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Articles: What is Natural Hoof Trimming? How To Feed The Feet Right Off Of Your Horse Tools You Will Need to Perform a Maintenance Trim Looking for Custom Made Farrier Chaps?
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Common Hoof Problems...what are they and how do I tell? Laminitis/founder symptoms:
Laminitis/founder is the biggest worldwide killer of horses after colic.1 In our practice we have yet to see a case bad enough to require putting the horse down. Many horses we see exhibit some level of chronic laminitis... they are in a constant state of instability. We have seen a couple of horses whose coffin bones did pierce the sole at one time, but have since healed for the most part, most of these are also still exhibiting low level chronic laminitis. The biggest problem with laminitis is that by the time symptoms become evident, the attack is already well under way and damage is being, or has already been done. Most of the time you will see some variation of what these pictures illustrate. Here are the some of the most common symptoms.
Seedy Toe
Seedy Toe is a fungal/yeast infection that invades the layers of the hoof wall itself. It starts as small cracks and pockets of grainy black dirt that are packed into the rim of the hoof wall and white line area. It can be difficult to impossible to see on an untrimmed hoof, but once trimming commences it becomes very evident. If left untreated the pockets will grow and the infection can eat its way up through the inside of the hoof wall and burst out at the coronary band or through the hoof wall as an abscess. There is also a possibility of the infection migrating inside the hoof wall and affecting the internal structures of the hoof causing clinical laminitis and leading to founder. It appears that there are actually two different organisms at work that digest different parts of the hoof. One type of fungus consumes the keratin in the outer hoof wall, while the other fungus eats the tissue of the inner hoof wall. Prevention is usually as simple as maintaining a regular hoof trimming schedule that does not allow the hoof wall to grow excessively long, getting the horse onto dry ground, and providing a proper diet. This disease is frequently associated with, and occurs along with chronic laminitis. This fungal infection can also produce dark hairline cracks around the bottom of the hoof wall, possibly indicating how far up into the hoof the infection has progressed. Cracks & Chips
Cracks and chips in the hoof wall are pretty easy to recognize by even the most novice observer and generally there is little mystery about the cause. While there are several more unusual reasons for conditions like those shown above, more often than not it is caused by a lack of proper and timely trimming. A glance at the photo on the right shows what an overgrown hoof wall can do. Chipping is a horses natural way of trimming its own hooves. Generally, a wild horse will wear the hoof wall, sole, and frog down evenly and you will rarely see this kind of breakout unless there was some kind of accident. On domestic horses this is all too common when horse owners neglect their horses feet and don't get them trimmed every 4 to 6 weeks. Although the second picture looks pretty bad, this is a pretty healthy hoof once it is trimmed up, although it is likely that this horse won't be happy for a few days after the trim due to foot soreness. As far as cracks go, again, most of the time it is a lack of proper and timely trimming. Looking at the picture on the right you will notice that the "bars" on the sole of the hoof are very long. The bars on most horses tend to grow toward the front of the hoof, and if not worn down or trimmed will exert pressure on the sole toward the front of the hoof. In some animals this pressure can cause the hoof wall to split. In many cases, despite how bad the crack looks from the outside, the crack is actually on the surface of the hoof wall and has not affected the inner layers. In the photo on the left the crack depth is only about 1/16th of an inch and there is still plenty of sound hoof wall behind it to provide support. The big risk for this type of cracking is opening a pathway for fungus and bacteria to enter the hoof wall and cause infections, such as Seedy Toe, or White Line Disease. Treatment is simple...get your horses hooves trimmed every 4 to 6 weeks and these types of things just won't happen to your horse. The hoof wall crack you see in the left picture will take 9 months to a year to grow out completely from the coronary band, but only if the owner keeps the hooves maintained in a timely fashion. There are crack patching materials available on the market, but we are concerned that unless that crack is spotlessly clean and thoroughly disinfected there is a distinct possibility that we would seal up pathogenic organisms and give them a terrific opportunity to turn a mostly cosmetic problem into a full blown hoof infection. These organisms don't do well when exposed to open, dry conditions, so the best treatment is to leave it open, clean it out daily when you pick the hooves, and maybe run some water through it periodically to flush out any dirt and mud you couldn't get to with your hoof pick. Leaving it as dry as possible and exposed to the air is the best thing you can do to prevent setting up a good growing environment for bacteria and fungi. These pathogens just love dark, moist, airless environments, such as the bottom of an un-picked hoof standing in a damp pasture. Navicular or Navicular Syndrome Navicular Syndrome is a term used to describe lameness that is apparently caused by joint inflammation around the pastern area of the front legs. There are so many different causes for it that the term "syndrome" has been used instead of 'disease'. The treatments are as varied as the possible causes. We have not seen a case of navicular yet and there is so much information out there that it would be folly to try to consolidate it into something meaningful in the space we have. There are numerous sources of information on the Internet and we recommend reading everything you can about it if you have been told by your vet that your horse has been afflicted. The resources we subscribe to suggest strongly that proper and timely trimming are the best remedies for navicular. In addition, we understand that the use of hoof boots, combined with good natural care can help a horse heal from this syndrome, while strengthening the internal supporting structures of the hoof and toughening the sole and frog to provide additional support to the internal structures of the foot. White Line Disease (WLD) In some areas of the U.S. this is being called an epidemic. As recent research is beginning to show, there appears to be a strong connection between chronic laminitis, WLD, seedy toe and even thrush! We see many of the symptoms of WLD in laminitic hooves...some of the symptoms are:
These symptoms are so similar to other named maladies, that a consensus is growing that we are not dealing with individual diseases, but an overall syndrome that these diseases are actually symptoms of. The syndrome appears to be cured by the same factors you will see us talking about and referring to throughout this website:
If left untreated WLD may eventually manifest as laminitis leading to founder. Don't let this happen to your horse! Do some reading...assess your operation...make positive changes as you can and you will see the overall health of your horse improve dramatically over time, without invasive medical procedures, shoeing, or drug treatment...most of which can provide short term relief, but invariably mask a larger underlying problem and allow it to continue. Thrush/White-Gray Fungus
Thrush can go completely undetected if the hoof is not lifted off of the ground and picked out. When picking the hoof pay special attention to the clefts that run between the sole and the frog. Make sure you dig every bit of dirt, rocks and mud out of the cleft. If you detect a strong, foul, rotting odor and/or see deterioration of the frog as shown in our examples, then it's a good bet your horse needs to be treated for thrush or white fungus. We have also seen several instances of thrush that appears as a cut in the frog, usually near the sulcus, or cleft between the heel bulbs. The cleft may get very deep, over an inch to and inch and a half and will have stinky black goo inside it. The horse will not be happy with you picking around in there and will almost certainly flinch, or pull the foot away from you while you are trying to inspecting it...because it hurts. Thrush is generally black and carries the telltale smell of decay, while the white/gray fungus typically has little odor. The white fungus likes to find a small opening on the frog and begins to burrow in under the surface of the frog and it is virtually undetectable until you notice parts of the frog starting to detach. It will eat in a layer, which will cause the entire surface of the frog to literally come off in some circumstances. Worse yet, it appears that the white fungus will eat dead thrush fungus and by treating the hoof for thrush with commercial preparations we are inadvertently feeding the white fungus. The only treatment we are aware of for white/gray fungus involves soaking in a product called CleanTrax. The process takes a couple of hours and involves soaking the hoof, followed by wrapping the foot in a bag for about an hour. Apparently this treatment can be effective in one application in many cases. We have not used this product yet. Citations: 1 - Equine Laminitis Research Unit - Professor Christopher Pollitt - University of Queensland - www.laminitisresearch.org |
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