Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alrighty, I can't seem to get away from being stumped!
This season has been fairly dry, but certainly not dryer than last year. ALL of my horses are suffering from godawful cracks and breaking hooves, Jewel's feet are sprawling out at the bottom. I don't understand it at all. I'm putting hoof dressing (RainMaker) on them all, and on top of that, these cracks and nastinesses are happening a mere 3 weeks after the farrier's been here. Pretty Boy's shoes came off in 3 weeks, they've never done this before! I know it's not the farrier because my cousin moved her horse here, and ever since he's been on my property he's had the same troubles. What in the world is going on? What can I do? I got some bell boots for Pretty Boy when we put his shoes back on, but as for the rest they normally don't even need shoes!

THe other problem: The great saddle mystery. My TWH/SSH Jewel has puzzled me from day 1 on saddles. I have 4 saddles and not a single one of them fit her, so I went to a horse rescue auction and snagged a Spanish saddle "FOR A BROAD HORSE" thinking that would be perfect. I set it on her back and it fits her pretty well, but when I put a blanket and girth on her she proved me wrong. I've tried two different girth sizes, made the second one smaller, and tightened it as tight as it could possibly go, and still when I went to mount her the saddle slipped all the way down her belly. Just to see if she was blowing out I tried sliding it back up and it wouldn't budge. WHAT ON EARTH? Is there anything I should measure her for before I go saddle shopping, or maybe a certain kind of pad that I should try? I'm stumped, and I'm not made of money either so I can't just have a saddle made I really need to win the lottery... in the meantime, any suggestions before I have to save up for a year and then spend it all on the last resort of having something made? Thanks!

Sorry about your hoof problem...we are in Oklahoma and it is really dry. Our problem due to the dryness is the horses frogs are not shedding normally. The just get ragged between trims,so we are having a problem with thrush. We have never had this problem before...we are using Thrush Buster on them.

Have not had much problem with their hooves cracking...maybe it's because they get in the stock pond a lot. Years ago I had a horse who had dry,splitting hooves...the farrier had me try standing her in water every day.Good luck.

Have you tried a Tacky Tack saddle pad ?

Sorry to hear of your hoof problems. I just joined this forum & am a hoofcare practitioner, so I'll give you my take...

Your horses need *water* to soak their feet in regularly. Other hoof gunk is not generally useful for much. If you can't afford the water to overflow a trough for them to stand in or make a 'soaking pond', you can use soaking boots. You can actually make them pretty easily out of tyre inner tubes.

While the environment and diet does factor in this, the main problem IS almost always incorrect hoofcare. I'd say your farrier is probably leaving the walls too long & not rounding off the edges, etc. On top of this, too long between trims, too long in shoes without a break(horses should be barefoot for *at least* 3-4 months of the year), too little execise, contracted feet, etc, can cause feet to become weakened, so cracking & other problems are more likely to occur.

Take a look at www.barefoothorse.com for some great info & pics on the good, bad & ugly of hoofcare.

With regard to saddles, are you only trying Western types, or have you tried English or Australian types? Some horses are just not suited to Westerns. I'd be either getting a saddler to come out or taking the horse to visit one. Pads are rarely the answer & can lead to other imbalances & problems. *Generally*, if a saddle doesn't fit without a pad, it won't fit with one, regardless of the type.

I have a SSH/Arab mix that I got 1 1/2 years ago. We went through heck trying to fit a saddle and with his feet.

Lesson learned, it may LOOK like it fits, but it may not.
I went to http://crestridgesaddlery.com/ to get my saddle. They specifically fit gaited horses-very few can use a non gaited saddle. They have a relatively affordable saddle between $400-$500. They will have you take measurements and will fit a saddle to your horses confirmation. The straight run Sonata isn't the MOST comfortable saddle, takes a little getting used to. But it provides a very stable seat and with my narrow fast shifty horse I am always centered. I have successfully sat some very big spooks that I would not have stayed on with the other saddle I was using.

If the other saddle was uncomfortable your horse may have been bloating. Mine can take up to 12 inches in girth when he so chooses, keep walking and tightening up slowly-not sharply-to make sure it is secure.

If you don't want to purchase another saddle just yet, try a supracor pad. It helped a lot, he and I love it! I got it on ebay for 25% of the retail cost. I recommend it to anyone, especially with gaited horses or a bad saddle fit.

I have also found if you can have moderate to light hands that a wonderbit works great on him.

In regards to his feet, this has been an ongoing battle. Five farriers later in 18 months I am switching to a Equine Podiatrist in stead of a Farrier. http://equinepodiatry.net/
The last Farrier had his feet so hacked up he was on the road to Navicular according to our vet. He was forging, stumbling, out of stride and breaking his feet into the sold-huge chunks. Breaking was partially due to the weather this year dry-wet-dry-wet but also due to the feet not being finished properly.

What has worked for mine may not work for yours-but best of luck to you!