This is Fun!

Hi folks out there in internet land.

I've posted some pictures of one of my client horses. His name is Dakota. Dakota had 4 shoes pulled on March 27th, 2011. No photos were taken that day, and he was given a really minimal trim since he had just had a big change to his feet! When I came back out 6 weeks later, I took some photos of his hooves and the trim. Two trims later, on July 31st, I took another set of photos. Here are the comparisons of his left front foot on 5/8/11 and 7/31/11 (just under 3 months).

The first two lateral views, both post-trim, show how is foot has migrated back under his leg, and his toe and heel are shorter, all without removing any live sole. Also, you can get a sense for the new, post-shoe hoof growing in by noticing the very top of the rasp marks from the previous farrier (barely visible near the bottom of the hoof on 7/31/11). About 1 1/2 inches above the rasp marks is a growth ring marking about when we removed the shoes (about 1/2 way up the hoof wall). Notice how the new hoof is growing in at a taller angle than the previous hoof:

The next comparison shows how his heels have opened up and shortened, and his frog has become wider. I think his whole frog/heel region looks less "stressed" and stretched down between the contracted heels:

The sole views again show the decontracted, wider frog. Also notice in the after photos how the toe is less stretched forward, the "white line" (here filled with dirt) is more uniform in thickness, and the hoof is nice and round. The white chalkiness of the sole on the 7/31 photo is exfoliating sole, loose and soft, that I removed some of to balance his heels:

These are front views of the same hoof. The first one is pre-trim in May. Notice the poor quality of the hoof wall, that appears dry and dead. Now look at the new, strong, living hoof wall in the 7/31 photo. Next time I go trim Dakota, I will probably pay attention to the fact that the lateral (outside) wall on this hoof looks a little longer than the medial (inside) wall. This may just be his conformation, but I generally like to have the medial and lateral walls around the same length in a balanced hoof. If the live sole, however, doesn't allow for this I will always defer to that, because it grows directly from the bottom of the coffin bone:

The last two photos, while not great quality, are kind of my favorites. They really show how his heels have opened up and decontracted considerably in less than 3 months. Notice how the wall at the heels bends in in the 5/8 photo, and the frog is sending out "shoots" to reach for the ground. Imagine how it must feel to have all the internal structures of your heel smoosh between these pinched walls every time you load your hoof, with little ground support to stop the descent of the fetlock. The digital cushion can't serve it's function "cushioning" the bones of the hoof (including the navicular bone) without the positive pressure of the ground at peak impact.

Now look at the second photo, and how much more cone-like this hoof is shaped. The walls angle slightly out instead of in, so as the fetlock descends there is room for the digital cushion to expand and aid in support and circulation. Also note how the frog is just a millimeter or so above the ground, perfect for our soft Delaware Valley environment. Once Dakota moves out into grass, sand or dirt, he will have just the frog support he needs:

Dakota was sound from day one in the sand arena and grassy fields during this transition, and was ridden and jumped regularly, with the exception of an unrelated ligament injury in July. His owner refrained from riding on rocky trails since he was a little sensitive on them. Another option of course is booting for trail riding. I think this regular work was just as important as the trim in facilitating the transformation of his hooves. Horses were designed to move!

Smiley Trim 6-18-11

Here are some before and after photos of Smiley, a mini I trim in Sewell, NJ. As you can see he has some issues! He is very base-narrow behind, with a big barrel, so he weights his lateral walls and has wall separation there. This has been invaded by white line disease, an infection of the inner hoof wall.

For several trims I was doing wall resections to try to heal the white line disease; however the lack of wall support on the outside of his leg has pushed his hooves in and created quite a flare on the medial side of both hooves, particularly the right hind. In this trim you can see how much flare was removed. It will be interesting to see if his hooves straighten out now that the medial flares have been reduced; post trim the medial walls were floating off the ground as you can see.

We have put Smiley on a shorter trim cycle to try and get his hooves back under him, and are also consulting with other hoof care professionals as to ways to minimize this problem in the future, while still treating the white line disease/separation. In the meantime, Smiley remains sound on both his weird hind hooves!

The above photo shows how the distortion effects the two hind hooves, and also how base-narrow his is.

The next two views show his base-narrow stance, pre- and post- trim. The following photos are before and after shots of his right hind hoof, the most distorted one.

Looking at the above photo and the fact that his medial wall was floating at the end, I am thinking of taking off more lateral (left) heel next time... to even out the weightbearing on the hoof. It would be helpful to have radiographs!

Long Toes in Hind Feet Cause Gluteal Pain

I've been thinking a lot about long toes lately, and especially about how long toes on hind feet can lead to hind end issues. There's an article out now that really sheds light on this issue! Read the article here.

Case Study: Goose

Here are some photos of one of my client horses. Goose came to his owners with a bad case of central sulcus thrush and contracted heels. While we don't have photos of the condition of his feet then, you can see now how he no longer has a deep central sulcus, and his frogs have bulked up considerably. Goose suffered from infrequent "pasture trims" which allowed his toes and heels to grow forward. His heels raised his frogs off of the ground leading to atrophy of his digital cushion and contraction, and created the perfect breeding ground for thrush. During the pre purchase exam the veterinarian easily drew blood probing his frogs, showing how the thrush had eaten away the protective tissue so that only a thin layer of skin covered his frog corium.

