Chipped Hooves

[CalliChristmasTree]

Calli has chipped two hooves. The outer wall nearly completly chipped away exposing the water line of her two front hooves. Both were chipped on the outer heels.
She has never been shod and usually has good strong sturdy hooves. There was no chipping last year where we mostly hacked out on roads and fields. Over the last few weeks more and more has chipped off and she even became lame last week. There was heat in 1 hoof where the chip was.
This week the outer wall seems to have grown back over the water line and she is sound now.
We don't really want to shoe her.
I wonder what might have caused the chipping. She is on shavings but doesn't have dry hooves. Its just a bit odd that both are chipped on the outer heels and no where else.
We had to re-schedual the farrier 2 weeks early as he was due at the end of April.
Has anyone had any experience with this before? Or anyone know what might be causing them to chip so much?
Any help appreciated. Thank you.

 

[brightmount]

Most likely the ground conditions causing a bit of white line disease, and/or gravel getting into the white line and causing infection, which may or may not form an abcess. Once the white line is compromised the outer wall often chips away.

Are you having her trimmed regularly? It helps to keep flare down, and the outer edge of the hoof rolled to prevent the white line opening up.

My horse has had a bit of white line disease this winter. I used a cleantrax solution in a soaking boot to kill it off, and my EP has given me some putty called hoof stuff to plug the hole and stop grit getting in.

Your farrier may have other means at his disposal to deal with it. Since you've scheduled him early he's the best person to advise.

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

where is the water line in the feet? havent heard this before? how often do you have the feet trimmed and balanced? sounds like the feet have got too long and have excess to chip and break? my barefoot horses are done every 6 weeks sometimes 7 if mine and farriers diaries dont match! they are trimmed and balanced and rarely have chipped hooves just nice strong feet............

 

[CalliChristmasTree]

I shall have to find some of this cleantrax.
Yes she is trimmed every 6 - 7 weeks. At first we thought it could be an abcess, like you said maybe a tiny puncture in the white line and some dirt/gravel got up there.
The heat has gone now and she is sound, so will just have to see what the farrier says!
Thank you!

 

[Hannah123]

She best be sound for the shows or else i'll be having words with her! xxx

 

[mrdarcy]

Could be white line disease but that's caused by dietary issues not ground conditions. What do you feed her? Has she had lots of spring grass recently? Without seeing her feet I can't say definitively as i'd need to look at her white line and see if there's any separation or even just a widening of it. I presume when you say water line you actually mean white line? The water line is the bottom of the inner hoof wall - it's unpigmented horn and makes up the majority of the hoof wall. Between the water line and the sole is the white line, which is the insensitive lamallae... about half an inch up from the ground this turns into sensitive lamallae. Confusingly the water line is white (because it's unpigmented) and a healthy white line should be a pale yellow colour. In a healthy hoof the white line should be very tight and dirt and gravel shouldn't be able to penetrate but in an unhealthy hoof the white line starts to spread and weaken. The white line weakens and spreads when the lamallae become inflammed and lamallae inflame when something goes wrong internally with the horse - usually too much sugar in the diet but can also be caused by chemical wormers, drugs or if the horse has other health issues compromising his ability to break down and expel toxins from his system.