horses hooves

[cowlady1]

I have a horse that her back hooves are good hardly have to trim them. Her front hooves are always in need of trimming. They don't seem to smell or anything. Could this be a founder problem? We ride on dirt so I don't shoe my horses but keep them trimmed. I always thought all 4 hooves would show founder if she had it. I'm a cow person more than a horse person. I'd really like to know. I've been around horses but don't know as much about them.

 

[msscamp]

Founder manifests in the front hooves only. Is she tender on one or both of her front feet? Does she have a tendency to go lame on one or both of them for no apparent reason? Is she holding one of them up - or alternating holding both of them up? Does she stretch her front feet out in front of her, while kind of sitting back on her haunches in an attempt to get weight off them? Do the hooves on her front feet look different than the back feet - ridged, bumpy, uneven, striated, etc? If so, I would be inclined to say you're dealing with a case of founder.

 

[Kelly]

It is very possible for a horse to have laminitis & founder in all 4 feet. My horse has foundered in 3 of the 4 at one time.You could be dealing with laminitis that is causing the front feet to grow at a faster rate. Can you post pics of the feet? What kind of diet is the horse on? Is it on pasture? What breed? Is the horse tender footed or hesitant to take tight turns?

 

[Cindy]

Sometimes it is caused by being in soft dirt all the time.Also if your horse is club footed it will grow the heel 3 x faster then the hoof wall. Cindy

 

[msscamp]

Founder manifests in the front hooves only.

Oops, forgot the 'generally' between 'founder' and 'manifests'. Sorry.

 

[cowlady1]

This horse is american saddle bred about 7years old. She does stand holding one foot up most of the time. however when you ride her she doesn't seem to have any problem. She stretches out sometimes. back feet no problem.It's mostly her front ones.She is in pasture but its real short.1quart of grain for the day if not ridding. 2quarts before a ride 2after she has cooled down. 12% horse feed & 1st cut hay about 2flakes 3 times a day. water at all times. She is in nice shape its her feet. You can trim her feet with no problem.I've seen horses foundered badly & they didn't stand to well. Thats why I wasn't sure.

 

[msscamp]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

 

[flaboy]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Wise beyond your years. ;-)

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Actually a horse cocking up a hoof isn't neccessarily a problem almost all of our horses do it, it's just like a person taking weight off a leg and standing to relax. Also founder is brought upon by too much sucrose and fructose sugars such as fresh green grass in the spring or after fall rain and horses are in pasture. I think the original question in this post was if her horse was foundering if the back hooves didn't need to be trimmed as often as the fronts. It doesn't mean anything if the backs aren't as long when the farrier comes. If you think about it the backs get the most use because the are used for propulsion. I trim our horses and the fronts are always longer than the backs. Sometimes I'll trim the fronts and just rasp the backs. Don't worry.

 

[cowlady1]

I'd like to thank everybody for your opinions. Like I said I'm a cow person. The only thing I knew about horses you could put in 3 sentences. I know how to feed them & even with founder but this horse has me stumped. She sort of acts foundered & yet not like ones I've seen. The way I was tought to do horses here is the bridle blanket saddle & this is how you do the feet. Quite a lesson it could have had a little bit more to it I thought.Nothing on shots or fevers none of that sort of thing.It's been an experience for that part.

 

[msscamp]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Actually a horse cocking up a hoof isn't neccessarily a problem almost all of our horses do it, it's just like a person taking weight off a leg and standing to relax.

When is the last time you saw a horse standing around with a front foot cocked?

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Actually a horse cocking up a hoof isn't neccessarily a problem almost all of our horses do it, it's just like a person taking weight off a leg and standing to relax.

When is the last time you saw a horse standing around with a front foot cocked?

We have a mare that will cock her front hoof, no probs. When was the last time you saw a foundered horse stand with it's front foot cocked? I'd say never, but that's only my opinion. I didn't say a horse that cocks it's foot isn't hurt I said a cocked hoof doesn't always mean injury.

There is no question if a horse has foundered or not you will be able to tell. The last mare we had foundered could hardly walk and would stretch way out leaning back to keep the weight off of her front feet. I think your horse is alright, but keep checking her out to make sure it doesn't get worse.

 

[J&T Farm]

A horse that has foundered in the past will need extra trimming and care for the rest of there life in most cases. Most horses do founder on the front feet, I have seen some that foundered all the way around. If the horse has been foundered your horseshoer would know it. Some horses front feet just grow more, our horses front feet are always longer that the backs, have more cracks, some of it is because the front feet carry alot more weight than the backs. If the horse is sore on the front feet something may be wrong but, if it is just that the feet are growing long and cracking, I would say you just need a good horseshoer. If the horse has foundered before the founder is done and you can't rotate the coffin bone back up so you just have to work with the foot the way it is, If the horse is having trouble walking corrective measures can be taken by a horseshoer to help relieve stress on the tendons, and muscles, wedge pads, trimming the feet at the right angles.
Hopefully your horse is just one that front feet grow faster on.

