Laminitis Therapy with Goodsmith

My 21-year-old Trakehner-mix mare Madita has already been through quite a lot health-wise. The hooves were, fortunately, not a problem for a long time. Madita wore regular horseshoes for about eleven years of her life, until I decided to transition her to barefoot. I made this decision because she had a tendon injury at the time that wouldn't heal. Since she had been prescribed paddock rest anyway, I eventually tried the transition. In our case, the right decision. She then ran barefoot wonderfully for several years, but the move to Bavaria brought new ground conditions. In both the loose housing and open stable, the surfaces tend to be hard and unfortunately she became sensitive. I came across Goodsmith back then through research on alternative hoof protection, as I wanted to glue rather than nail.

Then the shock in autumn 2020 – Hufrehe. Madita first showed atypical symptoms, she wasn't overfed or underexercised, but it was what it was. After the constant fiddling with hoof boots wasn't productive – especially not for the gait – and I was almost ready to give up after numerous therapy attempts for the laminitis since Madita's condition simply wouldn't stabilize, I changed hoof trimmer and vet and gave it one last chance. By the way, we're talking about coffin bone sinking as well as bilateral rotation. With a new trimming approach, the hoof actually recovered from the laminitis and the alignment correction worked progressively better. My vet's alternative therapy also took effect. Madita gradually got better, but there was still the problem with the hypersensitivity of the sole and the hooves, which in various hoof boots either became too moist, started to „rot“, were too dry and caused chafing spots. The gait also suffers greatly when a horse runs 24/7 in boots for a very long period.

A solution was needed and so I came back to Goodsmith and the Perma-XT version. Thanks to the support of the Goodsmith professionals, I am now able to adapt and apply the hoof protection myself, in cooperation and consultation with my hoof trimmer. Madita's gait has improved significantly since then, she shows a clear movement pattern and is much more relaxed again, especially in the chest, cervical spine and shoulder area. Her overall well-being has also improved.

She is more spirited, enjoys moving more and has fun working again, even though she's not back under saddle yet.

Both in terms of handling and material quality, flexibility and optimal adaptability, the Goodsmith synthetic shoe is unbeatable for me. The horses (I also own a second mare) feel comfortable, seem to have a good body awareness and show fluid movement. The hold is impeccable and the material durability as well. I use my Grundplatten for at least 2 x 6 weeks, sometimes even 3 x 6 weeks. With proper and clean bonding, even the tabs can be cleanly removed after 6 weeks, cleaned and simply re-glued to the hoof. The effort of re-fitting is therefore at most every 12 weeks. Also worth highlighting positively is the fact that the hoof horn shows no changes whatsoever, which is not a given with gluing.

My conclusion or rather – my appeal: Give synthetic shoes and glue-on shoes a realistic chance and just try it! It's time for a change in thinking, for us horse owners to start engaging more intensively with hoof health, horse anatomy and the effects of various factors and influences. Of course we trust our vets, farriers, trimmers and other professionals and that's a good thing! BUT „we've always done it this way“ has never been a good argument and so I expect a professional to be willing to continue their specialist education and development. So that the service I use as a horse owner for my horse is consistently of the highest quality. A change in thinking only happens when we as horse owners actively increase demand. I personally think that the Goodsmith is not a cure-all either and requires expert advice and application. But I also think that quite a number of horses would be better off (also in the long term and in old age) if we gave them the opportunity to walk on hoof protection that meets both our requirements and above all the horse's needs. In my opinion, Goodsmith offers us exactly this alternative with a well-thought-out system that is also constantly being improved. I have always been able to contact the company with my feedback and it was taken into account when appropriate. For me and my horses, researching and trying it out was definitely worth it.

 

Experience report Narin & Madita including conclusion from March 28, 2022