Has anybody had a horse with grit INSIDE the hoof (up the white line)?!

itsonlyme

itsonlyme

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Here's Moll's x-ray. The white specs are grit.

Im000000.jpg


We've poulticed for over 2 weeks, but nothing has come out and she's still lame :( We're re-xraying tomorrow. There's a possible keratoma and/or pedal bone infection, so the vet wants to see if the notch in the pedal bone has changed or if the grit has moved.

If it is just the grit, there is talk of cutting the hoof wall away to flush it out, then poulticing til it's sparkly clean and filling the hole in.

Just wanted to know if anybody has had a similar experience with their horse and what the outcome was.

Thank you muchly :)


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both ours often come back from a hack with little bits of grit stuck there, sometimes I'll pick them out with the end of a hoof pick, never caused a problem at all. Both of them have tight white lines, but there is still a slightly less hard area there for gritty bits to get jammed in.
Are you sure the grit is the cause of lameness? Is there any wld there?
 
itsonlyme, I saw this xray on the other forum but still can't spot the white specs (although this may be due to the gunk on the computer screen!) any chance of you pointing them out for a numpty!
 
Yes. A horse at my old work yard I dealt with.

But, probably isn't news you want to hear. :( He had pedal bone infection in the end and had to have surgery on it and part of the bone taken off or something similar, after about 2 years of being intermittently lame. His was originally caused by just a small piece of grit travelling up also. He was touch and go for a long time and had some exceptionally bad days on it...but his foot did heal in the end but it was only after surgery. We had months of tubbing and poulticing it also with never much coming out.
 
Here you go ester :)

mollyxray.jpg


Thepony, her WL is stretched, but that has happened very recently (she was lame beforehand). I have ordered some Cleantrax just in case - it should hopefully arrive tomorrow.
As for it being the cause of the lameness, it's all we can find without MRI-ing. The vet thought that maybe the grit is causing multiple small abscesses. Or it could be a keratoma causing the lameness and the grit is a coincidence.
 
Has the farrier been to open up the suspect area, I would think it needs to be cut to allow any pus to come out, poulticing alone is rarely enough for a deep abscess.
A pony of mine had 4 months of treatment winter 2010/11, the abscess was all above the pedal bone and was hard to shift, he had a lot of hoof wall cut away, spent weeks with his foot being tubbed and poulticed before eventually it cleared up.
 
Teds Keratoma was caused by Grit apparantly, it goes in through the sole, then up to the white line, then attaching to the wall and the keratoma grows down tp the sole.

Its bit weird in your xray that its in a line, dont you think?
Did they x-ray the other hoof?
PS. Teds Keratoma also caused an abcess and quite aot if sole had to be cut away before the pus would come out.
 
i think if you look carefully, there are definite grit specs. It looks like a line because it's making a 'pathway' upwards. Directly above the grit is the suspect notch in the pedal bone...:confused:

be positive - no, not yet. The vet is the only one who had a little dig of the distorted white line area. She has said though that it will more-than-likely result in some hoof wall resection :(

Thank you all so far. As long as she'll get better eventually, i dont mind the nuisance poulticing and tubbing :)

Oh also, the other foot hasn't been xrayed. Just this foot from 2 different angles.
 
Yes a hunter a few years ago.
The same slightly unlevel could not find cause dug about in foot poultices nothing came out.
Xrayed lovely tiny pieces of stone clearly visible .
Off to horsopital vets drennelled out a whole flushed the little devils out dressed it horse came home as soon as sedation wore off dressed at home for two weeks then filled horse went back to work I kept it plugged with tar until it grew out.
 
My pony always gets grit stuck in the "gap" it's never made him lame or gone that far up. I always pick them out, but it bugs me on why this "gap" has never grown out, so if anyone knows how or why it's still there it would be brill.
 
My vet was first involved with my pony, farrier away at the time, when no improvement was made following x-rays which showed slight but not really relevant old pedal bone rotation, he recommended the pony was pts, not insured probably being part of it.
My farrier was called for a second opinion and took over the main care, at times I think he possibly regretted it but as the pony was still young and fighting we stuck with it and thanks to him got through to a sound pony, the pedal bone rotation is still a slight issue but not the end it was considered to be by the vet.
 
picolenicole said:
My pony always gets grit stuck in the "gap" it's never made him lame or gone that far up. I always pick them out, but it bugs me on why this "gap" has never grown out, so if anyone knows how or why it's still there it would be brill.
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I presume thats the "gap" that goes all the way round the sole on the bottom of the hoof? That "gap" actually goes all the way up the hoof - it is where the hoof attaches so it will never grow out :)
 
Hello - yes my big barefoot mare had a 'gravel run' a few years ago, the farrier found it and took the wall of her hoof away thus removing the gravel before it carried on travelling up her hoof, sometimes it can travel all the way up and pop out as a huge abcess in the coronet band and make a mess apparently.

It literally looked like she was missing half a hoof!! She had a shoe put on (I cant remember what it was called it was a whole circle shape shoe so supporting her whole hoof and the back of her heels where there is normally no shoe at all)

She was slightly lame without the shoe. Had another show put on her other front to keep her level. After about 6-8 months her hoof grew back. We had to clean it out and wash and disinfect the open area daily.

Onve her hood grew back I had both her shoes taken off again as I prefer her barefoot and she has been fine ever since. Hope this helps and your horse recovers as well as mine.
 
picolenicole said:
My pony always gets grit stuck in the "gap" it's never made him lame or gone that far up. I always pick them out, but it bugs me on why this "gap" has never grown out, so if anyone knows how or why it's still there it would be brill.
Click to expand...

Foaling Around said:
I presume thats the "gap" that goes all the way round the sole on the bottom of the hoof? That "gap" actually goes all the way up the hoof - it is where the hoof attaches so it will never grow out :)
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be a gap. It should be full of white line, a kind of creamy colour bath sealant type stuff :) If there is a gap then either the hoof wall is longer than it needs to be or there is white line disease which has removed the bottom of the white line.

The first is a trimming issue, the second is a diet issue.
 
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The vet thought my horse's keratoma was started by some grit or something going up the white line (because it didn't grow down from the top of the foot, it started about two thirds of the way up).
 
Quittor is basically pus in the foot that bursts out the coronet band gravel tracking up the white line could cause one the horse I mentained in my earlier post had that happen despite loads of pouliting that's when we went for the X-ray and saw those pesky tiny stones.
 
Lol at u old people! :D I've never heard the term quittor/er in my life!

Ha903070 and goldstar, that's good to know, thank you :) I needed to hear success stories :)

I just hope it's only a teeny bit of wall that needs taking out...
Thank u for the links foalingaround - they look really interesting, especially the thermal imaging picture! Will have a read.
Thanks all again. Fingers crossed for tomorrow's xrays...:)
 
Yes. My friend's old pony on livery here some years ago had the same problem. He was a 30-y-old ex-LDR pony - highly successful - and I reckon his hooves had taken a fair battering over the years. At the time we had a track with scalpings on it. The little bits started to work up between his hoof wall and the sole. He had several abcesses, and in the end his owner had to move him to another friend where the track from stable to field was concrete. He lived another 2-3 years and had no more problems.

It is a worrying thing, because once it has started it is likely to recur. I hope you find a good solution to your problem.
 
My arab used to always used to get it (not recently though touch wood) ... I remember a few years back the farrier literally had to cut a huge hole in her hoof (right at the tip) which took forever to grow out and keep free from rubbish but once it was out and the infection had cleared we just stuck a load of keratex putty in and we were back to normal! x
 
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