Case Study: Re-shoeing Oscar

24
Aug
2009

Oscar had been shod with wedges, causing discomfort

Farrier Nigel Brown has been running his own farriery business in Abergavenny, South Wales since qualifying in 1997. He is an Approved Training Farrier, and frequently participates in shoeing and shoemaking competitions. Nigel is a regular member of the Welsh International team. Here he shares his experiences of shoeing Oscar, a horse who came to him with his feet in a very poor condition.

Horse: Oscar
Age: 9
Height: 16.2hh
Breed: Thoroughbred
Sex: Gelding

History:
Previously trained as a racehorse, Oscar came to owner Sarah in a relatively poor condition. Taken on as a ‘project’ and to give him an opportunity in a second career, Sarah was concerned his feet were not showing signs of improvement and Oscar was frequently sore and uncomfortable.

Visit One:
The initial assessment involved watching Oscar both at rest and at walk. He showed signs of discomfort in all four feet with the hind feet pitched forward under his stomach area and front feet behind the point of shoulder. Horses should typically stand in a ‘box’ with a foot in each corner.

Oscar’s front feet had been shod with side clipped shoes – side clips had been used in an attempt to shorten the toe and assist ‘break over’ (the way the horse rolles the foot forward and off the gound) to help with his low weak heel flat footed confirmation. The heels were collapsed due to a lack of support and therefore the soft tissues within the foot had also collapsed and the bars and wall had run forward in the back part of the foot. The heels had collapsed to such an extent that they had ‘folded over’.

The hind feet had also been shod with side clipped shoes with a plastic wedge pad under the heel area between the shoe and the foot. We believe this was aimed at raising the heel conformation of the flat foot. Similar to the front feet the heels showed signs of distress.

We removed the shoes on all four feet and trimmed the feet level. This is the most important part of the shoeing process – the toe was trimmed but not excessively so as to avoid weakening the strongest part of Oscar’s foot which was the toe. The folded part of the underside of the heels was removed to allow for a flat level weight bearing surface for the application of the new shoe. An immediate improvement was noted particularly with the removal of the hind feet plastic wedge pads – both hind feet showed signs of an abscess under the heel area from the wedge pads. This had been caused from excess pressure on the soft tissues on the back half of the foot.

We shod the front feet with a standard toe-clipped front shoe. Extra length and width was provided with a bigger shoe of a wider section (piece of steel). Toe clips were used to support the stronger part of the foot, the toe, and to allow for the natural action of the hoof. The hind feet were re-shod with side clips without the pads but with additional length and width – extra width was given to the outside heel on both hinds to help support the abscessed areas.

Following shoeing Oscar stood better immediately with his hind feet stood out from under his stomach and the front feet stood in line with the point of shoulder, gaining relief to his topline. Walking Oscar away reiterated this improvement. Sarah has been advised to return in four weeks – a shorter shoeing cycle at this stage will ensure that Oscar’s feet continue to improve. It is likely that his feet will continue to improve over the next 12 months. He has good horn quality and therefore supplementation of feed and/or the use of topical applications was not deemed necessary.

Look out for part two of our case study when we see Oscar again.