Posted by Patty Stiller on May 08, 2000 at 23:04:48:
In Reply to: Post founder hoofwall quality. posted by Jim Hadorn on May 07, 2000 at 01:32:21:
: We have a 22 year old morgan mare, who has foundered 4 times in the last 15 years. the last time, about 18 monthes ago, was the worst but she survived, and has been doing very good in NB shoes. The remaining problem has been getting her to grow quality hoof wall. Her hooves are crumbly, and do not hold a nail well. she is feed good quality hay, vitamins, and biotin supplaments. Any suggestions on improving the hoof wall would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Jim
Some other factors besides the founder itself that could be affecting your mare are: excessive moisture in the environment, a lack of other micro nutrients such as zinc, copper and maganese (check your biotin lsupplement label to insure they are there too), or whiteline disease, a fungal infection between the hoofwall and laminae. Whiteline presents itself as a chalky, crumbly hole or gap betweem the outer,pigmented hoof wall, and the laminae. The layer which gets eaten up and turns to powder is the unpigmented, inner layer of weall. If that crumbly inner layer is present, it must be treated aggressively.
There is a lot of information on that subject in the horseshoes.com website, in the bulletin boards, under "founder and whiteline disease". if you suspect it is there, check out that site. The opinions on that bulletin board are quite varied from the various farriers, but still very informative. Patty