[Ceilidh]

Originally Posted by Laffee Taffee

K I have a Missouri Fox Trotter and she has the biggest, clumsiest, weakest, most beat up hooves I've ever seen. She gets thrush if she so much as touches something wet, and has absesses all the time, and has laminitis really bad from going to the most hardest places in her corral, has bruises all over her hooves and I dunno how she gets them, has chipped hooves, and the outside of her hooves have kinda this wrinkling effect, like her hooves are oozing out instead of being smooth like a nail.

She is 18 years old, I give her phenylbutazone twice a day, I was putting wood shavings in her stall but it got too messy so I've put sand in her stall instead, she's never worn shoes, her corral is soft except in the very corners, I examine her corral and her stall about once a week to make sure there's no rocks bigger than a small marble in her stall or corral, she eats Senior alfalfa and mollasas and a flake of alfalfa hay twice a day, and she spends most of her time either in her stall, or standing by the fence to watch cars.

Anyone know of any special ointments, grooming techniques, or supplies I should use in order to get her hooves back to normal? She's been this way for about a year and I'm getting so frustrated when I fix one problem and she gets ten other problems. (By the way, the laminitis has only just receded, it was an inch thick last month but it's started to come back and I don't know why)

I am puzzled. What did you mean by the laminitis receding? And being an inch thick? Around here laminitis = founder - and a rotated coffin bone can't have been an inch thick.....

Get your vet and your farrier talking. She certainly did have laminitis from the appearance of the hoof wall - and recently.

Epsom salts work well but can take too long especially if the abscess is deep within the hoof structure. Your vet can operate and open it up and drain it after confirming its location.

Your horse needs good grass, but at this time of year (around here, anyway) that is not a viable option.

My farrier likes two products - Hoffmans Horse Formula & biotin supplements.

A bit of Koppertox can help toughen up the soles a bit, but there are deeper problems.

[IIIBarsV]

Also, syringe the bute into her (if it's a powder, mix it with water), and buy some Ulcer medication (such as Ulcer Guard, Gastro Guard, etc) and start giving her that (via syringe if need be), too. Bute can cause ulcers in less than two weeks if the horse has been on it regularly.

[royalrox]

why is she on the Bute? Bute is not supposed to be given for more than five days.

And its been covered but definitely cut out grain/molasses, and switch to another type of hay.

[jumpthemoon]

You can saok the foot for twenty five to thirty minutes or more in a rubber pan with warm water and Epsom salts. Twice daily if possible.

As far as getting the meds in you can get a lower starch/lower sugar feed and add the ground bute plus a package or two of unsweetened Cherry Kool-Aide with water. It is messy due to the red clolor but the Cherry Kool Aide masks the bute for most horses.

[pippy]

Personally I would book a appointment with your vet and farrier at the same time. Discuss with both your current feeding program, your frustrations etc
Get this sorted for once and all. We can all sit here and tell you things that will help, but none of us can par the foot to drain the abcess - nor can you. Between the vet and farrier they will give you a complete program for feeding, triming, dressing the hoof etc so it all clears up.
I don't mean to be rude or step on your toes, but some of your replies tend to lead me to think you don't have a lot of experince with dealing in lamness and ilness in horses. And working with a vet and farrier will teach you and show you the best plan of action to fix it all with minimal fuss about it.
i.e while soaking in epson may help the abcess, it could also soften the sole somewhat and lead to more bruising.

Also no one has mentioned a word about it - but when changing a horses diet - do it gradually, if you all of a sudden remove all the sugars from its diet you are going to sevearly upset all the bacteria in the hind gut, while you do need to get your horse off all the sugars - do it over 3-7 days not in one - otherwise you may add any of constipation/diarrhea/colic to all the other problems. And hence why i suggest working the the vet on a feeding program also as he can(should) tell you of these litle things

[Laffee Taffee]

Originally Posted by pippy

Personally I would book a appointment with your vet and farrier at the same time. Discuss with both your current feeding program, your frustrations etc
Get this sorted for once and all. We can all sit here and tell you things that will help, but none of us can par the foot to drain the abcess - nor can you. Between the vet and farrier they will give you a complete program for feeding, triming, dressing the hoof etc so it all clears up.
I don't mean to be rude or step on your toes, but some of your replies tend to lead me to think you don't have a lot of experince with dealing in lamness and ilness in horses. And working with a vet and farrier will teach you and show you the best plan of action to fix it all with minimal fuss about it.
i.e while soaking in epson may help the abcess, it could also soften the sole somewhat and lead to more bruising.

