Cody Sayles is $1000 richer. The reward was offered in the spring of 2000 for the most interesting report on a laminitis or hoof wall crack case that was treated using 5 S sole support techniques. Cody's submission was chosen because it made interesting reading and his documented observations and experiences are typical of those encountered by others. Cody is to be congratulated on a job well done.
Cody is a recent graduate of the Farrier Science Program at Olds College (Olds, Alberta, Canada). He currently operates his farrier business out of Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada.

Introduction

Red is a sixteen year old red roan Quarter Horse gelding. He is owned by Lorne and Mona Himech and family. They live on a ranch near Houston, in northern British Columbia, in western Canada. Red was purchased as a six year old and used for ranch work, team roping and barrel racing. Because of Red's solid build, speed and great mind, he was a joy to ride and excelled in his events. However, he was only usable for three to four months a year.

Red suffered from a chronic foundered condition. He would be quite sound over the winter months, but by mid-summer, or his third shoeing of the year, Red was lame and unusable. This was an annual occurrence until he was retired to pasture at the ripe old age of eleven.

Figures 2 and 3 taken on August 22, 2000, show the condition of Red's front feet when treatment was initiated. The white-line measured one inch at the toe. The sole was flat and tender with much evidence of bruising. Red traveled with extremely short strides and was quite lame. He stood with his hind feet far up under himself. The initial shoeing proved to be a strenuous task because Red was unable to stand on one foot for very long.

Figure 2 - Right Front - August 22, 2000 Flat Sole, extended white line	Figure 3 - Left Front - August 22, 2000 Broken axis of pastern & hoof wall angle

Red's treatment involved the application of the 5 S Equine Sole Support System and associated techniques. The 5 S System enables the management of the weight distribution between the hoof wall and the sole. Specifically, the load is reduced from the hoof wall and transferred to the entire sole area of the foot including the frog and bars. The sole load is cushioned and evenly distributed without pressure points. The 5 S System involves a custom molded insole and a thick, tough rubber pad. The insole goes in as hand mixed putty and sets up to a firm rubber consistency within five minutes. The pad fills the inner circumference of the shoe. There are two pads available. The Eliminator pad (7/16") extends beyond the ground surface of the shoe and thus can eliminate most of the load from the wall. The Supporter pad (5/16") extends to be level with the ground surface of the shoe to create a shared load between the sole and the wall. In Red's case the Supporter pad was chosen.

August 22, 2000 was the first application of the 5 S System. I avoided paring away the thin sole. I lowered the heels and backed up the toe. Being a green horn just out of farrier school and this my trial run using the 5 S System I was unsure how to shape the Supporter pad and how to mix and install the Insole putty. With Lorne's help, we made frequent reference to the enclosed instructions throughout the procedure and we managed just fine.

Figures 4 and 5 show the left front after the 5 S Insole and Supporter pad are installed.

Figure 4 - Left Front - August 22, 2000 After installation of 5S system	Figure 5 - Left Front - August 22, 2000 5S supporter pad installed

October 4, 2000 marked six weeks of Red wearing the 5 S pads when we reset his shoes. It appeared all that had grown was from the last nail hole back, therefore I lowered the heels and backed his toe up more. We installed new Insole putty and reset the shoes and pads.

We noticed a major growth ring one half inch down from the coronet band. The new hoof wall growth above this line appeared to be following parallel with the profile of the coffin bone.

December 5, 2000. Due to the colder weather and lack of growth in the late fall, we allowed Red to wear his shoes for nine weeks. As before, I backed his toe up as much as possible and took his heels back to the widest part of the frog. What I saw when I looked at the sole of Red's feet were pink areas and bruises which suggested that his sole was thin and there still was no need to pare any away. The problem was that Red's feet looked long. Most horse owners would simply tell me to "stand him up" but I was quite confident that was not the solution to Red's condition.

The biggest difference was that Red now traveled like any other sound horse. He now stood square and was able to stand on one front foot without discomfort.

February 10, 2001 marked another nine-week term for Red. As with the previous shoeings there appeared to be little growth on the ground surface. I again backed up the toe and lowered the heels as far as I could. What I noticed was how the nail holes from October were not very far from where I was trying to drive new nails. I really would have liked to make his feet shorter but I continued to see the same signs in Red's sole as the previous reset. I also thought of the directions included with the 5 S System where it stated "avoid paring away any more sole than is necessary", and I was trying to continue with what was best for Red.

