small crack.

I made the decision to put the shoes back on when Archie got seedy toe. This time I got a full set. I thought it would help grow the cracks out by re-enforcing the hoof. I was wrong. He still has seedy toe and cracks.


Time to try a new approach.

Hoof trimming and seedy toe treatment

About a week ago I attended a hoof trimming workshop run by Peter Laidley from Hoofworks Australia. I wanted to learn how to take better care of my horse's hooves. Archie was a demonstration horse at the clinic. Peter removed Archie's shoes from his front hooves and showed us how to trim them. Archie has seedy toe. It was present in the nail holes, a small crack and also in Archie's white line. I am treating this with a product called 'Bug Buster' (purple liquid) which is available from Hoofworks.


The Seedy Toe in Archie's rear left hoof will have to be cut out to treat properly. I have an appointment with Peter on the 9 October. To help others learn I have decided to take photos throughout the treatment. 


So, keep checking this blog to watch Archie's hooves become healthy and strong. See what a difference correct hoof trimming can make.




Here are some 'before' photos...

26/09/10 Rear left hoof, front view. Seedy Toe present in crack (before treatment)

26/09/10 Rear left hoof, outside view

26/09/10 Rear left hoof, inside view 

26/09/10 Rear left hoof, back view

26/09/10 Rear left hoof, bottom view (before treatment)

I have been practising my new filing skills on Archie's rear hooves.

26/09/10 Rear left hoof, bottom view with 'Bug Buster' applied.

Archie's seedy toe problems - the story so far

Archie scrambled in a horse float March 2009. On the left rear leg you will see a cut on his coronary band.

I didn't know it at the time but this cut was going to cause me problems in the future

(my focus was on the big cut on the other leg).

May 2009 the cut has grown down the front of the hoof and is now a hole on Archie's hoof wall.

The damage on Archie's hoof grew down the hoof and turned black. When it reached the bottom instead of growing out the weakened hoof split. Seedy toe was present in this split and "Farrier 1" attempted to repair this by cutting it out. This repair was unsuccessful.

(December 2009) Seedy Toe repair fail. The seedy toe had been cut out but the hoof wall had been left too long. The arched hole was filled with putty but this fell out within a day. The hoof wall was weakened and a big piece broke off the side. What a disaster!

March 2010, (rear hooves). My solution to fix the seedy to problem was to grow out the damage and give Archie a full set  of shoes. I thought this would reinforce his hooves and give them a chance to grow the cracks out. It worked for a while, but then I had a new problem - over-reaching and seedy toe in nail holes.

Every time Archie pulls a shoe off the farrier has to add an extra set of holes to put a new shoe back on again.
When a horse is losing shoes regularly the end result is a hoof that looks like swiss cheese. The hoof wall is weakened and seedy toe gets into the holes.

Archie's mesh leg wraps

Happy Archie enjoying his paddock on a wet day

Here are the leg wraps I designed and made for Archie. So far I have had success with them staying up. I have seen him canter, roll and pig-root in them and they have not come loose. It's been raining here. In wet weather his legs still get damp but they dry out quickly because the fabric breathes. In a few days I will find out if they prevent him from getting Pastern Dermatitis (solar related). Fingers crossed.

They are soft, breathable and stay up!

Leg wraps are suspended from Archie's rug. The black elastic loops give him room to move.

The tiger stripe fur fabric was left over from my daughter's craft project. The fur stops the wraps from rubbing. It makes me laugh. Archie looks like something out of The Rocky Horror Picture Show wearing suspenders and fishnets.

Pastern Dermatitis - Archie's story up to now

The greasy heel symptoms appeared on Archie's legs in December 2009. 

My first vet gave me Illum Dermapred  to treat this. This green ointment got things under control but didn't cure the condition. I also tried FilterBac and Potties White Ointment. 

Before (inside rear leg)

Before (outside rear leg)

He had these lesions for 4 months before I found the following article.
When I read this first article I realised Archie did not have greasy heel.

Below are some links to the information Archie's skin condition.

http://www.compleatfeed.com/compleatfeed_site/Article_Greasy_Heel.html

Then I called another vet and she did some blood tests. We also investigated weeds in his paddock. We tried to find weeds that may cause Archie to be photosensitive. We could not find any. The vet did not take a biopsy because she thought it would further damage the area of skin.

My vet also did some research on the Internet. She found the following post about Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis. We used this as a basis for Archie's treatment.

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115402

Hey there, I just saw your PM a little while ago. Just wanted to say please stop all the tropicals, and stop scrubbing or washing the area. First thing is to keep the legs dry and wrapped and out of the sun/dirt/mud.

My horse was the poster child for this disease at UC Davis, literally! He quickly turned around with a combination of a bland diet, oral antibiotics, prednisolone, and Pentoxyfiline, and topical Genesis spray with the legs wrapped 24/7 until the redness/inflammation went down completely, then wrapped during the day until the hair began growing back.

This is an autoimmune response, any scrubbing and topicals is going to make the inflammation worse, and disturbing the skin will only invite a staph infection which could lead to severe cellulitis or worse. The legs need to be CLEAN and DRY while you treat the issue from the inside out. The genesis spray I used was an alcohol based steroid spray that decreased the skins inflammation while drying quickly.

I worked extensively with Dr White and the UC Davis veterinary dermatology school. He's awesome, your vet might want to get in touch with them for dosage information. I seem to have lost my vet records.

Re-Rider

______________________________________________

Archie was put on a bland diet of Lucerne hay. We stabled him and bandaged his legs. After a few days we discovered that this alone had made a big improvement to the affected area. The vet said that medication was not necessary. The results of the blood test told us that Archie's liver was normal. Also he was not suffering from dehydration.

There were protein changes (could be from inflammation) 

PROTEIN (Normal range 55 - 70)   Archie was 70 

High Glob (Normal range 25-36)  Archie was is 43

Low Albium (Normal range 28-37) Archie was 27

Sodium Potassium was high

(Normal range 3.2 - 4.8) Archie was 5.7

I was told that Archie's Electrolytes were imbalanced. He needed a dietary supplement to correct this. The vet said Archie has Pastern Dermatitis (solar related). (I believe it may still be Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis  because this is what we treated him for and the treatment worked. I have no proof for this there was no skin biopsy).

Archie was stabled for a total of 2 weeks before he was moved to a stable with a yard attached. This yard had no grass and I had to supply all of his feed. For a few weeks we were locking him in this stable during the day and then letting him out in the yard at night. This was not a happy life for him as he gets very bored. My goal has been to design boots that he can wear in the paddock so that he doesn't have to be locked up for the rest of his life.

After 6 weeks of treatment

Welcome to my blog

Archie is a White Quarter Horse gelding. He has very sensitive pink skin that reacts badly to UV light, wet weather and insect bites. His hooves are also sensitive and he is being treated for seedy toe.


I created this blog to document Archie's progress while sharing information with others who may be experiencing similar health issues with their own horses.