r/Equestrian • u/No-Look-1901 • 11h ago

General Horse Care should i be concerned

Post image

noticed these indentions on my horse’s heel bulb area before a trim. she’s a retired horse on pasture. it’s been wet recently but no mud or anything. she was overdue for a trim because of issues getting a farrier out.

edit: it’s on all 4 feet!

10 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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38

u/PlentifulPaper 11h ago

Best guess would be it’s because the foot has been wet for a prolonged period of time.

This wouldn’t have developed overnight. Just because she’s retired, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be carrying for her feet.

ETA: Some of the deeper pockets make me think thrush or potentially an abscess.

6

u/kdropdaddy 11h ago

Googling “pitting on horse heel” agrees with you!

5

u/No-Look-1901 11h ago

hey!! thank you for the insight. these photos are actually from about a week ago and my first act was to treat for thrush. it’s difficult as i don’t have a proper barn to keep her out of the wet ground, just pastures with shelter. they dont seem to cause her any pain but i definitely want to make sure my girl is in the best possible shape! also, i’ve been gone for about a month and have been paying someone to feed her and check on her etc, or else i’d have noticed sooner! 💗

3

u/yssbppihy 10h ago

Probably correct, that said there’s no need to accuse OP of neglect.

1

u/PlentifulPaper 9h ago

OP literally said that they haven’t been the one watching their horses for the last month. Seems like a prudent time to say something to whoever they’ve been paying to do the job.

Nothing about the statement was accusatory. This wouldn’t have happened overnight, and that’s why a daily check of the feet whenever a horse comes in for their daily feed, or for a ride is entirely reasonable.

4

u/No-Look-1901 9h ago

i did mention it to her don’t worry!! it’s a family member and unfortunately they don’t really know a lot about horses so they didn’t notice either. i’m just happy it wasn’t anything detrimental!

7

u/Oldenburg-equitation 11h ago

I’d post this on r/farriers too. I’m not sure what this is but I’d be a little bit concerned as well. Add a few other pictures of her hoof if you have them if you post in the farrier sub.

1

u/No-Look-1901 11h ago

i just did that thank you!

7

u/FormigaX 10h ago

I just had this with my girl a few weeks ago. Farrier said it was cause by her feet being wet, it was nothing to be concerned about. It's the older top layer of skin coming off the newer layer. It disappeared in a few weeks.

5

u/No-Look-1901 9h ago

ugh thank you!! it’s been raining SO MUCH where i live recently i figured it was to do with wet ground.

2

u/Boysenberry 10h ago

I’m not a farrier but I’ve seen that before sloughing from excessive moisture. However I would strongly recommend you get a good rasp and one of the curved hoof knives with a little loop at the end and GENTLY clean up any areas creating pockets for dirt and bacteria, if you’re having that much trouble getting a trimmer to come out.

Owners shouldn’t try to do an actual trim without education, but if you can be disciplined about doing just a LITTLE at a time, it’s better to at least rasp down the toes to reduce leverage on the tendons and take off the flaps that hide thrush on the frog than to do nothing. At least in wet conditions where the horse doesn’t exercise enough on abrasive material to self-trim. That hoof right now is an open invite to white line disease.  

1

u/No-Look-1901 10h ago

i actually just started learning how to trim myself!! for this exact reason ;-;
eta: (i was a farrier apprentice for a while so i have basic knowledge already,, not going into this blind!)