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.)