Hoof sole scraping off?! Is this normal?

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Chloeap

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So my horse has been on box rest for nearly 3 weeks now. He is barefoot and has been for 8/9 months now.
I was picking his feet out this evening and noticed the white sole coming off when I was picking them out! It was just crumbling away. Is this normal as I haven't noticed this before?
I am thinking its maybe because he is being kept in and not allowed any exercise at all at the moment, the hooves aren't getting worn away on the hard ground/stones like normal? Or maybe it's something to do with standing on straw all day and (despite our best efforts) it's probably a bit wet as he is a messy lad.

Any advice hoof experts?!
 
it's completely normal on box rest. He's not getting any movement to remove dead sole, so it goes chalky and scrapes off with a hoof pick instead.

Scrape off what comes of easily and as long as what's at the bottom is hard, itts fine. If the sole is getting soft I would put a sugar/iodine solution on it or use a hoof harder product.
 
Thanks for replies. It seems okay, I scraped off what was coming off and he's back out now in a small paddock and can start walking so I'll keep an eye on it and hopefully it was just box rest related as normally his feet are good!
 
His feet are still good ;) the powdery stuff is what he hasn't been able to exfoliate away by waking on different types of terrain naturally.

If you get a wire brush (the type used for cleaning rust of metal), and scrub his soles with that, it will take all of the powdery stuff off.
 
Casey76 said:
His feet are still good ;) the powdery stuff is what he hasn't been able to exfoliate away by waking on different types of terrain naturally.

If you get a wire brush (the type used for cleaning rust of metal), and scrub his soles with that, it will take all of the powdery stuff off.
Click to expand...

Yes I know they are good still! didn't mean it like that :P
Okay fab, thank you. Will see if I can find one - and see if he'll let me do that! Hopefully that + more time in the field + walking will sort it out :)
 
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