Dear Dr. Teskey,
I believe my gelding
has a desease called Sweeneys. I was inquiring about boots for him and if you
thought they could help him. He has grooves on his shoulders and high shoulder
bones. He seems to be okay on his right side but the left is quite stiff and he
doesn't flex on that side. He seems to use his hind end to turn. I rode him
quite a bit last year and everything was fine. This year he started out okay
but we got very little rain this year and the ground got really hard and he
started to try to avoid hard paths. He even seemed to favor pavement to the
trails. In the fall I went on quite a long ride going up and down some steep
hills and he went lame very suddenly. We trucked him home and watched him for a
few days. By the next day he was fine and I started to ride him a few days
later. He was fine until I took him riding on some hills and the same thing happened.
I talked to my vet but he didn't really know about it. My farrier didn't
either. He is a beautiful and well trained horse (only 10 years old) and I would
sure like to do something for him. I thought maybe the boots might help. If
you could give any advice on this I would sure appreciate
it.
Thank you.
Hi,
It sounds to me like you have some sensitive hooves as well as the shoulder problem, which does sound like "Sweeney". This is due to an injury, usually over the point of the shoulder, which damages the nerves going to those shoulder muscles. Without nerve stimulation, the muscles "atrophy," (shrink). I would try either some Boa boots or the Epic Boots with the cut-to-fit Comfort Pads inside them. This is the best combination I've found for giving relief....they make a horse very comfortable.
Take care,
Dr. TT
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