ihorse
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equestrian
Wedge Pads & Standing Wraps
So, unfortunately Andie has been a little lame the past week. Because I have been so lucky to have a horse that has never been lame in the 6 years I've owned her, I'm really naive about how to best treat injuries, sprains, etc. I've been trying to get Andie's feet in better shape, but when I switched barns I decided to try using the farrier everyone else at the barn uses. It turns out he's the same guy I used on Andie when I first got her, and he's the one that caused the issues that we're STILL dealing with in the first place. He never trimmed her feet short enough, and so they flared really bad, and now she has lots of toe and not very much heel. She's very flat footed, and up until recently it had never bothered her at all, so I didn't really know any better. She was progressing really nicely in our work, and one day I jumped her and it seems to have strained the tendons in her RF leg. Got a different farrier out who I like MUCH better (he's been trimming Andie for probably a year or so now), and we decided to do some corrective stuff in hopes of making her more comfortable as well as shape her feet a little better. She's been barefoot for a long time now, but we decided to put her in shoes along with a 1% wedge pad and filled with Equipack to help relieve some tension/pressure on the tendons in her front legs.
I've done quite a bit of research on wedge pads since he put them on her, and I've read a lot of controversial stuff on them. Most people say they're never good, some people say they're good when the hoof is trimmed very correctly, which my guy definitely did this time around. I'm inclined to agree with the latter opinion, but we'll just have to wait and see. I don't plan to keep Andie in them for very long at all because I've seen a lot of horrible pictures of some really unnatural looking hooves. Other than the angle of her hoof being off/no heel problems, she has very healthy feet and does really well barefoot, which is what I want to stick with for the long run. I'm hoping that the wedge pads will help speed along getting her hoof in a better shape so we can resume normal training as soon as possible without worrying about spraining/pulling/injuring anything like I suspect happened this past week. Have any of you had success with wedge pads? So far I haven't read many success stories, so I'm hoping I haven't made a bad decision.
The pads went on on Friday. I rode her June 10th and she was great, then rode her the next day, did some jumping over a little cross rail and tried doing trot poles, but she was having a really hard time figuring out her striding. In hind sight I should have paid a little closer attention to this because normally trot poles aren't too hard for her. I assumed she was just a little sore from being worked the day before. We went really long and low and did some hill work to help build her topline, so I thought she was just being lazy. She jumped fine, was very eager the whole time, which made me think everything was OK.
I went out to ride the next day and she was limping pretty badly. Figured the bottoms of her feet were sore since she was a little long in the toe at that point. Jumped off and felt her legs, she seemed a tiny bit warm in the front, so I cold hosed her, put some liniment on, and put her in her stall for the night. The next day I came out and lunged her a tiny bit, she limped at the trot, and was fine at walk and canter. Couldn't figure out which leg it was that was bothering her. Still not much heat, but I put liniment on her legs anyway. Tried lunging her again the next day to try to figure out which leg was bothering her, again limping at the trot, hardly anything at walk or canter and still not heat or swelling. The next day the barn manager/trainer called me to tell me her RF leg was swollen along the sides of the cannon bone and around her fetlock. She put her in a standing wrap for me. Not having any experience with any kind of wraps, I took it off that night and it was put back on the next morning. The BO said she felt heat along the leg as well as in the hoof (which I never felt in the hoof, so I'm not sure I trust her judgement about that). Farrier was out Friday and by then the swelling was much better, mostly just around the fetlock. She's been in standing wraps off and on, never for very long because I've never used them so wasn't sure how long it was OK to leave them on.
Annnnnyway, today i felt no heat, but there is still some swelling (what appears to be some fluid built up) above the coronet and around the bulb of her hoof. It felt very squishy. Should I wrap her in standing wraps even though the tendons along the cannon bone aren't swollen anymore? Should I just wrap her ankle in vet wrap or something? I plan to continue with cold hosing, and by the recommendation of a good friend who is currently in school to become a vet tech, she said if the swelling isn't better by Wed. to get a vet out to look at it. She mentioned it could possibly be bone splints irritating the tendons and tissues, although that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, but I'm not going to rule anything out at the moment.
I was pretty ticked to find Andie turned out by herself when I got to the barn today. Not only did no one talk to me about turning her out after I've had her on stall rest the past few days, I'm really mad she was out alone because she was pacing quite a bit and even started running around a bit. She looked a little ouchy on the RF still, and stopped cantering after a few strides. Vet tech friend recommended I keep her on stall rest and put her on bute. I might see if someone at the barn has some bute I can give Andie, otherwise I'll call the vet to see if I can stop by the clinic to pick some up. I'm really not inclined to have the vet out 'just in case' because I'm already on the poor side and don't want to spend $80 just to have the vet tell me exactly what my friend recommended.
TL;DR: Andie was put in 1% wedge pads. She seems much more comfortable in them, but she's usually fine barefoot so I don't plan to keep her in them long term. Just to correct her hoof angle and ease the tension on her tendons. What are your experiences with wedge pads?
