Hoof Drama

Poor ML. The horse that she is leasing this year has pulled off his shoes several times in the past month, yanking them off with a whole chunk of hoof. And now he's lame. The vet came out yesterday and not only does he have slight rotation in his LF, but he also has a spur on his coffin bone. And in addition to that, he has an abscess in his RF and has strained his tendon in that leg because of his ridiculously long toes.

When ML got this horse, she found out that he had a case of laminitis in his past, something that hadn't been completely corrected since he still had a stretched white line and slight rotation in his LF. ML asked me about what I would recommend about feed, since she knows that I'm obsessed with learning things like that. I told her she should feed a low NSC and low sugar grain because of the laminitis and increased sensitivity. Then she moved him to a new barn where the owner feeds cow feed - basically wet cob. Not only does that contain oats (high in NSC's) but also lots of molasses. Not an ideal feed.

Anyways, the vet that I use is also a farrier and so he came out and took a look at ML's horse's hooves. He's going to speak to ML's farrier (which is obviously doing an awful job) and see if they can't fix up his hooves. Right now he's got clips to keep the shoes on, but whenever he pulls a shoe off there goes a chunk of the hoof wall. He also has pads on because he has such thin soles. The vet said that the thin soles are causing calcium to be leached from the coffin bone. I'll be interested in seeing how he wants to remedy this problem of a thin sole, since without that sole touching the ground, I don't see how it can be built up.

Not ML's horse's hooves, but remarkably similar, save for ML's horse has a taller heel and has some caulk-like stuff to cover up the chunks missing from the hoof wall...

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Thoughts? I've tried to talk to her about trying barefoot, but she won't consider it (though all of my 4+ horses that she's met and ridden have always been barefoot with zero problems. Go figure.) I'm not even sure he would be able to go barefoot with the bone spur... TS, the vet the dressage team had a lesson with, recommended half round shoes, which from the internet seems to be a good recommendation, but we'll just have to see what this vet recommends. What will help him build up sole? Has anyone heard of a horse with a bone spur on the coffin bone and how were they managed?

Some research on the internet found that injecting the coffin was good for short-term soundness, but also supplementation of magnesium and ? There are a couple supplements out there that I've seen for improving bone quality.