What did Christmas bring?

Besides dislocating my thumb about 3 times?  Well these (only to nurture, the horse attached is not mine, but he is lovely lovely, lovely.)

Shoes on too long, toe has shot forward, heel collapsing
 and not under leg

Weak heel

Angle incorrect, too long, proportions out

Shelly hoof wall - lacks quality horn and is soft

Long toe, heel forward not under leg, shoe on too long

Thrushy, contracted, skinny weak frog

As above - the stink was really bad

With shoe off this frog was ridiculously
 skinny, full of thrush and really squishy

All horse owners should come to learn that heels like this
are unacceptable

Not one good foot on this horse, but they will be

Currently with sore feet, sore back and a very weak hind end this horse is another which has been dismissed for 'attitude'.

To be honest with feet like that (and the knock on consequences) I think any of us would be quite justified in having 'attitude'. But you know this guy was lovely to deshoe - I didn't get any negative feedback down the leg at all. He just stood there like a proper trooper and within 20 minutes post deshoe went from looking really sad to beaming from ear to ear. (IYKWIM)

His new owner (who got me in to deshoe within days of acquiring him) reports that he has in 24 hours post deshoe started to move better and become much more cuddly.

I'll post updates of his hoof progress as I get them - but so far so good :-)

Post Script - the sad thing is that many horse owners would think that these feet were fine - even good. 

Hoof Reading 3

1

2



3




4



5

Because the shod horse doesn't feel it's feet so well, in the UK we have become conditioned to seeing severe cases of thrush and thinking of them as normal and of little consequence. And if a thrushy, shod horse trips over a stone or goes a bit hoppy on a limestone track we blame the stones rather than our hoof care.

But it's not the stones at fault. Evolution (or God if you prefer) has given the horse feet that are capable of negotiating some of the toughest terrain on earth. When they are healthy. If your horse struggles with stones the very painful truth is that your horse is not in optimal health.

So apart from soreness over stones and the disgusting smell, why does thrush matter?

In very simple terms; a horse in pain from thrush won't use the back of their foot properly. The suspensory/concussion absorption mechanisms come out of use and the horse will become more prone to injury. The heel will start to contract and if this goes on long enough the horse may well get a diagnosis of 'navicular' in any one of it's many flavours.

Thrush is serious and it must be effectively treated.

The hooves in this blog

Hooves 1-3 as you can see have severe thrush, no. 4 isn't too clever but it's not as bad.

The hooves have been freshly trimmed (not by me) and the owner is concerned that the hooves may not be properly balanced.  Although photos can be misleading, I have to agree that there are areas of concern. 

Q What do you think of the hooves in these pictures?

Slightly gruesome - don't view if you are squeamish



Shod - hoof wall rasped 'moderately'





Note how foot is running forward, heels are collapsed
and are forward of the back of the foot which is in suspension

 



Shod solar view note overlaid bars,
position of shoe against frog







Deshod view of above



 





Cleaned up view of above





 



Detail of above







Reminder - 'ideal' nail placement -
oriented on water line





Nail on pair of above







Detail of above







Very thin sole





I don't know what killed this horse. I do know it had the most enormous abscess - pus was blowing out through the frog in huge quantities - so I have my suspicions.

I chose this foot for this post, because you see feet like it on every yard. Probably the majority of shod feet I see look something like this.

The hooves are running forward, the heels are collapsed and the sole is thin. In an attempt to reduce the duck bill impersonation the hoof wall gets rasped - further weakening the foot. This leaves little space for the farrier to place the nail and mistakes happen.

My question is - you can see the issues the foot has, you know how to fix them (diet, exercise, natural living as much as possible) - what contribution to foot health did the shoe make for this horse...

Tripping

There are lots of reasons why a horse trips.  But a very common one is poor foot form. So let's use the foot from yesterday as an example -and provide the extra shots requested.

Compare this foot with the mustang foot

Note:

Heel in suspension

Coronary band distorted

Quarters need relieving

Very long/tall

Toe heavily rasped

Although this is a hind foot (and hinds have a slightly different shape), you can see how the relationship with the red rectangle are quite different to those of Fred's front.  From this view and for the purpose of comparing relationships the fact that one is a hind and the other a front doesn't matter too much.

