Curious ridge

[Forgewizard]

I ran into some interesting hooves today. been trimming them for awhile now - started with them in April of 05, when two were wearing shoes. After there hooves got stabilized, they were able to go barefoot and have continued to improve in their hoof form.

One of them has navicular degeneration, but now is able to be ridden several times a week!

Anyway, all the horses (she has 5) are kept in sand paddocks and ridden a few times a week by various family members, none of which would classify as horsemen or experienced riders.

All have good hoof form. By that I mean good depth of heel, good hoof to pastern alignment, no major medial/ lateral imbalances and excellent frogs with good soles.

Most all horses here in Florida will have some hoof wall issues such as small fissures or cracks that run between or along the layers of hoof wall. Such as between the Stratum externum and stratum medium, or between stratum medium and stratum internum.

Usually these fissures don't go very deep, or if they do, when the wall gets trimmed and beveled the cracks easily get "cleaned up" and disappear.

However I have one horse that keeps developing a huge ridge all around his hoof wall inside the white line and about 1/4 to 3/8 inch in towards the center of the hoof. His outer wall develops extremely deep fissures between the stratum medium and stratum internum and the resulting crack fills with sand and debris and then proceeds to get leveraged apart. This horse doesn't really seem sore.

Background on the horse is he is a large 16hh paint, former "pony horse" for track horses. Shod when purchased. shoes pulled, no issues with going barefoot. Has upright pasterns, and upright hooves, decent walls, great frogs and very cupped hooves. Sorry. no pix.

I have a nagging voice in my head from watching him move that he has some sort of systemic problem. The horse is dropping weight, seeems to have some muscle wasting along the croup. He has no energy and drags his hind feet, I've done a couple field tests like tail pulls and mane pulls and can easily pull him off his feet! I voiced my concerns about possible EPM or other system issues to the owner. She called her vet. Vet said the horse had thin soles and sore feet! Used his xray vision!

uhuh, o.k.

Horse only flinched mildly at the heels to my hoof testers so to humour the vet I trimmed him ultra conservatively the next two times and the only change that has happened is that now his hoof walls have huge crevices where the dirt and debris have leveraged them apart! All hooves have toe cracks from this wedging apart and packed debris. SO I nipped off the seperated wall - it wasn't supporting the hoof anyway. And flatted the hoof.Bevelled the edges.

So the end result was still a fairly wide ridge of sole edge around the cupped hooves. Blapped it rather hard repeatedly with the edge of my rasp when finished, horse never flinched - so obviously the trim wasn't too close or invasive.

Yeah, I know, I ought to get pix - and will as soon as I replace my camers. But until then - any ideas?

I mentioned today - we may need to put him back in shoes, I hate to keep seeing all that wall getting leveraged apart.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[THamilton]

Kim,

Without seeing pictures, it sounds to me that there may be a fungus undeneath there causing the stratum layers to be weakened. You may want to explore this "fissure" alittle and clean it up, debride it kill the culprit and possibly resect a protion of the hoof.

I have seen this on horses that come out of the dessert. Yes, it seems dry, but the fingus sits there like a seed until the conditions are ripe for it to grow and cause the wall to act as you say.

Tony

[Andalucian]

However I have one horse that keeps developing a huge ridge all around his hoof wall inside the white line and about 1/4 to 3/8 inch in towards the center of the hoof.

I'm not a farrier, so respecting the forum rules I won't offer advice. But as a trimmer regarding this one observation, I would be looking for a healthy foot to have a ridge of sole around the outer edge as you describe, next to the white line. Its function is to bear weight, along with the inner wall. IMO this sounds healthy.

[Forgewizard]

Andalucian,
Thanks for the comments, however while I understand "trimmers" views of this sort of ridge; I disagree with the idea that this indicates a healthy thing, as this is NOT a healthy hoof - considering how undermined the wall is. I am currently involved in just such a discussion on another BB ( chronicle of the horse).

Tony,
I agree there is likely considerable bacterial/fungal invasion. It is doubtful that the owners will be able or willing to clean and medicate even with a basic Peroxide and Vinegar flush. What I am concerned with too is that this horse's hooves haven't responded to the usual removal of undermined wall and bevelling of remaining wall, as well the ridge keeps reestablishing itself. Could be this has been an ongoing thing with this horse and was why he was shod when they bought him?

If I saw this on all the other horses at that barn, I'd suspect it was my trimming methods - but only this one horse is developing this ridge.

[Joey Aczon]

Is this ridge all the way around the sole? I have a clubbed mare with sole like that.

[Forgewizard]

Head2Toe,

Yes, ridge encompasses entire wall edge. All four hooves.

[Bill Adams]

Some horses have more developed, thicker, denser sole at the egge than others. It sounds (as I can't see) like the sole is taking up some of the weight bearing from a weak hoof. The poor hoof may be from an over all health or nutrition problem, systemic as you aptly put it.
When I see the thick ridge, or as some call it, the calous, I be happy.
Bill

[THamilton]

Kim,
I apologize. I misread your post. I have reread it and believe like Bill. That it is a sole callous, there to protect P3. It is a good thing for that to be there.

Tony

[Forgewizard]

Yeah, I'm happy that the horse isn't foot sore - but unhappy because this to me is not good hoof form. SOmething is not right. I guess only time will tell. But already I have seen a considerable change in this horse's demeanor, weight and movement. He's gone from a horse with bloom, tone and 'tude to a horse that is dull, underweight and dreary. If he was mine, I'd be pushing the vet for more tests or finding a vet that would test.

[jack-mac]

Kim did you say the ground is sandy, ridges will accrue when the sole is moist & being exfoliated to quickly from abrasion, he maybe feeling a little discomfort in his feet even if he doesn't appear to be lame, it sound like he may be an old horse & his teeth aren't the best, next time your there have a look at he's teeth to see if he is an old horse & wile your at it check his gum for color, if there pale grayish with a slight yellow tinge in stead of a nice pale pink, he's a little anemic & will need an iron supplement, it will help in your assessment if you press the gum for a couple of seconds & see how quickly it takes for the blood to return to that area, if you think he is let the owner know what you suspect & they can take it up with the vet :)

[runtolive]

Hi, Not a farrier, but my horse has this. He has quite thin soles and the ridge seems to stay there as a protection plate. He just came out of his shoes in the middle of Oct. As I bring the toe back, the ridge gets narrower and eventually disapears as the hoof strengthens over the course of winter with no shoes. I found that bringing the toe back and getting the 1/3 to 2/3 ratio, makes the ridge go away.

[calshoer]

Kim if you had a saggital section , would it look like this?

[runtolive]

My horses xrays dont look like that. His coffin bone is fine.

[calshoer]

Its not the coffin bone I was pointing out in this example...(although the navicular bone is trash) .
I was trying to see if it was the *extremely* thin sole and exaggerated narrow, tall sole callous that was similar to what Kim was describing. Cause whenever I find a foot with an exaggerated cup in the sole just behind the sole callous, and a narrow callous like that, they are very thin soled.

[runtolive]

Thanks Patty.... That makes sense, I was looking at the navicular part. My horse is VERY thin soled... I dont know if you can see it in the xrays or not, this program makes me make them so small to post.

[calshoer]

It appears the vet completely missed the bottom of the hooves in the Xrays. How can he/she evaluate them?

[runtolive]

No idea, that is what she told me... :confused: Plus you can press his soles down with your thumb and they move pretty easily. He is also paint with a lot of thoroughbred which I imagine doesnt help at all.