Calling Barefoot experts

[cthorseman]

Alright - something I’ve noticed is a little hoof wall separation between the wall and the white line.
Maybe a millimeter deep.
I cleaned it out well tonight, put some durasol in it, and packed it with some hoof clay.
Was that the right move?
I’ve been applying durasol every other day or so.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Wow just look at those heels opening up! Are these even the same hooves? The photo on the right appears to show an area that is not being weighted when the horse moves - my old cob has this (club foot improved through trimming) and it's never gone away completely. My trimmer angles the rasp away from the sole and puts a mustang roll on the area, but the sole has remained weak and doesn't build like the rest of the sole. This could be due to conformation and the way your horse moves. One thing to watch out for, is that some newly barefoot horses throw an abscess when the internal structures start to remodel. Owners see the horse very lame, and immediately assume it has to go back into shoes. Not so. Time is your friend here, and Rome wasn't built in a day! Looking good.....

 

[Capalldonn]

Alright - something I’ve noticed is a little hoof wall separation between the wall and the white line.

I'm a little confused. Do you mean the white line, i. e. the lamina, or do you mean the coronary band shown in your picture where you put on the disinfectant?

 

[cthorseman]

As expected very weak caudal hoof and long toe. As highmileagecob said treat for thrush.

Don't be in too much of a rush, these hooves need to strengthen through gentle comfortable movement and you already know you have injuries within the hoof capsule that needs to heal before they can strengthen, that's why the horse was lame in the first place. If there's ligaments involved they can easily take 3 months or more to heal. When I tore my ligaments my ankle took 6 months to get back to 90% and 4 or 5 years until I no longer had an occasional twinge. Add onto that the need to strengthen the hoof and the fact it takes 9 months minimum to regrow a new reshaped hoof capsule and you can see this is a long term project. Patience will be your friend in this! Hopefully it will be very worthwhile for you both.

Edited to clarify I didn't mean it will take 4 or 5 years before you can ride again, I was just trying to explain how long full healing of some soft tissue can take. I'm now grateful for getting my injury as it has made me reassess my expectations when dealing with animal injuries just how long they sometimes need to 'come right' and how patient I need to be!

No worries!
I meant to respond to this.
His soft tissue injuries consist of thickening of lateral sesamoidian ligament.
He did have significant adhesions in bursa and inflammation around P3.
Also had possible presence of moderate edema in coronary Corium.

Luckily as of now he doesn’t have any damage to his DDFT

 

[cthorseman]

Looks like the heels and central frog cleft are already widening up, excellent! Tamponade that area to give it a bit of constant pressure and change daily.

Do you trim yourself in between farrier visits?

I don’t - if I see something bending over or something that may look to cause an issue I will rasp it.
I would love to be able to I just don’t know if I have the skill yet. I probably feel comfortable enough to round the walls a little.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Cavallo have a good Barefoot Trim video on line, which is a ten minute master class on trimming a bare foot, with all the whys and wherefores explained. Might be useful between trims?

 

[cthorseman]

I'm a little confused. Do you mean the white line, i. e. the lamina, or do you mean the coronary band shown in your picture where you put on the disinfectant?

White line

 

[cthorseman]

should I be worried about the separation from the hoof wall? Or is that normal when transitioning to barefoot?
Anything I can do to help it?

 

[Highmileagecob]

It's often a sign of thrush, and seems to appear if there have been minor episodes of laminitis. Keep a close eye on things, and try not to let the hoof wall become long enough to act as a lever. Unfortunately it will collect grit and small stones, but again, brush/pick out at least daily. Packing with hoof clay sometimes helps.

 

[cthorseman]

It's often a sign of thrush, and seems to appear if there have been minor episodes of laminitis. Keep a close eye on things, and try not to let the hoof wall become long enough to act as a lever. Unfortunately it will collect grit and small stones, but again, brush/pick out at least daily. Packing with hoof clay sometimes helps.

Thank you. I’ll keep it clean and add some hoof clay.
Hopefully it will grow out as the foot grows.
I do see some positive changes in his foot which is nice, just need to get that figured out.

 

[Capalldonn]

I would encourage you to do smaller corrections in between farrier visits. Depending on how sharp your rasp is you can start with one or two strokes, then stop, evaluate and maybe do a bit more or only after a few days, if necessary.

Try and keep the wall even with the sole.

Here I would suggest to round the wall and take away the flares. Thrush in the white line will disappear when it can grow down without being stretched anymore.

That bit of loose skin or rather the little dent where it comes out of the hoof (yellow marks below) tells you where the actual frog and heel end is as well as the actual height of each heel. You can always find it where the coronary band merges into the frog.

 

[cthorseman]

Noticed a little bit of the hoof wall breaking away. Not sure if it’s related to nail holes or not? Only happening on front right (non Navicular foot). The front left seems to be holding up well.
I am going to rasp and round the wall a little bit in a couple days (just waiting on a hoof stand to come in).

I have a pair of boots incoming as well!

 

[cthorseman]

Sent farrier pics and he said “that’s his weak inside wall that he’s had since I started doing him… that’s gonna be tricky”
The front left is looking better though.