Sore feet?

Question
QUESTION: hey, im a little confused..!

my horse has been lame from a ligament injury ( branch of suspensory ligament was too thick in right fore) and she has been back to the vet yesterday and they think that has healed and now she is foot sore as she is lame in both front feet and not her back which do not have any shoes on.

her front feet however had angeld wedges to take the presure off the ligament and then flat wedges. This is the reason they think she is foot sore...due to her feet not liking the wedges!!

i hope this makes sense as yes it is very complicated!

she now has normal shoes on with no wedges but i was wondering if it was possible for her to become footsore from the wedges ( yes i know the vets are usually right) but i just wanted a second opinion...and also is there anything i can do to help her feet from being sore?

thank you :)

ANSWER: Hi Lauren, hmmmmm...I have to tell you that I have an OPINION about this, but I am not a vet so I can't really assess what is going on here...
OK..here comes my opinion....YES, it is absolutely possible that wedges make horses sore...and no, vets are not always right when it comes to recommending shoeing approaches for horses. In vet school, very little is taught about hoof care and what really to do in response to various limb injuries. Often the hoof is seen as a rigid and lifeless appendix at the end of a leg and all you have to do is adjust the angles of that "thing" and you can remedy IN THEORY what is going on further up in the leg...like wedges, makes sure to take strain of certain tendons..BUT...wedges also change the angle of weight bearing on the hoof, horses adjust their gaits accordingly and stress other parts of hooves and legs...etc..there are lots of things that are affected by a seemingly simple thing like a wedge...so, yes, this is very possibly.
If she is sound right now with the regular no wedge shoes, then keep it that way - flat shoes and rest if her ligaments are still healing. There are also so many things that can make a horse foot sore that constant re-assessment of a horse's hoof care and learning as much as you can to see whether your horse receives proper shoeing and hoof care would be good.
I hope this answered your question...if not, please let me know if there is anything else I can help answer.

Christine


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QUESTION: hey, thanks for that it was really useful!!

a few more lil questions though if you dont mind!

how long is it possible for her to be foot sore ( bearing in mind she had the wedges on for 10 weeks!!!) ?

also is there anyway we can speed up the sore feet getting better?

thanks :)
ANSWER: Hi Lauren,
can you describe to me what her foot-soreness is like and whether she is sore on soft ground or hard ground or both? Also, what would be helpful is if you could send me a picture of her from the side where I can see her whole body and feet - not on grass but on a solid surface where the hooves are visible. Also, when you ask her to stand, let her choose how and don't MAKE her stand square...do that a few times and let me know what front foot she prefers to stick forward when she stands...
It will be easier for me to discuss what you could possibly do to help her or at least what you can do to figure how what else may be going on here...
Looking forward to discussing this with you further!
Christine

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QUESTION: she is only sore on hard ground in a circle, everything else she is 99.9% sound.

when she is just standing she usualy sticks the right fore ( the one she injured) forward just slightly more. but i have no idea what that means!

how can i send the picture? its not a brilliant one but you can see her feet!!  

Answer
Hello Lauren, oops...I did not see your response! I did get the picture and can't really see her hooves and current angles very well (she is certainly a very beautiful horse!). If she is only sore on hard ground and when circling you might consider having an X-ray taken of her hooves as well. Her sticking out the injured foot is called "pointing" and horses do this to take some of the weight of an injured hoof/leg...often the only indication that something is not quite right. However, pointing a foot can also come from the shoulder so its not always a problem with feet.
At this point I would make sure she is only worked on ground she can handle until she is 100% sound..
Please let me know how she is doing.

Take care,
Christine