Managing a competition horse with flat thin soles

I haven't read all posts so apologise if already been said.

I think this process may take a long time.

From recent research and experience of a similar nature, I believe that your horse may be suffering from having a poor functional hoof wall and not problems with it's sole, per sa.

From my understanding it is biomechanically beneficial for the bones in the foot to be alined on top of each other in order to distribute ground forces evenly throughout the foot/limb. It appears however, from your radiographs that the RF medio-lateral balance from coffin/short/long pastern is not alined, thus unevenly distributing ground forces to cause uneven loading, which an inadequate hoof wall can't cope with. (You can see differences in inside/outside hoof length in radiogrpahs) but I am not a vet!!

The principle forces acting on the foot are the weight of the horse, the ground reaction force (GRF), and the tension in the deep digital flexor tendon.

This is an extract from the article previously mentioned, "When a horse’s foot stands on a flat, firm surface, the GRF distributes around the perimeter of the hoof capsule. But when standing on a conformable surface such as sand, the GRF distributes broadly across the bottom of the horse’s foot. In both cases GRF pressure is greatest approximately in the center of the foot, just in front of the coffin joint."

Improper hoof growth, trimming or shoeing might deform the hoof wall, causing flaring and the coronary band to move upward. Hoof growth slows as the body attempts to restore the hoof to a normal shape - does he by any chance have ring spacing irregularities on the wall? This would be an indication of this.

But, I think this describes your horse from what you've said???

If a horse doesn't have a good hoof wall, he can’t walk because of painful pressure between the sole and coffin bone. However, if it has a poor sole, the horse can tolerate this quite well, if sensitive tissues are protected from pressure because the lamellae and DDFT support the coffin bone off the ground. I have paraprahsed the recent article.

On the right fore - Do you think that it would be worth having a good farrier to have a look at the medio-lateral balance on this foot in an attempt to try to even this balance as it appears to me, that your horse has a much longer length from coronary band to ground/floor on the outside than it does on the inside. To me, this would further encourage uneven distribution of pressure within the foot to thus exaserbate uneven loading and weakening of the hoof wall. Then, all structures within the foot/limb will not be alined.

I think he would benefit from having shoes taken off in order to stop impact vibrations and further concussion until his foot balance improves but i do know how difficult this decision is.

Good luck.
 
My mare had very thin soles. She didn't bruise very often but felt the ground if uneven. Tried pads under shoes but didn't like the way the hoof looked or the tiny regressive frogs.
Know you said you don't want to do bf but I've gone down this path and got a horse with thick concave soles,no chips on the hoof and most importantly she's sound and comfy on nearly all surfaces....she will occasionally feel a big stone and pull her hoof up quick but she is so much better than she was in shoes.....
 
cptrayes said:
I have taken a close look at your xrays and as far as I can see the mediolateral balance, which your vets described as good, is out by maybe a couple of degrees on each front foot, with the right fore being noticeably the worse of the two, and the higher side being the medial, inside aspect.
Click to expand...

I am sorry, but if we're looking at x rays [which are presumeably taken from the back of the foot] the medial inside aspect of the RF does not appear to be the highest.

To me, it is the OUTSIDE of the RF that is higher, combined with poor structural alinement from coffin through to long pastern whereby these structures follow this 'tilt' (higher on outside/lower on inside so that they 'tilt' to the left - forces are thus channeled down the inside of the lower limb/foot. Resulting in uneven loading.

The LF, however, shows greater medial length.

But, what I thought was interesting (but not sure if it's clinically relevant) is the the mediolateral aspect, of the LR, of the long pastern bone shows greater rotation downwards and to the left, which then continues down through the short pastern which results perhaps in increased contact/compression of the coffin bone on the outside/left aspect?

I'm not a vet - it's just an observation and I may be wrong but can't hurt having a word with vet about this???
 
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Forgot to say................

I would say the toes are long, and from the radiographs the LF shows a 'broken back' hoof pastern axis - but I think you already noticed this. I would say, however, that not only does this affect the coffin bone position, it would also affect your horse's 'breakover', thus affecting [not just the foot] but the whole limb also.

Just a thought and again, I may be totally wrong!
 
The only piece if advice I would add would be find the best farrier in your area.

My old horse had awful feet, flat with no heels, dreadful. He ended up very seriously damaging his ddft within his foot and was pretty much written off. I never believed they could be any better.

I got a new farrier, one of the best IMO in the country. He revolutionised his feet. You could see the physical changes with each shoeing. It took time, had lots of different steps and cost a pretty penny but the results were astounding.

I'm in Berkshire. If that's near ish to you and you want his name drop me a pm.

I should add, I am also a pro barefoot person. None of mine have shoes on ATM. I couldn't justify it with the big horse though. His feet couldn't stand up to it and I wasn't prepared to have him very lame even in the field. When his feet were good enough though he did have his shoes off from November-march time, wore hoof boots as required and that also really helped. I couldn't of done it at the start though.

Good luck
 
Tonks said:
I am sorry, but if we're looking at x rays [which are presumeably taken from the back of the foot] the medial inside aspect of the RF does not appear to be the highest.

To me, it is the OUTSIDE of the RF that is higher, combined with poor structural alinement from coffin through to long pastern whereby these structures follow this 'tilt' (higher on outside/lower on inside so that they 'tilt' to the left - forces are thus channeled down the inside of the lower limb/foot. Resulting in uneven loading.
Click to expand...

I am looking at the coffin bone not the hoof wall.
 
cptrayes said:
I am looking at the coffin bone not the hoof wall.
Click to expand...

I can see why it appears this way.

