Long toes - a change in perspective

A lot of comment is made about 'long toes' and many a poor horse has had their toes dumped or worse in an attempt to correct a problem by addressing a symptom without a complete understanding perhaps of the anatomy of the hoof or the consequences of addressing symptoms not cause.

The following photos are of three different horses, Horses One and Two had a toe shape typically criticised for being overly long.  The last one, Horse Three, was considered to be fine.

Horse One

Long toe?  Look at the shape and size of the heel,
particularly the lateral cartilage.  Can we just cut the toe off?

Can you see the lamellar wedge? The heel is weak.
See picture below. 

Collapsed heel - very weak digital cushion and lateral cartilages

Same foot a few months later, still in rehab but
compare heel and lateral cartilage with first picture

Lamellar wedge almost gone

Horse Two

Is this a long toe?

Solar view of above foot.  Which bit of the toe
would you cut off to shorten?
Notice contracted heel and thrush

Still a work in progress, but notice how the heel
has bulked up apparently shortening the toe

 Horse Three

This is a genuinely long toe.  Shod every 6 weeks

Front view of above

Same foot two months later, sound, no longer tripping

 

So what is often considered to be a 'long' toe is actually one with a shallow angle, often caused by a weak/atrophied caudal hoof.  This can be only be properly fixed by developing the back of the foot through proper diet and exercise.

 

A truly long toe is often completely missed - they are even considered normal or desirable in some circles.  Despite the fact that they can cause secondary problems such as tripping or injury.  The truly long toe as shown in Horse Three is easily remedied by a competent HCP.





Taking Bookings for 2014

Barefoot South's very own Hoof Fairy is back in harness and taking bookings for 2014

If you want to treat your horse's hooves to the magical touch make sure you reserve your space.

Existing clients can use current contact details.  New clients click Contact Barefoot South.

Hoof quality and treating

Some horses like some people can eat junk food and get away with it.  Others are ok for a while until it all catches up with them and some (like my Grace) have to watch what they eat 24/7/365.

It's not just about being overweight, there are at least two other common things to watch out for, before we even think about the heritable metabolic issues such as HYPP and EPSM.

• Hind gut acidosis
• Blood sugar/insulin spikes

If you over feed sugar and/or simple starches you risk your horse getting hind gut acidosis.  This is the first step to all sorts of other problems, one of which is laminitis.  Others are lack of performance, tiredness, lack of thrift and behavioural problems. 

As to treats, it is easy to assume that because the overall diet is low in sugar the odd carrot or mint doesn't matter.  And for some horses it doesn't.  But if you have a sensitive one then you could be causing the blood sugar to spike, which of course has a negative impact on the other side. And of course if the diet is already a bit high in sugar then too many carrots can tip a horse over the edge.

Plus sometimes I think it just isn't fair.  For example, my own Grace has to have a very low sugar/starch diet - sugary treats just set up the cravings all over again - it took me many weeks to wean her off sugar, why would I want to put us both through that again?

But I do use treats, but instead of sugary carrots and apples I feed herbs.  I try different things with her and she loves to get to choose.  Current favourite is lemon balm, but she likes a lot of things and it means she gets variety, low sugar and a positive contribution to her diet. 

Herbs are fun!

Update on Fred - 12 weeks post deshoeing



Right Fore Medial View - nail damage Oct 10






 





Left Hind Toe Oct 11



Left Hind Toe Jan 11



Left Hind Solar Oct 10





Left Hind Solar Jan 11





















Fred was heading for 16hh thanks to his very tall feet and shoes. Now back down to somewhere nearer 15.2hh. No longer tripping and looking several years younger. Chronic thrush is slowing down his decontraction, but it is still happening.

Have a good look at the before and after photos and make your own mind up. I know which I would rather have.

Note: Previously shod by an award winning farrier; now barefoot trimmed according to AANHCP guidelines.

Stretched white line and tales of the unexpected

Well yesterday was weird but kind of wonderful.

Here is a snapshot of the highlights:

Key note: Soaking hay - a pain, but not as much as when it can't be done, the happy sound lamis become unhappy footy lamis on the dry stuff.  This is very noticeable on the rounds today.

