Keratoma - something to panic about?

Sammyf

Sammyf

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Hello my farrier told me that my horse has keratoma in her front hoof. He showed me the wall of her hoof and it's not straight. She's not lame on it at all so he said don't worry about it and just keep an eye on it if she gets uncomfortable on it. I understand it's rare benign tumour which can be removed with surgery.

Has anyone has any experience of this condition?
 
Yes, it's a tumour and can be removed (depending on where it is). Whether you go down the removal route really depends on the age of the horse and where it is sited. Prognosis is usually good. However, for now, I would follow your farrier's advice and keep an eye on it.
 
She's 11 years old and today was the first time I noticed she was sore. She threw a shoe and on the uneven ground she was slightly touchy but this could have just been where she has had shoes on all her life so her feet are soft. I've had her 8 months and it hasn't got any worse so hopefully it isn't anything major!
 
My 10 yr old cob had an operation to remove a keratoma in his back hoof in June this year.
He had shown some lameness in the Dec, but after seeing the vet it was thought that it may be tight back shoes as he wasn't used to wearing them. Shoes came off, had some bute/rest and then did come sound for 3/4 months. Then started looking slightly lame again, resting hoof more, and stamping it quite a bit (thought that was mites at first !).
Took him back and asked for x-rays as was worried about joints and he had a really funny action going on. X-rays didn't show anything, then vet started digging around in hoof and finally showed me a disc in hoof that was around width of 5p and a very slightly darker colour. He thought keratoma, took a sample and sent to lab, and it did come back as that. We then had to take him back up, he had the op, and it was deeper that thought, a conical shape that went right up to coronary band, so he had a big V shape cut out of hoof, over 3/4 way up. He had to stay in a week for dressings, and then came out sporting a bar shoe. I had to then dress every other day for 6 weeks, and he was allowed out as long as it was kept dry (good thing about the extra dry weather this year). It was pretty gunky and smelly to start with, but dried up well after a few weeks, and he was on antibiotics and bute.
He came back into gentle work after 6 wks in the school, and have been building him up since- but not doing anything excessive still. Farrier keeps an eye on it, and he still has bar shoe on whilst growing out. Hope that all makes some sense- let me know if you want to know anything else, as I'm sure there are bits I've forgotten.
 
Thank you for your reply. She isn't lame with shoes on and she hasn't had any bulges on the outside of her hoof yet. If it did come down to it and she did have the operation it seems that there is a really good recovery rate luckily! She hasn't had any tests done to see if it is definitely that but the farrier said it straight away when he noticed the crumbling in her hoof. Fingers crossed it stays minor!
 
Hi SammyF, I have no direct experience of Keratoma's however they would signigficantly reduce the value of your horse - even if removed.
I don't know the length of time they take to become present, but I assume nothing showed up at the vetting when you purchased her?
It may be worth notifying the vet who vetted her, or speaking to your own vet just to get the full picture and options available.
I'm a bit un trusting when it comes to why horses are sold - my mum was well and truly had with a youngster from Holland, who went slightly unlevel 3 months after purchase - his x-rays were clear and he passed the vetting. However an MRI scan indicated old injury in the hoof, the upshot being he would never be sound enough to do Dressage and the joint would degenerate.

I know your situation is totally different, just trying to explain my questions in case you bought in good faith and the seller may not have been totally honest - that comes across as a terrible thing to say, and I don't mean to it sound like it does.

I'm sure you'll be fine monitoring it, and your farrier is probably the best person to be guided by. Although I'd still have a chat with the vet in case the lameness continues.
 
They rarely cause problems, I'd carry on as if you didn't know unless you have a reason to consider it due to lameness at some point. I've dissected many hooves with keratoma's in them, they're pretty small usually, about 1/4cm in diametre up to 1/2cm at the biggest. The hoof adapts to accommodate it pretty well.

I don't think they would affect the horse's value at all, in fact I expect many of us own horses who have them lurking within!!

I'd revisit the conversation with the farrier, I bet you'll find that he pointed it out because he was curious and he'd noticed it, and didn't meant to alarm you at all.
 
Cobsndogs said:
My 10 yr old cob had an operation to remove a keratoma in his back hoof in June this year.
He had shown some lameness in the Dec, but after seeing the vet it was thought that it may be tight back shoes as he wasn't used to wearing them. Shoes came off, had some bute/rest and then did come sound for 3/4 months. Then started looking slightly lame again, resting hoof more, and stamping it quite a bit (thought that was mites at first !).
Took him back and asked for x-rays as was worried about joints and he had a really funny action going on. X-rays didn't show anything, then vet started digging around in hoof and finally showed me a disc in hoof that was around width of 5p and a very slightly darker colour. He thought keratoma, took a sample and sent to lab, and it did come back as that. We then had to take him back up, he had the op, and it was deeper that thought, a conical shape that went right up to coronary band, so he had a big V shape cut out of hoof, over 3/4 way up. He had to stay in a week for dressings, and then came out sporting a bar shoe. I had to then dress every other day for 6 weeks, and he was allowed out as long as it was kept dry (good thing about the extra dry weather this year). It was pretty gunky and smelly to start with, but dried up well after a few weeks, and he was on antibiotics and bute.
He came back into gentle work after 6 wks in the school, and have been building him up since- but not doing anything excessive still. Farrier keeps an eye on it, and he still has bar shoe on whilst growing out. Hope that all makes some sense- let me know if you want to know anything else, as I'm sure there are bits I've forgotten.
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Do you have any photos of it and during the healing stages too??
 
Her value is no odds to me, she's never going anyway! We compete affiliated showjumping as its never affected her. The farrier looks at it everytime she's shod and nothing has changed in months
 
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