Misplaced Nail on Thoroughbred Mare: Case Study

Initially the 7-year-old mare was in excellent physical condition with no history of lameness, but became sore the evening of a reset with commonly used, very wide-web shoes. The farrier returned that evening to reset the shoes and lower the nail holes, and commented to the trainer that the previous holes might have been too high in the feet.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

"Who here has never stuck a horse (driven a nail into sensitive areas when shoeing)?" asked host Ric Redden, DVM, founder of the International Equine Podiatry Center in Versailles, Ky., during the 16th annual Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium. Only a very few out of the 550-plus attendees (mostly farriers) raised their hands, showing that the following problem could happen to anyone.

Julie Grohs, DVM, of the Alaska Equine and Small Animal Hospital in Chugiak, Alaska, presented the following case study of complications following a misplaced nail in a Thoroughbred hunter/jumper mare. Initially the 7-year-old mare was in excellent physical condition with no history of lameness, but became sore the evening of a reset with commonly used, very wide-web shoes. The farrier returned that evening to reset the shoes and lower the nail holes, and commented to the trainer that the previous holes might have been too high in the feet.

The mare seemed more comfortable after the reset, and the trainer administered a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication (NSAID) following veterinary consultation. The mare responded well, but two days later the right front shoe came off and she was acutely lame on that foot. At this point Grohs first examined the mare

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Christy West has a BS in Equine Science from the University of Kentucky, and an MS in Agricultural Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
287 votes · 287 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!