So on Friday I left you with this to look at...
and you came up with some really interesting comments - you guys are good :-) I'll answer them as best I can although of course there are elements of speculation as well (I'll try and make clear what is known for definite and what is guess work).
Obviously you all pointed out the medial flare and that it was too extreme and specific to be simply a long hoof - which you'd expect to be much less one-sided. As Val pointed out, if a hoof was just over-long it would normally split off rather than deviating as its done in this photo. Most of you were suspicious that it was the result of an injury or conformation problem - and of course you were right!
Obviously you all pointed out the medial flare and that it was too extreme and specific to be simply a long hoof - which you'd expect to be much less one-sided. As Val pointed out, if a hoof was just over-long it would normally split off rather than deviating as its done in this photo. Most of you were suspicious that it was the result of an injury or conformation problem - and of course you were right!
Most of you also spotted that on this view the digital cushion on the lateral (left hand) side of hoof appears more robust than the medial side; it certainly seems to be the case that this foot has a tendency to overload laterally.
Taking that into account, it seems likely that the "flare" on the medial side is acting a bit like an outrigger - if the flare weren't there, the hoof would be even more unstable and less able to load evenly. As it is, the load isn't perfect even with the "outrigger" because deviated hoof wall is a compromise and not as strong as a properly supported hoof capsule. As C says, there is a crack in the wall because hoof wall alone isn't really designed to take this sort of load but the crack is actually only superficial.
Overall, the leg is fairly straight - not sure, Deered, whether the lean you saw is the slope or the red wine :-) - and the hairline at the coronet is fairly level - if you look at the concrete ground line in the first photo it gives you a better idea of what is truly horizontal than the borders of the shot.
This particular horse has a mild medial wall deviation on both front feet which appeared once he was sound and working barefoot but the dramatic wall deviation in the photo appeared after he had a shoulder injury.
I don't have photos from then, unfortunately, but he had quite severe atrophy of the deltoid and supraspinatus muscles (the visible muscles on the outside of the shoulder) at the time. That has improved but there is no doubt that this is still his weaker leg and its the one which is most prone to injury, though he is sound and in work.
For me this hoof is a good example of how resourceful horses and hooves are at stabilising, compromising and carrying on as best they can even after injury. I'll let you know if the wall deviation ever disappears :-)
Overall, the leg is fairly straight - not sure, Deered, whether the lean you saw is the slope or the red wine :-) - and the hairline at the coronet is fairly level - if you look at the concrete ground line in the first photo it gives you a better idea of what is truly horizontal than the borders of the shot.
This particular horse has a mild medial wall deviation on both front feet which appeared once he was sound and working barefoot but the dramatic wall deviation in the photo appeared after he had a shoulder injury.
I don't have photos from then, unfortunately, but he had quite severe atrophy of the deltoid and supraspinatus muscles (the visible muscles on the outside of the shoulder) at the time. That has improved but there is no doubt that this is still his weaker leg and its the one which is most prone to injury, though he is sound and in work.
For me this hoof is a good example of how resourceful horses and hooves are at stabilising, compromising and carrying on as best they can even after injury. I'll let you know if the wall deviation ever disappears :-)
So interesting to see how the compensate! Thanks for sharing the backstory with us.
ReplyDeleteIt's the slope - I now see the horse was standing on a slope... that is pretty neat, it appears that the flare is on the inside of the hoof - does it cause any problems with the horse possibly knocking himself?
ReplyDeleteJen - no problem - he's an extreme example but he makes me think every day :-)
ReplyDeleteDeered - yes, sorry, I should have pointed out the slope before - there aren't many level areas at Rockley!
To answer your question, he doesn't seem to knock himself. I would never describe him as a mountain goat but as long as he is concentrating he is pretty clever on his feet. He has come down the steep slope in Sunday's blog, for instance, though I don't relax as much as I would on Felix or Charlie(!)
Of course if he was shod before the shoulder injury no farrier would allow that deviation to build up (and the horse would quite likely be unsound!).
ReplyDeleteBut I would love to know what 9 out of 10 farriers would do with that foot now if asked to shoe it.
C
Of course if he was shod before the shoulder injury no farrier would allow that deviation to build up (and the horse would quite likely be unsound!).
ReplyDeleteBut I would love to know what 9 out of 10 farriers would do with that foot now if asked to shoe it.
C
Thanks for the follow-up. That was pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteThats cool that he doesn't knock himself - when I was riding (back int he 90's ) I saw a couple of horses with past shoulder injuries with corrective shoeing that seemed to be chronicly hitting themselves.
ReplyDeleteThats a pretty good slope, he's got to be pretty useful to be able to cope with that.
C - I know of one farrier who uses medial extensions quite regularly but as Deered says, the problem with those is the horse injuring himself.
ReplyDeleteWith this horse he would go lame pretty quickly in shoes because his caudal hoof wwould tend to weaken. He has an old DDFT injury which would recur pretty fast if he started landing toe first again.
PS: Someone has posted this link onto a US site, where one bright-eyed trimmer has decided that what this horse needs is a damn good trim - and then to be fitted with boots and pads(!)...DOH!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that they have ignored the information about the shoulder (hey, its above the hoof so it doesn't count!) and the fact that the horse is currently sound(!).
A perfect example of some muppet thinking they know more than the horse, who will inevitably lame it if allowed near it with their knife and rasp...Sadly the attitude is all too common in the UK too...
Thanks so much for that Nic. I will be so interested to see how things go in the future.
ReplyDelete