hi i,m new on this site. this is my fisrt thread. i have a thoroughbred that abcessed in the heel. it was cut out 4,5 weeks ago. it was an old abscess. in the past i have rebuilt a very low thoroughbred heel with vettec adhere, however after the next shoeing the different farrier said that an abscess was found under that heel. i have read that the heat of the setting adhere can cause an abscess, has anyone found this too?. this horse has very very slow heel growth and fast toe growth, so to get him back in the game he needs some heel rebuilding, cause the owners aren,t going to wait for ever for this horse to grow heel. after heel rebuilding, the fronts will get 3dregree castle frog pads with probably sil-pak. he's a low level jumper. can the heel be rebuilt without further abscess formation, if the adhere is the cause?
Can you post pictures of the foot from the bottom, side, and front? That would save about 3000 words.
Reconstructing the heels with polymers and then returning the horse to a high impact activity is not going to get any heel regeneration. If the Adhere was indeed the cause of the abscess it is probably because there was some impingement by the Adhere on the sole that resulted in bruising which in time, advanced to a purulent state. Considering the heat generated when a shoe is hot fit, I doubt that the heat generated as the Adhere sets up is sufficient to cause abscess formation. Tom's request for photos is a good one. Photos will let us see what you have to work with so that any suggestions made, will be 'informed' ones.
I would think the Adhere thickly applied, would have turned too hard over time , and that might have caused an issue or 2
As the boys have said could be causing more probs with the consistency of the polymer. Acrylics can be more flexible and kinder on surrounding tissue. The other problem is sealing in infection with the filler. The infection is anaerobic and smothering it with filler may flare it up again. In truth I quite often just put the shoe where the foot should be and ignore the problem. Its amazing how often that is the best solution.
I have 3 or 4 horses in hand- made raised heels for 3/4 years ,there angles would not be great and they do just fine foot trim and heel lenth and width on shoe are important
If you are using a castle frog support pad that is wedged, what I would do is float the heels and see what results you get there..
View attachment 3431 View attachment 3431 View attachment 3431 sorry about the picture all over the place. the solar shots don,t show the concavity of the abcess well. it is growing out. i hope you can get the idea. the horse had acute laminitis last year . and he regularly gets founder rings. some small wld and seedy toe is evident. and possbly a bit of dropped sole. bit of a train wreck. thats better, pictures where i want it. picture of previous bar wedge. horse went well in bar wedge. but heels still sink.
Were all the photos taken at the same time? Have you considered using a frog support bar wedge or a Myron McLane pad?
if the trim is not proper, anything you put on top of it is not going to help. Those feet look like typical beat up TB feet. Find someone who works with a lot of TBs.
the last two with shoes on where from last year. yes i think those pads are on the right track for frog support, but if its not recommend to built up the heel with something, then i,m thinking a wedge pad and heartbar , and leave the heel alone, might do?
yeah i said the foot was a wreck, but the other feet are ok . those barefoot shots are 5 weeks from last trim. can you see a problem with the trim?
uneven heels that are too long first off and when you thin the hoof wall that much you can't expect it to hold up. the horse is a good candidate for glue ons for a few cycles.
yes the uneven heels is because of the cut out abscess on the medial side. are the heels to long? this foot has a broken back HPA, ive tried to get the heel to grow straight but with no success. there is NO wall thinning on this horse, only a bit of bringing back the toe on this foot and light dressing of founder rings. the quaters have broken away. yes glue ons are a good idea, however because of the cost it is not happening. if i could rebuild the medial heel it would go someways to getting the horse into light work. who thinks a 3 dregree pad + heart bar + sil- pak and leave the heel alone to grow might help this foot? im open minded to ideas. its very easy to use this site picture uploading format.
Micheal I dont think you have done a bad job, perversely allowing the horse to grow heel when the toe is running forward as you know wont work. trimmng the heel back to solid heel and bringing the toe back will often ease that upright pastern. as a guide I quite often set the shoe out the back of the heel by as much as I have let the shoe in the toe. Put the quarter bends of the shoe half way down the branch and then line them up with the quarters of the foot, that gives you guide to length to. Then add elevation if required but it isnt always.
When a heel curves that much(Lateral) it's too long. After the abcess was cut out the medial heel is too long,going in the wrong direction. What happened to the quarters? Better off to bevel that dorsal wall out of the way, than to thin it so it bends even more. Offer the client the option of them paying for the sigafoose shoes or the equilox for rebuild and charge them for your time
sorry i have responded sooner, as i had computer problems. Thanks all for there advice. as it turns out there is an article in the march issue of farrier journal about long toe ,short heel and broken back hpa. some approuches are the same as said here. thanks mick.
