[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)

[PeggySue]

Her nutrition looks to be lacking ... which senior feed is she on how much how often ??

Why are you adding molasses?? How much hay does she get how often ??

What kind of riding do you do with her?? if any

Abcesses, thrush and bruising as well as chips come from poor farrier work and a diet that is lacking

[palimino57]

Im no expert,but I will have to agree with Peggy.. Those feet dont look so hot

[sorrell]

Methionine and MSM have helped my horse's hooves best, but there are some other issues that probably need to be addressed, like the bute and feeding and trimming of hooves.

the iodine may be drying the hooves too much. I recommend Clorhexidine for thrush and white line disease. It kills the fungi, but doesn't do harm to the hoof wall. You can get a gallon jug for under $12 and it will last for years.

[Laffee Taffee]

Originally Posted by PeggySue

Her nutrition looks to be lacking ... which senior feed is she on how much how often ??

Why are you adding molasses?? How much hay does she get how often ??

What kind of riding do you do with her?? if any

Abcesses, thrush and bruising as well as chips come from poor farrier work and a diet that is lacking

She's on Senior Horse Feed, and she gets about... roughly 5 pounds or 3 coffee cans of it, mixed with about 2 pounds of mollasses or 3 cans of the coffee can (she was my friend's horse before she was mine, and I've just been feeding her the same way he was). She has the molassus because she wasn't eating her food because we're putting the bute in it. She gets one flake of hay when I feed her, and she eats at 8 AM and again at 5 PM.

I ride her either in her corral, or I walk her to an arena down the street and do mostly trotting with her.

Does this mean I should be feeding her something else? I had a feeling it could be dietary but I was stumped as to what to feed her instead of what she's been eating for the past ten years.

[jumpthemoon]

Does she have Cushings Disease or has she been checked for Cushings? Her heels in those back hooves look really high and her soles look really bruised up. Poor girl. Have you tried getting her a good trim and some hind shoes to make her more comfortable? Can you change her diet off the alfalfa molasses and straight alfalfa hay? That is not a good diet for a laminitic horse. She would be much better off on Orchard grass hay and some sort of lower starch/lower sugar feed.

[Goonhorse]

The reason her hoof walls look all wrinkled is because she has/had laminitis.

I agree her heels look super high.

Why did your friend mix the senior feed with molasses? And why so much? Definitely cut out the molasses. That is probably one major reason she has laminitis.

I'll let the feed experts take it from here, because I don't know that much.

[Laffee Taffee]

Originally Posted by jumpthemoon

Does she have Cushings Disease or has she been checked for Cushings? Her heels in those back hooves look really high and her soles look really bruised up. Poor girl. Have you tried getting her a good trim and some hind shoes to make her more comfortable? Can you change her diet off the alfalfa molasses and straight alfalfa hay? That is not a good diet for a laminitic horse. She would be much better off on Orchard grass hay and some sort of lower starch/lower sugar feed.

I had a feeling she had Cushing's and every time I mentioned it, everyone would look agast and say "CUSHINGS??? Why would she have CUSHINGS??" Dunno why everyone had that reaction, it was as if I was telling them my horse was pregnant with my baby.

But you know, this summer she didn't lose her winter coat at all, I had to shave it off. Plus with the laminitis, that's gotta be a sign of Cushing's disease. So should I get some Pergolide? Stuff works like a charm but it's so expensive >_<

[JBandRio]

It's not Cushing's you necessarily need to be concerned about (though it would be helpful to test, unfortunately it's just about too late in the year), but Insulin Resistance. IR is separate from, but often comes along with, Cushing's Disease, and can exist on its own.

Go read www.safergrass.org for starters.

You are likely dealing with chronic laminitis, and more likely than not, also founder. Have you had xrays done on her feet?

Is she eating 1 flake of hay, twice a day, and that's it as far as hay and grass are concerned? If so, that's not nearly enough forage.

No more molasses, period. No more grains. She needs to get off all that sugar. Which Senior feed is she getting? TC Sr is much more acceptable than just about any other Sr feed out there for her at this time.

[clinchblock]

dont panic this is workable i have delt with this alot - need to do some Q. & A. if you like, my livelihood depends on my work, just trying to add some helpfull insight.