Goose's new owners were committed to treating his thrush, and had the most success using the Grand Circuit product White Lighting. Once the infection was eliminated, Goose was ready to have his toes brought back and his heels lowered to begin the process of developing a strong, callused frog and digital cushion. Goose is now landing solidly heel-first at all gaits. Also note the before and after body shots, showing the effect of the trim on "opening up" his stance. When the hooves have grown forward the horse often stands "camped under" in order to place his hooves under his bony column and take the pressure off of the tendons and ligaments along the back of the leg.

Barefoot A-Circuit Hunter

Check out the article here!

Cheat Sheet for Hoof Health

Three indicators of hoof health:

1. PLAY HOOF PEEK-A-BOO: With the hoof on the ground, cover everything but the top inch under the coronet with your hand. The top inch shows how the hoof wants to grow. Take your hand away. There should not be a surprise!

2. TAKE THE TOE TEST: On the bottom of a clean hoof, draw a line across the widest part of the foot (also where the bars terminate) and across the very back of the frog material. Draw a parallel line across the toe region. The lines at the toe and back of the frog should be about the same distance from the middle line.

3. ASSESS FROG FUNCTION: The frog should be one, tough unit, with a valley in the middle. DEEP CENTRAL CLEFT=DEEP THRUSH. Generally shedding should be minor; dramatic frog shedding can indicate that your horse’s callus is being eaten away by thrush, especially if the new frog underneath seems pale, sickly, or underdeveloped.

RED ALERT: Prominent growth rings, flared toes and growth rings that are farther apart at the heels than at the toe can be indications of laminitis.

Four things you can do to promote hoof health:

1. KEEP YOUR HORSE FIT NOT FAT! For many horses, this is not only the difference between healthy and unhealthy hooves, THIS IS LIFE AND DEATH. Feed the minimum amount to keep your horse’s weight, and exercise him as much as you and he can. DO make sure your horse is getting appropriate minerals; DO test your hay and balance to that (Balanced Equine Nutrition will formulate a supplement based on your hay sample: http://www.balancedequinenutrition.com/). Recommended products: California Trace, Grand Hoof, Focus Hoof. Avoid products with Iron, Manganese, and Potassium because these tend to be high in our area and block absorption of other minerals (Copper, Zinc and Selenium are usually deficient).

2. TREAT FOR THRUSH! If it warns you not to get it on your skin, DO NOT USE IT ON A THRUSH INFECTION, this is an infected wound on your horse’s foot and SENSITIVE. Product recommendations: White Lightning, CleanTrax, No Thrush, Thrush Off, Huuf Magic, Pete’s Goo, Silvetrasol, baby powder, Desitin as a preventative. Probe your horse’s frog every time you clean the foot, especially in the center, and remove any shedding material with scissors or a hoof knife. **NOTE: Thrush infections HURT, BE CAREFUL as your horse may react violently to deep probing of the central cleft. During muddy seasons weekly or anytime there is anything deep or black or smelly, treat with a natural topical as a preventative. Rotate products to avoid resistant bacteria.

3. MAINTAIN A SHORT SHOEING/TRIMMING CYCLE! Besides diet, the overwhelming cause of hoof deformity in domestic horses is overgrowth. This is even more important in shod horses because you are taking away the horse’s ability to wear his hooves himself, but some of the worst feet I have seen come from neglected barefoot horses out in wet, green pasture. Your horse’s genes are hardwired to think he is moving 20 miles a day over rough ground!

4. ENSURE ADEQUATE HOOF PROTECTION! Whether that is horseshoes, hoof boots, or thick soles, walls and frogs, don’t ask your horse to perform over terrain without suitable protection on his feet. Not only is this cruel and damaging to the internal structures, but improper movement perpetuates unhealthy hooves. For advice on what his hooves are capable of, check with your farrier, your trimmer… or your horse!

Scientific Paper Refutes Common Hoof Care Practices for Founder Cases

I was really excited to read about this article entitled "The effect of hoof angle variations on the dorsal laminar load of the equine hoof" by Ramsey, Hunter and Nash, (abstract available here).

It is common practice in the farrier/veterinary world to recommend raising the palmar angle (coffin bone angle) of foundered hooves (see the example photo below):

It is believed that this lessens the pull of the deep digital flexor tendon on the dorsal hoof wall (wall at the toe). Heels are often wedged up with big pads, horseshoes, even blocks of wood as shown. This belief is held by many big names in equine podiatry circles.

The aforementioned article, however, created a model to test this hypothesis. Their results were pretty simple: "For all loading cases, increasing the palmar angle increased the stored elastic energy in the dorsal laminar junction... Therefore, hoof care interventions that raise the palmar angle in order to reduce the dorsal lamellae load may not achieve this outcome."

I believe studies such as these should be collected in a volume that hoof care practioners and horse owners can carry around and hand to farriers, vets, and other horse owners when the latter say that the barefoot hoofcare movement is just another fad without scientific backing. What we all believe based on common sense just keeps being proven by the scientific community, when they take the time to look.

Farriers on Boots

There was just an article featured on the American Farriers Journal website on hoof boots! (available here.)