Also no one has mentioned a word about it - but when changing a horses diet - do it gradually, if you all of a sudden remove all the sugars from its diet you are going to sevearly upset all the bacteria in the hind gut, while you do need to get your horse off all the sugars - do it over 3-7 days not in one - otherwise you may add any of constipation/diarrhea/colic to all the other problems. And hence why i suggest working the the vet on a feeding program also as he can(should) tell you of these litle things

Okay, I need to get a new vet first, my vet keeps telling me things that I don't think are true. She said that my horse had laminitis because she was old and that there was absolutely nothing I could do, that all I could do was keep it from getting worse. Then a month later, I put woodshavings in my horse's stall and made her stand in it for a week, and lo and behold, the laminitis almost went away completely.

Plus she hasn't even examined my horse yet but I keep telling her I think my horse has tell-tale signs of Cushing's Disease and she keeps telling me there's no way she has Cushing's. Over the past five years, my horse has been shedding her winter coat less and less. She didn't shed her winter coat at all this summer, I had to shave it off. Isn't that a sign that her hormones are getting out of balance?

[Laffee Taffee]

Originally Posted by jumpthemoon

You can saok the foot for twenty five to thirty minutes or more in a rubber pan with warm water and Epsom salts. Twice daily if possible.

As far as getting the meds in you can get a lower starch/lower sugar feed and add the ground bute plus a package or two of unsweetened Cherry Kool-Aide with water. It is messy due to the red clolor but the Cherry Kool Aide masks the bute for most horses.

XD you have no idea how ninja my horse is. I can take a little bit of bute, cover it up in maple syrup, smash it between two oatmeal cookies, bake it in an apple pie and put sprinkles on top and she will take one wiff of it and not touch it. She has like a seperate sensery organ for detecting bute, she can smell it a mile away. We tried everything to hid it in her food and she starved herself for a week before I had to start injecting it into her mouth.

[oldhorsehome]

Originally Posted by Laffee Taffee

Okay, I need to get a new vet first, my vet keeps telling me things that I don't think are true. She said that my horse had laminitis because she was old and that there was absolutely nothing I could do, that all I could do was keep it from getting worse. Then a month later, I put woodshavings in my horse's stall and made her stand in it for a week, and lo and behold, the laminitis almost went away completely.

Plus she hasn't even examined my horse yet but I keep telling her I think my horse has tell-tale signs of Cushing's Disease and she keeps telling me there's no way she has Cushing's. Over the past five years, my horse has been shedding her winter coat less and less. She didn't shed her winter coat at all this summer, I had to shave it off. Isn't that a sign that her hormones are getting out of balance?

Get a new vet, yesterday.

I would bet this horse has Cushings, possibly IR. A long coat is a HUGE red flag. Cushings horses are prone to laminitis - you must monitor their diet. I can almost guarantee that if you fix her diet, you will fix her feet. You don't need a bunch of hoof supplements or paint on stuff.

[JBandRio]

Originally Posted by pippy

Also no one has mentioned a word about it - but when changing a horses diet - do it gradually, if you all of a sudden remove all the sugars from its diet you are going to sevearly upset all the bacteria in the hind gut, while you do need to get your horse off all the sugars - do it over 3-7 days not in one - otherwise you may add any of constipation/diarrhea/colic to all the other problems. And hence why i suggest working the the vet on a feeding program also as he can(should) tell you of these litle things

Actually, you really can cold-turkey remove things like that from the diet It's adding things that usually need to be done slowly. With a horse like this, who is more likely than not in a chronic lamintitic state, the sugars need to be gone now, not in another week.

[JBandRio]

Originally Posted by Laffee Taffee

Okay, I need to get a new vet first, my vet keeps telling me things that I don't think are true. She said that my horse had laminitis because she was old and that there was absolutely nothing I could do, that all I could do was keep it from getting worse. Then a month later, I put woodshavings in my horse's stall and made her stand in it for a week, and lo and behold, the laminitis almost went away completely.

Yes, you do need to find a vet who understands 1) what laminitis is and 2) how it needs to be treated.

Plus she hasn't even examined my horse yet but I keep telling her I think my horse has tell-tale signs of Cushing's Disease and she keeps telling me there's no way she has Cushing's. Over the past five years, my horse has been shedding her winter coat less and less. She didn't shed her winter coat at all this summer, I had to shave it off. Isn't that a sign that her hormones are getting out of balance?

It sounds like your vet is very "old" in her knowledge and hasn't in the least been keeping up with the times. What a tough spot you're in. Are there other vets in your area?