April 24, 2001 marked eleven weeks since Red's last shoeing. After much discussion, Lorne and I agreed that a change was greatly needed because Red was walking on stove-pipe looking feet. For some strange reason it did not click with me until this point that, because the bottom of the feet were covered, the sole could not exfoliate like it would on a normal foot. The sole had gone from the point of not having much thickness to being too thick. Red was wearing eight months of sole between his feet and the pads. It appears that I took one part of the instructions too literally.

What continued to deter me from paring the sole very much before were the blood pockets and soft spots. However, as I carved through an inch of sole, I found numerous old bruises and corns, that were not remotely close to any living tissue. It was hard work because the sole was very solid and dense and tough to cut through. Underneath this thick sole callous I encountered familiar exfoliated chalky white sole.

Figure 6 shows the difference in the feet after a proper trim. It was after this shoeing that I was much more satisfied with the job. The heels are finally taken back to support the bony column of the leg. The hoof wall and pastern angles are the same where previously the axis was always slightly broken.

Two weeks after I reset Red he came up lame. Lorne pulled the shoe and found an abscess close to, but slightly back from the point of the frog. He linked this abscess to a small horizontal crack in the back of one of the bulbs on Red's foot. Whether it was a small rock that punctured this spot or some existing bacteria that caused this abscess, we do not know. The path was traced to the point of the frog with the aid of a narrow oil spout. The spout could be easily pushed into the crack at the bulb all the way to the abscess point without any discomfort to our patient.

After one week of Red wearing a medicine boot filled with Forshners hoof packing and having his foot cleaned and soaked daily, Lorne nailed the shoe and pad back on.

June 2001 - I was back to reset Red's shoes again. What I found when I exposed the bottoms of the feet was a complete false frog. I literally removed it with my finger tips. This was not the same as any other horse just shedding his frog because what was underneath was not a normal developed frog. It was perhaps only one third the size of a normal frog and extremely soft. To ensure Red's feet were as close to bacteria-free as possible, I decided to take a chance and pare away everything that did not bleed for fear that any missed bacteria could cause an abscess again. Even with the soft soles, Red never took a lame step and continued down the trail of improvement.

July 24, 2001 I again traveled to Houston for Red's appointment. It has been a full eleven months of wearing the 5 S pads and I am happy to see his feet continually improve.

Figure 7 shows the bottom surface of the right front foot. At this point it is the poorest of the two feet, however compared to the before pictures this foot is close to perfection. There is still a minor separation in the toe but I am confident this will be completely trimmed out with the next reset. All the structures that were previously affected appear to be fully repaired and growing like any other normal foot.

Figure 7 - Right Front - July 24, 2001 After 11 months 5S system	Figure 8 - Left Front - July 24, 2001 After 11 months 5S system

August 22, 2001 will mark one full year of applying the 5 S System on Red. The results are phenomenal.

In early September, when Red is due to be reset, I plan on again applying the pads. The reason for this is that I am unsure how susceptible to the mechanical tearing his feet will be because of past history and I do not want to remove the pads too soon and possibly hurt his progress at this point.

Conclusion

I am amazed by the changes I have witnessed with Red in the last year. Other than being the same colour, Red is not the same horse. Compared to how he traveled and stood before and how he does now is the difference between night and day. He now travels completely sound. Because of the 5 S Equine Sole Support System and persistence, Red is again usable for riding and still has many years ahead of him.

I would personally like to commend Sandy Loree on the idea and development of the 5 S System. As someone who has been able to apply this system and see the staggering difference it has made in Red's case, I feel that Sandy is a valuable member to have in the Farrier profession and feel privileged to have been associated with him and be able to learn from him.

I would also like to thank Lorne and Mona Himech for all of their devotion towards this project. I think it is a great thing to be able to work with someone who was as eager to see improvements and new results as I was. Lorne spent many hours on this project and never complained of the cost or any of the minor set backs we encountered throughout the year.

I feel that this was a trial and error task from the beginning and we definitely learned from our mistakes. At times, I probably did not give Red 100% of what he needed but he still progressed very well. You live and learn along the way.

I hope that whoever reads this case study has enjoyed it and has found some useful information that may help understand more about fixing problems of the equine foot.

Thank you and happy trails.

Return to the 5S Equine Sole Support System home page.