Swollen heels?

My mare (a nine yr old OTTB) came in yesterday evening with swollen heels. They have turned greyish white and a kind of squishy. It reminds me of when you have your hands in water too long and they become prune-y.





I beleive it is from the mud and rain we've had the past couple of days and the fact that she had been in a muddy paddock all day (normally she is in a field but she broke the gate). Her front heels were the worst and the coronet bands were slightly swollen too. I am assuming that they are worse because of her bell boots.





I hosed her legs off and removed the bellboots and put corona on the swollen heels and coronet. She went back out last night in the paddock.





This morning I hosed her feet down agian and put her in a stall for the day and the afternoon the swelling was completly down. She went back out tonight to the paddock.





She will be in this paddock for a week or two until we get a new gate and it is suppose to rain all week. Some days she can come in......

Swollen heels?
Don't put easy boots or bell boots on, that will make it worse. yes it is just the mud, especially if you put her in and the swelling went down. If she is not lame then i wouldnt put anyhting on it, and i also wouldnt hose her feet off, when water gets on their hooves they expand and contract....causing cracks in the feet. Give her legs a thourogh brushing and she will be fine until you get the gate fixed. Hope this helps!
Reply:Don't leave any kind of boots on her. Are you sure there actually swollen or do they just look like it because there a whitish/gray looking color? The coronet bands will be a whitish color and look a little puffy from all the moisture, but that perfectly normal. The same thing happens when horses are in a dew covered pasture of a morning too.
Reply:Yes the mud can really hurt a horse over time. It can develope into mud fever effecting the heels and back of the pastern. In long term can become greasy heel (scabby weepy stuff that takes ages to clear up) or at the very worse can become infected, not a good look.





She really needs a dry place to stand and boots of any kind will just retain water/mud and make it worse.





Since she has to stay in that paddock try coating her hooves all over (soles, wall heels and coronet) with a water repellant like, stockholm tar, oily hoof dressing etc
Reply:Hi,


Did they look like this ?


http://www.flickr.com/photos/11231383@N0...


( I knew there was a reason for leaving the pics in ! )


That's what I had to deal with when we had a long period of wet weather - the fields were waterlogged and this was the result -very soft and sore, at one point he was trying to walk on his toes and the bulbs of his heels started to split and peel - they were so soft. I kept him in for 2 weeks and used Hibiscrub and then a spray called "seal to heal" when I turned him out again. All fine again now.


The thing is that they can get infections through tiny little splits when they are standing in mud all day - hence the sealing spray. If you can't keep her in I'd suggest getting some of that spray and giving her a good coating of it before she goes out and don't forget the Hibiscrub.
Reply:Have you ever washed a lot of dishes in warm water, then noticed that your fingers were all pruned up? The same thing is happeneing here. When she is standing in the mud and water, the feet and heels are soaking up some of the water, hoofs are softening a little, etc. It's not good, but its not the end of the world.





I would take the boots off (they hold moisture and dirt against the skin, compounding the issue) and provide a dry place to stand. You might look at bringing in a load of pea gravel and putting it in the paddock. Rake it into a hump, and keep it clean from manure. The gravel will drain naturally, the pea gravel will be easy on the feet, and you will find that she wants to stand there naturally. It gives her the benefit of being outside AND having a dry place to go to.





If you can't do that, move her to a dry paddock, or stall her a little more, just make sure to get her out for a good amount of excersize daily.



C++ Function