Deshod one horse, must have been in agony because most of the nails (6 per foot) were through the white line. Horse was a total gent throughout.  Oddly his fronts had been 'scalped' (toe wall rasped to white line and sole taken down to the quick) but his backs were mile high with chalk and excess wall.  Can't think of any justification for that.  I have to be honest the shoeing was pretty bad.  Big chap but the gap between the heels was left at not much more than an inch. No surprise his feet are massively contracted.

Big time lami still sound despite problems with hay, but the foot is showing the signs - not a lot to take off volume wise, but very important to keep on top of balance and roll for this one.

New horse (a) - badly stretched white line with loads of blood.  Lameness not immediately obvious because equally short on all four.  I didn't plan it, but while I am talking the owner through the feet and what I am seeing, I find myself getting pretty tough.  Probably tougher than usual.  I worry I have over done it and when I get a call today I am expecting a telling off.  Instead owner tells me they are onboard and are overhauling diet.  Haylage yet again is the key suspect. Very pleased for horse; total gent, the sort that gets kissy when they know you are trying to help and always does their best no matter how poorly they are.  Owner is great for taking hard news on the chin and putting her horse first.

New horse (b) - simple consult - as above; makes me wonder why existing hoof care provider for this horse hasn't said anything?

Regular client (RC1) - sore legs; getting better thanks to dedicated owner.  Still have to trim without touching his legs at all (trust me it's really tricky!) but we have reached an agreement - I will avoid touching his legs and he will do his best not to kick me.  It takes a while but he gets done and we both walk away sound :-)

RC2 - Big teaching session - ambition to get horse more or less self maintaining.  Horse is slightly tricky, but the owner is very capable and the right person for the job.

RC3 - Also teaching session - not just hooves, but lots to explore on diet.  Horse is in trouble, but hides it well before reaching a point where it is all just too much.  I see a lot of horses like this.  Unfortunately too many get blamed and then 'lumped' for what is really human error.  This owner is too smart for that kind of nonsense and is using her brain to help her horse, rather than a stick to beat it.  Gold stars for this one - we will get there.  Smashing horse, smashing owner *

Newbie - horse never known to be sound, walks like a clown.  Not really surprising, the poor thing is on stilts.  Horse is nervous but co-operative, doesn't have the muscle tone to handle too much, so we do enough to restore balance without being prissy.  Makes my (and the owner's) day when the horse walks off like a dead posh expensive show horse.  Get a text this morning reporting that horse is still smiling and is being very, very affectionate.  R-E-S-U-L-T :-)

* The wonderful thing about today - lots of tricky horses, but every owner/carer is determined to work in their horse's best interests, even if it means putting their own ambitions to one side for a while.  Big hugs and gold stars to all of them.

And why weird; ah well, I have to have some secrets :-)

Don't read this if you are eating or squeamish - breakover

I read a post the other day which seemed to be saying that horses' are unable to wear an appropriate breakover for themselves without drawing blood (I paraphrase), hence the need for a shoe. 

I thought it worth posting about this, because scaremongering techniques are a particularly unpleasant way of trying to stop someone from trying the barefoot approach.  (I've put comments on moderation for obvious reasons - but don't let that stop you.)

The Shoddy also suggested that by bringing the shoe inside the hoof wall (unlike in the picture at the end of this post) the breakover would be eased all round.  This is technically impossible as the shoe has to be nailed on.  It is possible to bring the breakover back at one point (usually toe) but even with a heavily bevelled shoe, there are limitations because of the nails which have to go somewhere.  And I won't even go into the arguments about whether the nailing on itself is problematic.  Just think about sticking a splinter up under your nail.

Cross section - freeze dried hoof

Dissection - domestic hoof

Dissected hoof with 'ideal' shoe/nail placement (vet supervision)

Quiz answers

1.How can you tell these pictures are of the same foot?

This hoof has a 'finger print'.  When the sole is cleaned up it is a good way of identifying a foot and it can help plot changes.  But sometimes, I freely admit, with plain soles, I have to rely on good sequencing (take pictures in the same order) and the position of my hands and feet ....... :-)

2.Describe five differences in the hoof between the pictures (ignore the trimming)

Ok - hooves never lie, but photos can mislead.  So it helps to really understand landmarks.  Although this is the same hoof, the one in the second photo is a good bit smaller than the one in the first.  It has got broader side to side and shorter heel to toe.  Also the hoof in the second photo is wet, which distorts the image somewhat and the hoof is a little later in the trim cycle.