But, I think that the edge of the bone is simply just a bit higher on the inside/medial aspect of bone due to its' shape and doesn't have any clinical relevance. There doesn't appear to be any ROTATION to the right or outside, which is what you may be getting at by mentioning it. But, only your vet can tell you if this is a problem or clinically significant in this case.

In my opinion, given that the outside of the wall is higher and the medial/inner aspect is lower and that the short and long pastern are badly mis-alined to the inside [which reflects the shape of the foot/walls] the general rotation of the coffin bone is towards the left/inside, rather than to the right.

Indeed, I think that if you look at the plantar aspect of the coffin bone, it is at its lowest towards the inside/medial aspect, which may be clinically relevant given poor hoof wall mediolateral balance. Lack of sole may also play a role, and this is where it may be sensitive for him.

However, as stated, I'm not a vet and I may be wrong but these are the questions I'd be asking my vet, if I saw these radiographs, as to their clinical relevance..
 
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Just to clarify the xrays are latero-medial (outside to inside) and dorso-palmar (front to back) with the marker on the lateral aspect of the hoof.
 
My horse (bought to event) went lame last November, intermittently about 1-2/10ths & to cut a long story short, had a lameness work up & X-rays and found that he had thin soles, underrun heels, very weak caudal hoof and flat coffins bones, nerve blocked to navicular area of foot, though navicular bones looked ok.
Vet advised remedial shoeing, but I did loads of research & came to the conclusion that all remedial shoeing would do is mask the problems, yes it might make him sound in the short term, but in the long term it would probably cause more damage and shorten his useful life. Given that he is 7 I decided that although it would mean a period of time where I could not compete etc for the long term health of his feet I would take him barefoot. Changed his diet to low sugar low starch plus pro hoof, explored how to rehab his feet to improve them and decided that him going to Rockely would give him the best chance. Took his shoes off 6 weeks before he went and was astounded at the visible changes made in a very short space of time.

These are pictures of his feet where you can clearly see the changes that were made over the space of 5 weeks;
Taken immediately after he has his shoes removed



Taken 5 weeks after



You can clearly see that the caudal area is starting to develop and the hoof is starting to grow at a new angle.

Providing all goes to plan & being aware that barefoot is not an easy option, I will compete him barefoot - yes even XC & SJ!

I suppose, all I'm trying to say is that is it worth compromising the long term health of your horses feet for the short term gains of wanting to compete this year? I know that I would rather go for the long term option.
 
I guess it's the fact that he's 14 already so if we miss this year then he'll be 15 and he has other issues which might well start to catch up with him. If he was 7 then I would do it but he's twice that age.
 
Beau had / has flat feet. We always new he was very sensitive to rocks etc but never had them investigated till he mysteriously went lame in front and after 4 weeks rest was no better.

Should add that he had such sensitive feet that if you took off all 4 shoes with him stood on concrete he would go 'sore' infront of you. Shifting weight etc and if you walked him even on grass (over admitedly hardish ground) he would be lame. Marginally better on sand. So really very touchy, farrier used to shoe left side then right so he was never completely barefoot.

Anyway mystery lameness = Spoke to farrier, had the vet out shoes off and X-rayed. Found the cause of the lameness - tiny ting little abcess in a nail hole, bit of dirt must have gone in with the nail - it took another 3 weeks for that to work its way out and he had to be barefoot in that foot for the duration. He was lame in a hoof boot unless seriously padded with cotton wool.
What also emerged from the x-rays was that he had incredibly thin soles (sorry can't rememeber pedal bone angle or details), next to no heels and slightly long toes. The vet actually said he was surprised he was ever sound!
Out of this came some changes in management.

When next shod he went in to natural breakover shoes at the front (and was in them for 18mnths at least), we also got a 1:10 formaldehyde:iodine mix from the vet to spray on his hooves daily as a disinfectant and to dry & toughen up the soles. When that ran out suggested we continue with meths. We didn't change his diet particularly (moved around a lot so grass/hay has changed a bit by region) or management (he has always lived out 24/7).
I did start him on a joint supplement not long after and I don't know if related but his feet seem to have improved a lot. He still grows hardly anything between shoeing but I no longer worry about his feet apart from having to tell new farriers to be careful. He is no longer in natural balance as farrier not comfortable using them and is now fine in normal shoes.

It took him 2 weeks to adjust to the new shoes and we did easy work for a bit after that to let him adjust but basically we haven't looked back!
He still feels some stones but nowhere near as much as before. The other month I rode him with a shoe missing and didnt realise till the end of the ride and he was sound on grass, gritty track etc which was unheard of before. He also went 8 weeks between shoeing and I only got the farrier out as I realised how long it had been, the shoes weren't loose or in need of doing particularly. Before we were lucky to make it to 5 weeks with out shoes coming off.
He also has some heel now and is not as long in the toe.

It wasn't a quick change but he was sound and working again in 6-8 weeks and massive improvement in general hoof health in a year.
 
Oh and was going to add I have been told that ridges in hooves can be linked to bouts of illness. The illness doesnt have to be colic etc and they could be casued by lameness/or stress. So it is possible the ridges you are seeing are a result of last years injury and the box rest, slowly growing out.
 
star said:
I guess it's the fact that he's 14 already so if we miss this year then he'll be 15 and he has other issues which might well start to catch up with him. If he was 7 then I would do it but he's twice that age.
Click to expand...

Yes I can understand your dilemma & perhaps getting him on a foot friendly diet, shoeing with whatever makes him comfortable & enables you to do what you want on him, then taking his shoes off later on in the year to give his feet a break might be the best option.
 
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