 

[cowlady1]

This horse doesn't stretch out like her feet hurt her or anything & her hooves are not split. The hooves have like lines that go around the hoof not up or down.When she stretches out she sort of does it like a show horse. Thats the only way I know to discribe this. She may be okay I always wondered if she was or not. I've seen bad cases of founder if she has it I'm either keeping her from getting worse or she just started into it when I bought her.She's a nice trail horse well broke has a habbit or 2. I'd like to keep her. Might need transportion if the gas & ect. keeps going up.You never know.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Sounds like your horse might have ringbone which only means she needs more attention when your farrier comes and your farrier may need to come more often, but if kept in check your horse will be fine.

 

[msscamp]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Actually a horse cocking up a hoof isn't neccessarily a problem almost all of our horses do it, it's just like a person taking weight off a leg and standing to relax.

When is the last time you saw a horse standing around with a front foot cocked?

We have a mare that will cock her front hoof, no probs. When was the last time you saw a foundered horse stand with it's front foot cocked? I'd say never, but that's only my opinion. I didn't say a horse that cocks it's foot isn't hurt I said a cocked hoof doesn't always mean injury.

I've never seen a horse stand with a front foot cocked, nor would I accept one horse doing it as a sure-fire example of nothing being wrong.

There is no question if a horse has foundered or not you will be able to tell.

I do not agree with this statement. Our local farrier worked out of our barn for a number of years and, over those years, he had quite a few horses with feet problems that turned out to be founder that were not obvious. Every horse is different, and assumptions can prove to be very costly - in a lot of ways. I would suggest investing a little time and finding out for sure.

 

[msscamp]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Wise beyond your years. ;-)

Thank you, but I cannot accept credit for this - the credit belongs to Mike, our farrier. He worked out of our barn for quite a few years, before getting his own place/barn next door to us. I hung around, asked questions, and learned a whole lot about horses, laminitis, founder, and a few other things.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Actually a horse cocking up a hoof isn't neccessarily a problem almost all of our horses do it, it's just like a person taking weight off a leg and standing to relax.

When is the last time you saw a horse standing around with a front foot cocked?

We have a mare that will cock her front hoof, no probs. When was the last time you saw a foundered horse stand with it's front foot cocked? I'd say never, but that's only my opinion. I didn't say a horse that cocks it's foot isn't hurt I said a cocked hoof doesn't always mean injury.

I've never seen a horse stand with a front foot cocked, nor would I accept one horse doing it as a sure-fire example of nothing being wrong.

There is no question if a horse has foundered or not you will be able to tell.

I do not agree with this statement. Our local farrier worked out of our barn for a number of years and, over those years, he had quite a few horses with feet problems that turned out to be founder that were not obvious. Every horse is different, and assumptions can prove to be very costly - in a lot of ways. I would suggest investing a little time and finding out for sure.

I am a farrier and my wife has a Bachelors in Animal Science degree so I think we have a pretty good understanding about horses. With that being said most horse owners know their animals well enough to know if something is wrong. All cases of founder I've seen were blatantly obvious from coffin bone rotation to the laminae delaminating. I'm not saying that if a horse looks fine it must be fine and don't worry. However, if something looks wrong it doesn't mean it's founder. I do wholly agree that if a person can't figure it out themselves that they need to seek professional advice. Our difference of opinion all stems from your original post that a horse standing with a cocked hoof means there are major problems and that isn't always the case.

 

[msscamp]

Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem. I would call my vet, and I would call a good farrier. I would also cut out all grain, alfalfa hay, and very good quality grass hay - too much protein in all of them - until I knew what I was dealing with.

Actually a horse cocking up a hoof isn't neccessarily a problem almost all of our horses do it, it's just like a person taking weight off a leg and standing to relax.

When is the last time you saw a horse standing around with a front foot cocked?

We have a mare that will cock her front hoof, no probs. When was the last time you saw a foundered horse stand with it's front foot cocked? I'd say never, but that's only my opinion. I didn't say a horse that cocks it's foot isn't hurt I said a cocked hoof doesn't always mean injury.

I've never seen a horse stand with a front foot cocked, nor would I accept one horse doing it as a sure-fire example of nothing being wrong.

There is no question if a horse has foundered or not you will be able to tell.

I do not agree with this statement. Our local farrier worked out of our barn for a number of years and, over those years, he had quite a few horses with feet problems that turned out to be founder that were not obvious. Every horse is different, and assumptions can prove to be very costly - in a lot of ways. I would suggest investing a little time and finding out for sure.

Our difference of opinion all stems from your original post that a horse standing with a cocked hoof means there are major problems and that isn't always the case.

Perhaps you could show me where I said that - what I actually said was "Anytime a horse stands with one foot held up, there is a major problem". Nowhere did I mention a cocked foot - that was you, and there is a very big difference between the two. Kindly get your facts straight, and thank you.

 

[cowlady1]

I didn't mean to set off an up roar I just thought I'd ask about this horse to see what you all might think. I guess I'll have to ask the farrier when he comes. I can trim her feet & ect.in between his stopping in. I used to do this before.I would have a farrier 2 times a year.In between I'd do them unless I'd have shoes put on.I know how to take shoes off when need be.Since I had half a lung removed I have trouble bending for to long.I just couldn't figure why she held that hoof up like she does.It might be she does this as a trick for her feed. As this is really the only time I see her do it. I've been watching her close lately.She doesn't seem to hold that hoof up anytime else just when you feed her.