If Your Horse Is Lame ...
There are basically two kinds of lameness. One is the result of a sudden injury, such as when the horse steps on a nail or gets a foot caught in a fence. You'll probably know what happened, and the damage will probably be apparent just by looking. You'll call the vet out, and he'll stitch the horse up or clean out the nail hole, and after a few weeks of healing, the horse should be pretty much back to normal. It's all straightforward and relatively easy.
But the second kind of lameness is not so straightforward or easy. You'll probably not know what happened, and the damage will not be apparent just by looking. If you call three different vets and three different farriers, you'll probably get six different opinions about what's wrong and what to do about it. Sometimes you'll be told your horse has a "disease." This kind of lameness is the most common kind, and if your horse is lame, chances are this is the category it fits into.
I've had a lot of experience with lame horses in this second category. I can say two things without hesitation. The first is that the lameness is most likely not the result of one single event or occurrence ... it has been years in the making. The second is that you are not going to find a quick fix.
There is no magic shoe, no magic trim, no magic supplement, no magic medication, or no magic surgery that's going to make this lameness go away. There may some product or treatment that will temporarily alleviate the symptoms, but the lameness problem will still be there, covered up, and most likely getting worse. I once knew a horse with the nickname "Home Equity Loan"--and it was no joke. But the horse was still lame.
Let's take the simple example of tender soles. A farrier can come out and "fix" the problem by nailing on shoes with pads. But this does nothing about the fact that the soles are tender; it only insulates them from the ground. The problem is still there; it's just been covered up, and chances are the pads will actually exacerbate the problem, because they will contribute to what caused the soles to be thin in the first place. So, a year from now, if you try to walk your horse without the pads, he'll probably be even more tender than he was before the pads were put on. What will you do when it progesses to the point that the pads are no longer enough?
Despite the promises and advertising claims of a whole industry of lameness "treatments"--from conventional farriery to barefoot trimming--lameness problems are not easy to fix. They are usually the result of years and years of accumulated damage from one source or another. It's just not reasonable to expect that a farrier can come out and nail on a magic shoe and the lameness will be gone. It's also not reasonable to expect a trimmer to come out and do a magic trim and the lameness disappear. If you're looking for a fast and easy solution to lameness, you won't find it. The price of the years and years of accumulated damage is coming due. People have made careers for themselves by promoting themselves or their product as capable of letting you escape paying that price, but despite their claims, in the long run, that price has to be paid.
The best solution for lameness is to try to minimize the chance of it occurring...and that means to minimize the things that cause accumulated damage over the years. We at Equine Wellness Solutions can help you understand how to do that. If your horse is already lame, we can help you understand the most probable causes of what is going on ... and also help you understand the various options available to allow your horse to recover. We can help you avoid wasting time and money on things that won't work, and we can help you avoid putting your horse in situations that will cause even more harm and pain. We invite you to read the articles on this website and order our educational products.
