[QHgin]

Cody has on these really think healed shoes b/c of his arthritis and no heel. well b/c of that his hooves dont touch the ground and his hooves and frog have becom very hard. his frog has dried up to the point that it cut my finger! what can i put on his hooves and frogs to help them. here is a pic so you can see how thick the shoes are.

[JBandRio]

Use it or lose it, I'm afraid, in the case of the frog here. The feet were greatly contracted to start with, causing the frog to atrophy. The current situation isn't doing anything to alleviate that. Unless and until the frog is in contact with the ground, it will look puny and shriveled and be hard (until is rains and he stands in moisture for a couple of days). But, as it stands, the frog is non-functional, and that means a less than healthy foot

[QHgin]

how can i help this. he needs these shoes. with out them he can barley walk. is there something that can be put between the shoe and hoof to make the frog be in contact with the ground?

[JBandRio]

I'm afraid if you feel he needs the shoes, then you'll have to talk to Rick here about that.

IMHO he doesn't need the shoes. IMHO he can barely walk without them because his feet are not in good shape. That's a problem with the trim, not because he does or doesn't have shoes Those heels are so contracted and underrun, and the toes are so long (you can't really tell that in these pictures but it's obvious in several of your other pictures) that the internal structures of the foot are compromised, so yes, walking barefoot on the ground will not be comfortable.

If this were my horse, I'd have the shoes off and use boots to make him comfortable. But, if you can't find someone who knows how to trim a foot, that won't really be doing much in the way of getting these feet back in shape. Boots can only do so much, they aren't QUITE magic

[RickB.]

Mostly I agree with what JB has said. The frog is compromised and since it is 'split open' through the center sulcus, that may also be causing pain.

Since I'm not much of a boot proponent(though I do have some wearing boots because of really bad hoof pathologies that preclude either barefoot or shoes right now) I'd probably suggest trying the horse barefoot, with a proper trim. Now, this can be painful for the horse and painful for the owner to watch but until you get the underlying pathologies remediated, nothing is going to be of much longterm help.

If I were going to keep this horse shod, I would probably first get the heels trimmed down appreciably then use a #3 bar wedge with frog support pad and probably not a wedged heel shoe. I might even consider using the EDSS shoe and rails but not the full pad of that system, rather the bar wedge/frog prosthesis pad. There is some degree of risk in doing this because since the central sulci is split and thus prone to infection, it becomes more difficult to keep it cleaned out. That said, it can be done and since it feel it is imperative to get frog to ground contact re-established, I'd accept the risk and just kept very attentive to those feet.

Where is the arthritis located and how advanced is it?

[JBandRio]

Rick, this horse WAS barefoot, with a poor trim, and I think her vet recommended shoes, and either the vet or new farrier said wedges were necessary.

MUCH of QHgin's problems are that she can't find anyone who can trim worth a darn

She is not that far from me, and if I thought I could make/find the time to work on this horse I would offer.

[QHgin]

the arthritis is in the pasture/fetlock joint according to the vet. but im seeing it in the knee. his knee swells up sometimes. the vet said that he need wedegs b/c the angle of the hoof was causing the arthritis pain.Im not sure how advanced it is but he wasn't lame at all untill around feb. i think. he had a month off b/c of the cold and mudd and thats when i started to notice the lamness. the day b-4 he got the shoes he could barley walk i had to got to the vet to pick up some meds to get him through the day so he could eat. now he can walk and run. wich in mind proves the vet right. but.....im not happy with his frogs at all. i have gone through 4 farriers in about 4 months.

[JBandRio]

The problem with wedging to solve the problem the vet was describing is that it's just a bandaid. The REAL problem is in the long toes, followed by the underrun heels. The wedges only straightened out the angles some, but did nothing to fix the shape of the foot. And, as a result, they will likely only be a temporary fix. Pretty soon the wedge will need to be thicker.

[QHgin]

ok. my farrier said that within the next 3-4 shoeing that he wont need the wedge anymore. does that sound right?

[sheplovr]

HOOFLEX SWEETIE paint it all over the frog so good and the entire hoof, do if often and it will soften and make a great foot.
I had horses for over 35 years and used this product and never ever had a hoof problem even with bad farriers, it kept the foot pliable soft and supple and healthy, an old product still around get it and use it daily.........Good luck honey