H&C

16
Sep
2009

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Case Study: Reshoeing Oscar - Second visit

Oscar's hind foot after being shod for the second time

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 years old
Height: 16.2hh
Breed: Thoroughbred
Sex: Gelding

History:
Previously trained as a racehorse, Oscar came to 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. Following his initial visit to the forge, Oscar returned four weeks later for his second appointment.

Visit two:
Four weeks had passed since Oscar’s initial appointment and on returning to the forge his feet had grown and the clenches had risen slightly. The shoes were still in the correct position indicating that an appropriate length of time had been allowed between shoeings. The shoes were worn fairly evenly in front and the hinds showed an increased amount of wear towards the outside heel where the foot was particularly under-run. This was to be expected and will improve with the shoeing and Oscar’s improved movement.

Oscar looked more comfortable and he was stood more at ease than before. Sarah reported Oscar to have been in work since the last visit and seemed to be enjoying his work - if a little too much!

We removed the shoes and at first glance the hoof did not look like it had grown much. However, the external structures of the foot e.g. the bar, sole and frog, appeared to be much stronger and healthier and not under quite as much pressure. This has allowed the foot to function better and move as a unit which in turn will have allowed better blood flow to the previously stressed and infected areas.

The trim is always the most important part – leaving as much healthy horn on the foot as possible. Over trimming the soles and frog can dramatically weaken the foot. The areas in which the heels had collapsed to such an extent that they had ‘folded over' need to be trimmed to re-shape the horn tubules in line with what would be the norm to allow for the shoe to be correctly fitted.

Oscar’s feet were fitted with new shoes all round. The front feet had the exactly the same as before with handmade toe-clipped concave shoes and the hind feet were shod with side-clipped concave shoes. The hinds were also handmade with a slight increased length and width known as a ‘lateral extension’ to support the under-run outside heel.

Oscar appeared to be more comfortable as a whole and stood better throughout this shoeing. His progress so far has been very pleasing and it is hoped that he continues in this way. A further appointment was made for four weeks time so be sure to chack on Oscar's progress then.