Hoof does not appear balanced

Outer wall heavily rasped, inner wall can be seen at toe

Event lines

Deviation

Shoe slipped

Impinging on frog

Thrush

Contraction

Heel very high

Contracted

Thrushy

Lateral cartilages skinny and under developed

Remember the owner has done her very best to seek professional advice for her horse and the farrier has done their best too, according to how they have been trained. The purpose of this blog is not to point fingers or criticise, but to try and illustrate good and bad examples of hoof form, so that we can all do a better job of caring for our horses in the future.

After all, the welfare of our horses comes first.

Hooves and health

Start front

+ 10 weeks front



Start side/quarter





+ 10 weeks side/quarter



 


 

Start solar

+ 10 weeks solar

Start heel

+ 10 weeks heel

The horn quality on this hoof became too poor to hold a shoe. The deep event lines, the poor quality horn and heavy rasping of the toe are indicators that something somewhere is not right and it is probably, but not necessarily diet related. Some farriers will rasp out a toe to try and correct what they know to be a bad angle - but it is far more effective (and correct) to grow a good angle to start with.

10 weeks on, with a new diet it can be seen that the top half of the hoof has fewer event lines. The new horn has a better texture and the colours are more clearly defined and the darker shades have a deeper hue.

When first seen the coronary bands on this horses hooves wer almost horizontal, (a little earlier tthan the first photos in the entry but the camera with them on suffered my usual techno trauma). Here it can be seen hhow the hoof is adopting a more natural form. A lot of the change is self determined - as the shoes have been removed - but this has been helped by a correct trim according to the principles of the AANHCP. In particular the heels were lowered and the quarters relieved.

Although the heel views are not the same - I think you will be able to see how the central sulcus has filled out, cleared of thrush thanks to the determined efforts of the main carer. What is particularly interesting is that although the hoof horn in the heel area is shorter, the heel itself is bigger, more robust, 'beefy'. So the 'big' heel which some try to achieve by leaving the heel horn high, has been achieved by building up the back of the foot. This will allow the hoof to function much more effectively.

Although this is a challenging case - it still rocks! Best wishes and all the best to this horse and their people.

Lameness a case study - 8 weeks 6 days

This horse was deshod on 09 June 10.  You can see the foot with the shoe on in the first picture.  If you look at the first three side view photos you can see how the profile has changed.

The fourth photo shows the foot, partially cleaned, just after the shoe was taken off.  Look at the:

• stretch in the white line
• condition of the sole
• skinny, thrushy frog
• condition and placement of the heels
• general overall shape of the foot

Check these points out on photos 5 and 6.  Especially review the stretch of the white line.

What can not be shown in these photos are the following positive points:

• horse now marches on a level concrete surface as though on a mission
• heel first landing
• bright eyed and alert
• can stand to be trimmed on concrete (used to need a rubber mat)

Thank you to the carer of this horse for generously allowing us all to check their progress.  And thank you for caring enough to put in all the effort this transformation is taking.  I know it is tough - but you just 'Keep on swimming!' (Finding Nemo)

Can't see the foot for the shoes

The feet below have all recently had the shoes removed.

I've removed the shoes from a fair few horses. A common theme is the poor health of the foot when the shoe comes off. I have yet to remove a shoe from a foot that has been in perfect condition.

The things we tend to find are:

• terrible smell



• thrush



• white line separation



• contracted heels



• squishy contracted frog



• thin sole



• crumbling walls



• laid over bars



• shallow collateral grooves



• really long walls

Sudocrem Balls

Do you sometimes like to play the five year old and get a little messy while having fun?

Well if your horse has thrush you can try treating it with Sudocrem balls.

First clean your horse's foot and if you wish flush/spray with something completely innocuous like dilute cider vinegar. Then stuff any cracks/crevices with the Sudocrem balls. Pictures below.

First get your 'ingredients' :-) Sudocrem or equivalent and clean cotton wool.

Pull off a small amount of cotton wool - about the size of a 10 pence piece or small gum ball (remember my hands are quite small)


Roll it around in the Sudocream. Make sure your hands are clean. You can make loads in advance and either store them in the tub or in a clean plastic bag.


I did say it gets messy.


Take one clean foot with thrush (see grotty central sulcus).

Stuff Sudocrem ball in the crevice and you are done. Plug all the holes/crevices and leave in situ.

Repeat daily if possible until the thrush has cleared. This may take a long time. But at least you know with the crevice plugged it will stop any more dirt and painful stones wedging in there.