riddick07
Well-known member
What Iāve been doing lately....My current project is a full rehab for my horses feet. He was diagnosed with navicular 6 years back. We tried shoes with an egg bar & pads & wedges & packing but all that amounted to was the bottom of his feet being destroyed & literally no frog at all. We moved him to barefoot with previcox for pain 5ish years ago & called it a day since he was basically retired back then & sound enough for pasture & an occasional ride. I still rarely ride but I had a curious day back in November where I posted pictures of his feet to a Facebook group & they pointed out a few issues (contracted feet, high under run heels, long toe, & thrush apparently the farrier didnāt communicate about very deep in the central sulcus). Issues that I thought the experienced farriers had taken care of and/or would inform me on since thatās what they do but apparently they are ALL incompetent around here. So instead of trusting the vets & farriers I decided to finally do my own research into everything. Turns out everyone is just used to looking at horrible horse feet that we all think thatās what they are supposed to look like anymore.
Iāve changed his diet to forging based one with no treats/no grain (basically low starch/low sugar) & immediately the feet had better growth at the top. I finally got him to eat a mineral supplement about a month ago after basically wanting to strangle him for not eating anything I offered with the supplement in it. The GIANT PITA...so we will see what the next new growth looks like in another 3ish months. I decided to go with a barefoot trimmer instead of a farrier to see what happened. So far his feet look better than they have in years with her. I decided to get some boots to help too with growing back the frog again. I started him on red light therapy & massage once a month just yesterday. He isnāt on pain meds anymore & we will see how he feels by the summer with a new set of feet!
I also have hay going in for a full analysis tomorrow to try and balance his diet correctly ($150 burning away....). I have way too many horse info books on anatomy & hoof anatomy/function now & 2 full courses Iām taking to understand diet more haha.
Currently he gets thrush treatment every other day, hay pellets with copra & mineral supplements for diet, boots for hand walking at the moment, red light therapy on the heel once a month, full body massage once a month, & some stretching a few times a week in the front to try and encourage correct landings on his heels. So basically Iām up at the barn all the time again....sigh....
Some pictures of the fun that has given me a headache for the past 3 months......
Front feet old progress photos from back in early December. Only about a month in at best.
The most recent progress photos For front feet from January 19th. Left is a few days before the 19th and right is the 19th right after he was trimmed. Even I could see the major differences in tension of the ankle and toe being able to be shortened and heel lowered a bit. Also, you can see his frog has grown back quite a bit.
Hind feet last month. Left is old right new. 10 days apart. I was noticing his feet doing some weird things near the heel area and took photos then photos 10 days later. His heels are decontracting and relaxing in the back. You can see the heel area widening between the left and right photos.
Hind foot with thrush treatment.
The boots of course purple. All my horse crap is purple haha
Iāve changed his diet to forging based one with no treats/no grain (basically low starch/low sugar) & immediately the feet had better growth at the top. I finally got him to eat a mineral supplement about a month ago after basically wanting to strangle him for not eating anything I offered with the supplement in it. The GIANT PITA...so we will see what the next new growth looks like in another 3ish months. I decided to go with a barefoot trimmer instead of a farrier to see what happened. So far his feet look better than they have in years with her. I decided to get some boots to help too with growing back the frog again. I started him on red light therapy & massage once a month just yesterday. He isnāt on pain meds anymore & we will see how he feels by the summer with a new set of feet!
I also have hay going in for a full analysis tomorrow to try and balance his diet correctly ($150 burning away....). I have way too many horse info books on anatomy & hoof anatomy/function now & 2 full courses Iām taking to understand diet more haha.
Currently he gets thrush treatment every other day, hay pellets with copra & mineral supplements for diet, boots for hand walking at the moment, red light therapy on the heel once a month, full body massage once a month, & some stretching a few times a week in the front to try and encourage correct landings on his heels. So basically Iām up at the barn all the time again....sigh....
Some pictures of the fun that has given me a headache for the past 3 months......
Front feet old progress photos from back in early December. Only about a month in at best.
The most recent progress photos For front feet from January 19th. Left is a few days before the 19th and right is the 19th right after he was trimmed. Even I could see the major differences in tension of the ankle and toe being able to be shortened and heel lowered a bit. Also, you can see his frog has grown back quite a bit.
Hind feet last month. Left is old right new. 10 days apart. I was noticing his feet doing some weird things near the heel area and took photos then photos 10 days later. His heels are decontracting and relaxing in the back. You can see the heel area widening between the left and right photos.
Hind foot with thrush treatment.
The boots of course purple. All my horse crap is purple haha
