Question on Abnormal Sole

[Linda_ID]

When I was visiting in San Diego, I saw a QH mare that had a sole so thick that the frog was actually down in a hole. The mare had shoes on--was tender barefoot even though she got little use and the ground was good. The feet were kept short and she was re-shod at appropriate intervals.

The sole was very strange. It wasn't hard and dry like that of, say the BLM mustangs, just off the range who were in adjoining corrals. It LOOKED more like live sole. It was the strangest-looking foot I have ever seen.

I asked my farrier, here in North Idaho, about it the other day. He said he saw a foot like that once. He only put shoes on the horse one time so he didn't have an opportunity to experiment.

It was obvious to us that the excess sole needed to be removed. It was also extremely obvious that there was something really strange going on.

Has anyone seen a foot like this? Can you tell us what the next step should have been? How would you proceed?
Thanks!
Linda

[matryoshka]

Bump! Was it perhaps a false sole?

[calshoer]

Anytime there is deep crevice around the frog including around the tip(the apex) the foot has retained sole. The true live sole/frog apex junction is not deep, it is a real smooth connection with both structures at the same level.
The lameness could have been from foot imbalance from the foot being overly long, or just about anything else. Maybe related to the foot maybe not. Whatver the problem the excess sole needs removing in those to get a balanced trim or shoeing. It may LOOK waxy and "live " on the ground surface, but it isnt. There's a hidden layer of live sole unerneath the dead, with a thin chalky layer hiding in between . Use the search here to find archived "retained sole" and "false sole" discussions to find out more.
Patty

[Grippin&Rippen]

Actually, one of my horses builds up sole just like that. He was foundered very badly as a 5 yr old. He's 19 now. His sole does not shed or even LOOK like normal sole. It becomes very hard and if you try to remove it it really DOES look like live sole. I am very carefull about removing sole because he has next to nothing btwn P3 and the ground - you can physically push the sole with medium pressure from your thumb.

So..whats worked best for me is to follow the frog. I will remove sole and trim the qursters and heels from the widest part of the foot back but I VERY RARELY ever remove sole forward of the tip of the frog.

He certainly has a weird couple feet and he's stumped many a farrier in this area.

[matryoshka]

Any chance you could post pictures of your horse's feet? I'd love to see them before and after a trim. Not trying to critique--just want to learn. ;)

[Frank Turley]

I googled "abnormal sole horse" and just now registered for this forum.

When I was apprenticing in farriery years ago in southern California, I worked with an extremely knowledegable farrier, and we came across a fairly thick sole that was not exfoliating laterally in flakes as soles are supposed to do. As soon a my mentor uncovered a tad of dirt and sole material, he said, "This is a compacted sole. It is congenital. It is similar to a hoof wall in that it has 'tubules' growing downward. It is very dense, yet live, softer than the hoof wall. The hoof knife can cut it with slight difficulty.The farrier can shape and cup it, so that it looks like a regular sole, yet the texture is different than a regular sole. For lack a better analogy, it is as though you've cut a celery stalk crossways, and you're looking at the cut, end on.

The horse was not lame. We treated the feet like a normal feet.

[Donnie Walker]

I used to have difficulty finding the layer between the live and retained sole on some feet of stalled horses until I was shown how to warm the lateral area rearward of the pillar with a heat gun or torch. This drys the area between the layers and the chalky material is easily found in that location. I can then work the rest of it out. I sometimes will heat the entire hoof to make it easier.

[calshoer]

"This is a compacted sole. It is congenital. Compacted (or False)sole is not congenital , it is envoronmental. No horse is born with abnormally thick compacted sole. (the definition of congenital being "born with it" . )
It is a layer of DEAD sole that for some reason simply has not shed off a little at a time. Though It appears to be live, (with apparent live horn tubules ) it is in fact dead, with a very thin layer of chalky material under it, between it and the truly live sole. Many a shod foot is left too long because this is not recognised and removed in the pre-shoeing trim.
Patty