Rolled Toes

[spex4me]

Have any of you had experience with your youngsters having their hind hooves show a tad bit more wear on the front of the hoof like they are almost casually dragging back feet along?

My farrier noticed this today and believes that since she is so rump high that the imbalance creates that little bit of wear on the front of the hind hooves. Both had it almost pretty centered in location.

She does have an incredibly lazy walk when she's doing her pasture ornament duties, but under saddle she's strutting all the way. Her rump measures 16.2 while her withers are just at 15.3. She is just recently a true 2 year old.

I can post a pic if this is totally unheard of.

Thanks for any input, you guys have been great so far!!

[Shammy Davis]

Let's see a picture of the hind legs, hind hooves and a picture of the filly. Hard to tell without seeing the leg, pastern, and hoof. It's a stretch to believe that a 3" difference between the withers and the croup is causing a problem. Most horses are normally slightly elevated at the croup. Further, this filly is physically immature at the age of 2. She's got a few more inches to grow. Foals are born with leg length almost adult length, it is the rest of the body that catches up. My experience as a farrier tells me (if there is a problem) it is directly related to the hind limb or the hoof itself. If the problem is only a superficial wearing of the toe portion of the hoof and she is showing no signs of lameness, keep a close eye on it. It will probably work itself out. Another thought is weight on the fillys back under saddle. If she's carrying it alright, it is doubtful that a lazy pasture walk is going to be abrasive enough to cause severe wear. A lazy walk on a warm spring day is pretty typical of about every pastured horse I've ever seen. With over 40 years of experience my advice to horse owners is that if the problem appears to be in the hoof, that is where you keep looking until you are sure it is not there. Looking at the elevation of the croup is not going to tell you much. Its unlikely, in the absence of lameness, that it would cause an unbalanced gait isolated to the hind quarters. If you determine that you have a problem with this filly that is not hoof related, get your Vet to evaluate the problem before you allow any farrier to proceed with corrective shoeing or trimming. Corrective shoeing without the input of a competent Veterinarian, who is experienced with gait and lameness issues, is a bad idea.

[spex4me]

Thanks Shammy for the reply. A lot of what you said is what puts me in a quandry. My vet just did a thorough exam on her less than 3 weeks ago and loves her, the thing she didn't like was her back hocks. She would like to see straighter, but said many racers have the same. But thought overall her lines are very good and correct.

Superficial is a very good word to describe the wear. Just enough to see it when you would be close by. And by the time my farrier got done rasping it, it was gone. So I thought about it later that perhaps the hooves were just longer than normal. Usually they are on a 6 week schedule for trims and this one today was 8 weeks. I should have asked him after he was done what he thought then, but as usual we started rattling on about things. So I'll buzz him Monday and ask.

Here's a link to some fairly recent, albeit bad , photos. They are all dated. I will get out there tomorrow and snap some better ones of the hooves and back legs.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l86/depbel/Spex041508.jpg

I am probably too sensitive to everything that just doesn't seem quite right, since I really want to make sure she's as physically and emotionally as good as a horse can be. Life is so much easier with my lazy bum pasture ornament walking horses!! Thanks again!

[Shammy Davis]

I looked at the picture of your filly. I don't see anything that jumps out at me. She looks like a healthy growing 2 years old, who rolls in the dirt. If she were mine, I would leave her barefoot until you're comfortable that you have resolved your own concerns about the issue. My experience is that horses, as they can't talk, quitely throw us curve balls to see if we are paying attention. As a breeder also, I think if you don't take any drastic action, she'll work through this more sooner than later on her own. As I indicated before, in the absense of lameness, superficial wear on the toe portion of the hoof could be as simple as too much heel. That being said, I didn't see anything in the picture that would make me think that the hind heels were too long or, for that matter, that the angle of hind legs were too straight. I actually like her confomation. A patient person is alwas a good horseperson.

[madelyn]

Here's something interesting. Our trainer swears EPM is far wider spread than anyone realizes, and something like 70% of all horses out there have been exposed. If he got your two year old, first thing he would do is put her on EPM meds for 28 days.

He's been right on seven horses so far, that came in from the field/breaking farm with nothing definite wrong.

I got in a broodmare a couple of years ago who was so bad her hocks looked sickle and she could not pick her hind feet off the ground when she walked. We put her up and gave her EPM meds for a month. It got worse before it got better, but four months later you would not have recognized the mare.

[spex4me]

Thanks for the replies. I did talk to my vet about EPM last night as fate would have we both were in Walmart at the same time, old people Saturday night out. She asked if my filly was less active than I have noticed since I brought her home. To that I had to say no. When she's just slinking around the pasture grazing she's as realaxed as can be. But about 4 times a day, especially if it starts to rain she winds the boys up into a streaking tail flagging parade. No toes dragging in those movements at all, an extended floaty trot that has made my Euro Warmblood neighbor stop her car for ! My vet basically said the same thing you did Shammy, so I will go back to being worried mother hen at a distance. EPM is a damn scary disease that is always in the back of my mind as I have seen a friend and her horse struggle through that, and Madelyn your trainer may be doing something some more progressive in the battle against it. I have heard the what if's about all of it, but my mantra is better safe than sorry at all costs. Thank you again!

[Shammy Davis]

Good luck. Better safe than sorry is a great attitude. No one will ever fault you for that.