What would you diagnose this as?

fairhavenranch · What would you diagnose this as?

I would appreciate comments on what you think this is and what you would have done about it.

Traci

Mandy'sMarty

It looks like bruising. Perhaps mechanical stress on the laminae attachment.
Doesn't appear to be the eruption of an abscess. I'm guessing it's not a metabolic primary issue.

How hard is the ground there?

Does this belong to a horse that stamps its foot too much? Perhaps an impatient, dominant horse that throws temper tantrums?

Or maybe it belongs to a horse who was ridden/driven too much on hard surfaces.

Pyrgirl

My guess would be some kind of stress or bruise. I have horses with white hoofs and you can always tell when there is stress because it turns that kind of pinkish color. I can also watch the stressed area grow out as the pink area moves down the hoof.

fairhavenranch

PasoBaby_CarolU

I would think a bruise too. She may have kicked it jumping a log or rock. I would think it would grow out eventually.

fairhavenranch

If you saw it out here you would laugh. I mean it is flat sand with no obstacles. You would think the safest place in the world. But yet they still find something to hurt themselves on.

I am still curious about the symmetry though.

What about stumbling and folding and landing on the front of the hoof?

jokersmama

I've seen that on horses that had an extreme flare. It caused a pressure point when they moved and the force would pull the flare and pinch the laminae causing a bruise like that.

It also could have been caused by a trauma at the coronet that grew out down the hoof...

Just guessing really

fairhavenranch

I think that is what my main curiosity is. Was it mechanical stress on the laminae attachment as Mandy's Marty suggested or pressure on the laminae from flare as jokersmama or was it trauma? On this sand they wear their toes off very quickly and she does flare a lot on both sides of the hoof.

What could I have done to treat this? As there was no lameness I just kept an eye on her and let it grow out and she was fine.

I think it is interesting that there was no lameness too. I can't believe she could not feel that.

jokersmama

You may never know what caused it exactly- just that it was a bruise or inflammation. Is that a front hoof or hind? My horses have stepped on themselves on the front end goofing around and caused trauma that way. I've got new trauma to the coronary band on one of my geldings caused by ice, he cut it right at the hairline going through a frozen puddle.

The horses I've seen with bruises like that haven't been lame either I've never seen them from flare in the toe though, the ones I've seen have been in the quarters.

Further down the hoof it looks like there is another spot where it was flared almost like a "founder ring" maybe a change in diet? Or change in weather causing a change in the sugars in the grass?

Newfman

From one view and an over the .net guess, I would have gone with trauma.

From this view, the toe looks a bit long and the heels seem a bit forward, but, really hard to tell from this angle.

Can i ask about the rasping of the hoof wall?

And is that a dent, midway down the wall? Or is it just the angle and lighting?

It sounded like this was a while ago from your post. What have you found out, and how has it been doing on growing out?

fairhavenranch

That is a right front hoof.

The dent below would have come from around the time this horse nearly died. The photo of the hoof is from early June. The previous late October she had coliced over 10 times in one week and then developed a cold abscess from an IM injection. She was critical and on an incredible amount of drugs.

I hope it is the view that makes the toe look long and the heel forward but I will tell you on a "standard trim-no shoes" my farrier tends to run the heels down because he trims only race horses and they think this makes them go faster.

The rasping of the hoof wall is a bone of contention with him and I that I just do not talk about because it is not that harmful (at least it doesn't appear to be) and it is his idea of "dressing the hoof". The photo is from the day she was trimmed.

It just grew down and almost looked like something burst from it after about 6 months and the bottom peeled down and then it grew out and it's gone.

So is it just an anatomical feature of the structure of the hoof that makes this so even and symmetrical like a line/ring?

Here is a slightly different angle for the purpose of balance. Still not a reliable photo. I can't tell anything with out a solar view personally.

whisperingwindfarms