November 27th, 2006
Cecil County, MD
October 21st-22nd 2006
Cecil County, MD
Offering trimming in northern MD, for your horse, group or private instruction for owners, or consultations. FMI please contact lookout @ nac.net
November 27th, 2006
Cecil County, MD
October 21st-22nd 2006
Cecil County, MD
Offering trimming in northern MD, for your horse, group or private instruction for owners, or consultations. FMI please contact lookout @ nac.net
This TB colt had been described as being over at the knee, or tied-in, and that this was genetic and conformational and therefore nothing could be done about it. After his first trim (at about 1 yr old) he stood with both front legs straight. In the photo below at 1.5 yrs, (one month into the trim, with long bars) he is standing with cannon bones slightly behind the vertical. Right after being trimmed, he stands more squarely. His conformation critique also stated his pasterns were a little long. The angle and therefore the apparent length, has been improved by trimming (photo 8).
At 6 mos. At 1.5 yrs.
Before barefoot trim One month after trim Right after a trim
The TB gelding, bred for the track, was born in Mar ’05. He was receiving a farrier pasture trim during his first year which rasped the toes handsomely but removed no sole, or bar. His heels were reasonably low. The young gelding lives in an ideal environment: 24/7 turnout in a rural area 100 miles north of New York City, in a herd in large pasture with a natural water source and on a variety of terrains, mostly hard and rocky.
At about one year old, he was becoming very inactive for a TB colt, standing around a lot and not getting much movement. The owner was concerned he might have contracted Lyme’s disease and had the vet run tests which were negative, thus, the vet conlcuded it was “just the way he was”. Soon after he received his first correct barefoot trim which included removing very large amounts of severely overgrown bar (about twice what is shown in photo 4), lowering the heels, and shaping the toe. Immediately after the trim he ran off bucking, at a gallop and to the great relief of the owner.
May ’06 Oct ’06
before trim after trim
Six weeks after the first trim the foot appeared to double in width, more than what could be attributed to normal growth. The long and deep bar seemed to be impinging the growth of the foot. Now, the coffin bone will be able to develop to its full genetic potential. There is also a significant increase in width visible in the six months from May ’06 to Oct ’06 (compare 1. to 2. and 3. to 5.)
The hind foot also shows correct development, in that it is not becoming as wide, but the spade shape of a hind foot is becoming more apparent as the horse develops (6. to 7.)
Navicular ‘changes’, as seen on radiographs, are nearly meaningless in diagnosing ‘caudal heel pain syndrome’; in fact I wonder why they bother taking them. If the horse is lame you don’t need an xray to tell you so, nor do any of the treatments address the lesions or cysts that are considered to be the cause of the problem.
Orthopedic or corrective shoeing works in the short term by restricting the blood supply to the navicular bone by increasing the angle of the hoof/pastern axis, which compresses the artery that enters the foot in that region. It is counterproductive to prescribe shoeing that continues the conditions that caused the problem to begin with. In particular doing so on a young horse will predispose it to this condition for the rest of its life and will shorten its productive lifespan.
Shoes on a horse who has not fully developed his skeleton can be very detrimental in that they restrict the coffin bone from reaching its full developmental characteristics. It restricts the amount of space available for the structures located in the flexible rear part of the hoof and prevents proper development of the palmar processes which by means of the lateral cartilages attach the coffin bone to the short pastern bone.
A more productive course of action would be to address the problem by means of a physiologically correct trim, removing excess, hard horn that is causing pain and inflammation and leading to ‘caudal heel syndrome’.
This is a 5 yo Morgan mare. The trim was started at age 3, and the second row of pictures shows the progress after about one year.
With frequent trimming, the heel has been kept low and the coffin bone placed in a near-ground parallel orientation. This has enabled the dish in the toe wall to grow out, and the hoof rings to become somewhat more concentric (more equal distance between them at the heel and at the toe. When the heel grows faster than the toe, the rings are wider at the heel. A healthy foot’s growth should be even all around with equidistant rings). However by the age of three there was already considerable joint adaptation in the coffin joint, creating the broken forward hoof-pastern axis.
The mare recently competed in her debut dressage show, winning her Intro test amongst a class of six, as well as getting an award for second highest score of the day. She has a bright future ahead of her as an all-around fun horse.
The horse’s current hoof form is not allowing him to grow a healthy The markup shows the approximate location of the coffin bone and what it’s doing to the tissues and vessels in the foot.
Reported problems include very little hoof growth, very thin soles, and very little heel to remove. In reality there is a great deal of heel here that needs to be removed (as per markup). Its height is pathologically displacing the coffin bone. This orientation is the reason for the lack of hoof and sole growth, and the laminar wedge. The tip of the coffin bone is pointing down onto and compressing the circumflex artery, the only blood supply to the sole which is responsible for the thin soles and poorly growing, crumbly walls, and the front of the coffin bone is pressing on the sole. Pressure prevents growth.
At 4 mm, the soles are actually only 1mm less than the thinnest recommended amount (5mm), the issue is more the sinking of the bone onto the sole. As long as the circulation is compromised by the pathological orientation of the coffin bone, the laminae cannot reconnect at the top between coronary band and top of P3.
The tip of P3 at the extensor process is also being pushed against the blood vessel that would supply the blood to the laminae. The downward pointing tip of the coffin bone causes the laminar space to be much wider at the bottom than at the top; as long as this condition exists, the laminae will not reattach in a healthy fashion and rotation and a laminar wedge will continue to be present. The laminar space at the bottom needs to tighten up to the same width as at the top, so that the laminae are not stretched and torn beyond their natural capacity and continue to secrete blood and inflammation. This needs to be done by lowering the heel to where the blue line is.
A Horse Who No Longer Has Ringbone
Before
She is a 20+ yo Morgan mare who was grade 5 lame and retired. The original diagnosis for the lameness was navicular. With the prescribed bar shoes, she pulled a sesamoidean ligament within 24 hours. The shoes were removed, and a second opinion diagnosed the ringbone. The treatment prescribed was retirement, with the advice to give bute the day before if the owner wished to ride her.
Within seven months of correct trimming she has regained complete soundness and gets regularly ridden.
After
The long toe was later shortened.
Improvement in the quality and appearance of the coat is visible (not so coarse, has more shine), as a result of the increased circulation to the hooves and legs.
The lateral cartilage is no longer so prominent and pushed up out of the hoof capsule, now that the heels have been brought back even with the widest part of the frog, and the walls in the quarters have been shortened. Such a displacement of the lateral cartilages can lead to ossifications such as sidebone, or contribute to ringbone. Most importantly the steep pastern has taken on a better angle by virtue of the heels being lowered and brought back even with the widest part of the frog. This steep alignment is the factor that most contributes to and predisposes a horse to developing ringbone, as it puts excess and unnatural strain on the extensor tendon; its attachment point becomes inflamed and eventually stabilizes by calcifying.
Welcome to the Barefoot Hoofcare blog. We will discuss various ways to trim feet, present cases on a regular basis, and discuss different approaches to dealing with problems. We invite horse owners to submit their questions and cases for input from the blog owner as well as a rotating panel of experts.