Monday, October 22, 2018

Taran's special sneakers (or, how EasyShoes keeps my Cushing's horse sound)

Taran has been barefoot for most of his life, until he stepped on a nail that went through both his coffin joint and navicular bursae, back in 2011. During recovery, he had a hospital plate and then a rocker-toed supportive shoe, but early on after the injury it became apparent that whatever internal damage the nail had done meant that he needed the toe on the damaged foot (his RF) to be kept very short, or he would be off due to the strain on the DDFT.

Fast forward to early 2017 - second level, and we were having some issues with Taran being a bit sore on the fronts under some conditions. My trimmer did what she could, and we tried hoof casts to keep him comfortable, plus loads of biotin supplements. Unfortunately, the casts only last about 10 days under the best conditions, and they're not really a long term solution. I ended up having x-rays done, and we discovered that T only had about 4.5 mm of sole (he should have had 10-12mm). So, we opted to put steel shoes on him for a cycle or two and see if that helped.

At almost exactly 4 weeks in, Taran started short-striding on the right front. We pulled the shoes, shortened his toe, and tried to reset them, but he just doesn't grow enough hoof for four-week resets.  We were forced to go back to barefoot again.

(This was before we figured out that he had Cushings, so if your normally fine barefoot horse suddenly has no sole depth and doesn't grow any hoof, you might want to try to figure out why.)

Sept 7 2017 - This was shortly after the metal shoes were pulled. Note how unevenly he's standing, with the RF held out away from his body at an angle. He's clearly not comfortable here.

Sept 7 2017 - Flat sole, weak caudal hoof. Poor guy.

He actually did two shows in early fall 2017 barefoot, while we kept bringing his toe back so the RF would be comfortable again. The problem was, he'd be fine on really good arena footing, but short and choppy everywhere else. We didn't want to put his Easyboot Trail shoes on for serious work, because the extra weight and further-forward breakover point would put additional stress on the DDFT, which we were trying to avoid (they are also not legal for shows because they cover the hairline). But we were also struggling with bruising due to a thin sole. So, we ended up trying EasyShoe Performance glue-ons.

Turns out, these magic shoes basically turn Taran into Fred Astaire. There's nothing on the toe, so the breakover is much further back where he likes it. He was wearing these at Nationals last year and it was the best he'd ever moved (ok, ok, so the super-awesome Otto Sport footing didn't hurt either). 

 
EasyShoe Performance glue-ones, sometime late fall 2017. His toes have run forward here - we were still trying to back them up after the metal shoes. Also notice how straight he's standing, and in all subsequent pics

Uhhhhn-fortunately, because there are only two small cuffs on the sides to glue to, they aren't the best at staying on - even with bell boots on 24/7. So, we tried casting over them:

Feb 8 2018 - Easyshoe Performance with hoof casts

But after one too many resets 10 days apart, we eventually gave up and tried the Easyboot "Love Child". This has a bigger front cuff to glue on:

Feb 26 2018

Feb 26 2018

You can see that although it provides more glueing area, it doesn't quite match the angle of his hoof, and it brings the breakover point further forward. Still, using it allowed my trimmer to move his toe back over time and shore up his heel, and we haven't had any problems with soundness this year (knock on wood).  

May 9 2018


June 1 2018

June 1 2018 - compare the overall concavity and health of the caudal hoof with the first pic

But... Taran just doesn't move as well in these as he does in the Performance shoes. The toe is just a bit too heavy for him, and he feels like he's struggling to get his front feet out of the way. My trimmer tried taking removing most of the toe on the shoe, while still keeping the advantages of having a wider glueing area: 

Aug 1 2018 - Love Childs with the toe rasped back

Aug 1 2018

However, removing so much off the front of the shoe changed the integrity of it, so we sort of ended up with flip-flops. Plus, the Love Childs were back-ordered, so we went back to the Performance shoes.

Oct 20 2018 - Performance shoes (shiny because I had just hosed his feet off)

Oct 20 2018 - Note how normal-looking and even the hoof wall is, although you can also see the event line about 1/3 of the way down, where we changed his feed

Taran's whole way of going is different in these - he's light on the front end, yet he's clearly comfortable so uses his shoulder to the fullest extent. It's been a long road, but I think we've finally found the perfect combination for T... even if we do have to reset ever two weeks!

17 comments:

  1. They may not be pretty but if they help the horse that's all that matters!

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    1. They are definitely not the prettiest thing ever, but T thinks they're awesome and that's really all I care about!

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  2. Whoa, this is really cool. When I look at the bottom of the foot pictures in the link, it seems like it might be hard to pick their feet out. Is that the case?

    Is the glueing something you're able to do after the farrier does a trim? Does it take a while to set?

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    1. It takes a little to get used to picking them out, but I don't find it to be very hard. I will occasionally hose things out though, especially if it's been really muddy.

      My trimmer does the glueing right after a trim. The glue actually sets VERY quickly - less than 5 minutes, and even faster when it's hot out!

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  3. Man, what an adventure that has been. Lilly is doing wonderful barefoot these days, but she's not really in work right now. I hadn't heard of the LC until reading your post. I'll keep those in mind if/when we get back into showing. Glad to hear they're helping mister Taran! His feet look great.

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    1. Aw, I miss Lilly updates! Glad to hear she's doing so well :)

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  4. I hope your perseverance continues to be rewarded. Those hoof issues can be really tough, especially during training. My friend's horse wears the same glue-on shoes. I think he often has casts over top. His comfort level is greatly improved, but it takes hours to do his feet sometimes. There is always a trade-off, it seems.

    Every two weeks? Yikes.

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    1. It takes about 30 extra minutes to do the glue-ons, but my trimmer is pretty experienced with them. And yeah, every two weeks. Sometimes they last longer, but we put in a lot of mileage.

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  5. I have found nailing the EPONA shoes works better than gluing easy shoes. Nailing easy shoes was a bust. They didnt stay on. Eponas are also less bulky and a complete circle so you dont get issues with the shoe spreading.they also are designed for short breakover and increased heel support. The

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    1. I've looked into Eponas, but I cannot nail anything on to his feet. He simply doesn't grow enough hoof to support having something nailed to his feet every 4 weeks. Also, we've found that the frog support with the Easyshoes works really well for him and supports the back of the hoof, plus it allows for the heel to absorb shock quite well. Every horse is different, so we're going with what works for him!

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  6. WOW the change in his hoof! Definitely sounds like a good combination even with the short reset cycle.

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    1. Right? I'm not against steel shoes and I've them work really well for some horses before, but for T, one cycle really set him back. Fingers crossed that this magic combination is the way to go and will continue to keep him happy and comfortable!

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  7. Sheesh, what an ordeal! So glad you've found something that works!!

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    1. I'm lucky to have such a good trimmer who is willing to experiment!

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  8. Those are super cool! I love seeing foot transformations, especially since my own two boys are barefoot but totally different.

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