So what do I think has changed?  1) Well the hoof is shorter toe to heel and broader side to side.  2) The central sulcus used to have a deep, narrow crevice in the middle.  This has filled in with healthy tissue. 3) Thrush is less evident 4) White line is tighter 5) More concavity in foot (hard to see, but check out just how flat the sole is in the first picture)  [And 6 - check out the collateral grooves; much more open in the second photo.]

3. Are these differences for better or worse?

All to the good

For part two of the quiz the pictures do link up with these (first photo to first photo, second to second).  The deep event lines which spread more widely at the heel are evidence of multiple laminitic events.  In the second photo The foot still continues to suffer LGL, which is hard to see, but the healing angle is not maintained to the ground.  For an idea of what to look for try this post.  And what is never evident from a photo, is that the horse is often footy over stones, albeit sometimes she is rock-crunching.

Just deshod

Several months later

Which one is laminitic?

Quiz - Part Two

Which hoof is showing signs of laminitis?
What are the signs?
Can you match the photos in this post to the ones in the previous quiz?

Broken quarters, abscess holes

Abscess split: heel - quarter (April 2010)

Split when weight bearing

Looks awful, horse still sound on all surfaces

Damage now at toe - nearly gone

Damage completely grown out (August 2010)

Shod - it appears abscess crack
has been 'dressed'

Looks awful, but horse sound.

'Super' structure grown in provides
natural support.  Previous 'dressing'
not apparently helpful

Solar view

Nearly grown out.  No 'help' other
 than AANHCP trimming,
a good diet and regular exercise

Solar view

All grown out - super structure remains

I thought you might like these photos as examples of how a horse can have a significant hole in a foot and still manage just fine. Without shoes and continue to work. No packing, filling, fancy goo, or other specialist ttreatment required. One of these hooves lives out 24/7 and works on a variety of surfaces several days a week. The other hoof is part or fully stabled and works every day. Both hooves are trimmed according to the principles as laid down by the AANHCP. The carers ensure the horses are properly fed and the hooves picked out effectively.

Very subtle flare - can you see it?

My own horse's health is being compromised by the wrong sort of hay (long story for another day) - a situation I hope to correct very soon. But if you just took how she looked and performs overall you might never think there was any issue. (see first photo)


In the second photo you may be able to see the subtle deviation from the healing angle?


But when I mark it up, it is not so insignificant.


The hoof is providing several other clues that all is not 100%:-

Event lines
Rather flat sole
Stretched white line (at toe)
Still footy over stones

If she had shoes on I probably wouldn't have noticed any of these things and Grace could have continued suffering LGL for years until she had a major lami episode.

While we might be struggling (very hard to get the right sort of hay at the moment) at least we are aware that Grace's health is not as good as it could be and can take steps to ameliorate it.

Speed of growth (and hoof cracks)

This foot is trimmed at four weekly intervals. Each photo is four weeks apart. Therefore there are 12 weeks between the first photo and the last.

The crack in the hoof has grown out quickly with no fancy putty, packing, burning, clipping, dressings or gunk of any kind.

The horse has continued throughout with a normal workload (heavy by today's standards) and has been sound throughout.

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

Hind foot - 9 month changes

First photo just deshod, second photo not quite 9 months later.

Event lines and laminitis

The first picture was just after the horse was deshod. A previous laminitis attack is evidenced by the heavy, broad rings in the heel area of the hoof wall. The hoof wall had been severely rasped when the horse was shod to remove the rings from the front portions of the hoof wall.

The second picture is 9 months later. You can see the hoof wall maintains the same angle more or less from coronary band to floor. If you look closedly you can see there are faint event lines. Some of them are from diet, others from wormers and vaccination. By carefully monitoring the appearance of these, it is possible to deduce what does and doesn't work for an individual horse.

This particular horse is an exceptional challenge and it is gratifying to have been able to get a reasonable angle all the way to the ground. Rock crunching comes and goes. A well intentioned but 'unfortunate' wormer is taking a long time to grow out.