Should I use standing wraps, even though the only part of her leg that is swollen is closer to the coronet band + bulb of hoof than her actual leg? I'm planning to keep her on stall rest with 10 minutes a day of hand walking, some cold hosing + liniment (and if recommended, standing wraps), and bute if I can get my hands on it. If she isn't better by Wednesday, I'll have the vet out. If she is better by Wednesday, Vet Tech Friend said Andie should be fine to have some light work by Friday and return to regular work by Monday.
Anyone care to offer opinions? Thanks! Love you guys and your vast amounts of good advice!
P.S. I couldn't find any suitable tags for my questions about standing wraps. Feel free to suggest something if it matters.
I've done quite a bit of research on wedge pads since he put them on her, and I've read a lot of controversial stuff on them. Most people say they're never good, some people say they're good when the hoof is trimmed very correctly, which my guy definitely did this time around. I'm inclined to agree with the latter opinion, but we'll just have to wait and see. I don't plan to keep Andie in them for very long at all because I've seen a lot of horrible pictures of some really unnatural looking hooves. Other than the angle of her hoof being off/no heel problems, she has very healthy feet and does really well barefoot, which is what I want to stick with for the long run. I'm hoping that the wedge pads will help speed along getting her hoof in a better shape so we can resume normal training as soon as possible without worrying about spraining/pulling/injuring anything like I suspect happened this past week. Have any of you had success with wedge pads? So far I haven't read many success stories, so I'm hoping I haven't made a bad decision.
The pads went on on Friday. I rode her June 10th and she was great, then rode her the next day, did some jumping over a little cross rail and tried doing trot poles, but she was having a really hard time figuring out her striding. In hind sight I should have paid a little closer attention to this because normally trot poles aren't too hard for her. I assumed she was just a little sore from being worked the day before. We went really long and low and did some hill work to help build her topline, so I thought she was just being lazy. She jumped fine, was very eager the whole time, which made me think everything was OK.
I went out to ride the next day and she was limping pretty badly. Figured the bottoms of her feet were sore since she was a little long in the toe at that point. Jumped off and felt her legs, she seemed a tiny bit warm in the front, so I cold hosed her, put some liniment on, and put her in her stall for the night. The next day I came out and lunged her a tiny bit, she limped at the trot, and was fine at walk and canter. Couldn't figure out which leg it was that was bothering her. Still not much heat, but I put liniment on her legs anyway. Tried lunging her again the next day to try to figure out which leg was bothering her, again limping at the trot, hardly anything at walk or canter and still not heat or swelling. The next day the barn manager/trainer called me to tell me her RF leg was swollen along the sides of the cannon bone and around her fetlock. She put her in a standing wrap for me. Not having any experience with any kind of wraps, I took it off that night and it was put back on the next morning. The BO said she felt heat along the leg as well as in the hoof (which I never felt in the hoof, so I'm not sure I trust her judgement about that). Farrier was out Friday and by then the swelling was much better, mostly just around the fetlock. She's been in standing wraps off and on, never for very long because I've never used them so wasn't sure how long it was OK to leave them on.
Annnnnyway, today i felt no heat, but there is still some swelling (what appears to be some fluid built up) above the coronet and around the bulb of her hoof. It felt very squishy. Should I wrap her in standing wraps even though the tendons along the cannon bone aren't swollen anymore? Should I just wrap her ankle in vet wrap or something? I plan to continue with cold hosing, and by the recommendation of a good friend who is currently in school to become a vet tech, she said if the swelling isn't better by Wed. to get a vet out to look at it. She mentioned it could possibly be bone splints irritating the tendons and tissues, although that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, but I'm not going to rule anything out at the moment.
I was pretty ticked to find Andie turned out by herself when I got to the barn today. Not only did no one talk to me about turning her out after I've had her on stall rest the past few days, I'm really mad she was out alone because she was pacing quite a bit and even started running around a bit. She looked a little ouchy on the RF still, and stopped cantering after a few strides. Vet tech friend recommended I keep her on stall rest and put her on bute. I might see if someone at the barn has some bute I can give Andie, otherwise I'll call the vet to see if I can stop by the clinic to pick some up. I'm really not inclined to have the vet out 'just in case' because I'm already on the poor side and don't want to spend $80 just to have the vet tell me exactly what my friend recommended.
TL;DR: Andie was put in 1% wedge pads. She seems much more comfortable in them, but she's usually fine barefoot so I don't plan to keep her in them long term. Just to correct her hoof angle and ease the tension on her tendons. What are your experiences with wedge pads?
Should I use standing wraps, even though the only part of her leg that is swollen is closer to the coronet band + bulb of hoof than her actual leg? I'm planning to keep her on stall rest with 10 minutes a day of hand walking, some cold hosing + liniment (and if recommended, standing wraps), and bute if I can get my hands on it. If she isn't better by Wednesday, I'll have the vet out. If she is better by Wednesday, Vet Tech Friend said Andie should be fine to have some light work by Friday and return to regular work by Monday.
Anyone care to offer opinions? Thanks! Love you guys and your vast amounts of good advice!
P.S. I couldn't find any suitable tags for my questions about standing wraps. Feel free to suggest something if it matters.