Apr 24, 2015 | Ailments, Feet, Hoof, Hoof Care, Lameness, Laminitis, Leg issues, Shoeing
Part 2: Everything You Need to Know About Your Horse’s Feet
So they made me do a little work between blogs but here is Part 2 of my exclusive report from the All You Need to Know About Your Horse’s Foot Seminar.
When you hear ‘break-over’ you should think of thunderclouds parting and the sun coming out, angels singing, a drink of water when you are really thirsty. It’s that important. Horses have multiple break-overs, but we are going to concentrate on the one at the front of the foot for now. A break-over is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the point at which the hoof comes off the ground during movement. The moment of break over is the hardest on the hoof structures. Every bit of that force is trying to tear the foot apart.
A good trim, according to the guidelines I talked about in Part I, will set up a good break-over. This point should be about ½” to ¾” in front of the tip of the coffin bone. Wait a minute… how is my farrier supposed to know where the tip of the coffin bone is located?? I don’t think they come equipped with x-ray vision! Most of the time your farrier will set the break-over at a point about ½” to ¾” in front of the tip of the frog. Sometimes the foot doesn’t seem to be doing what your farrier expects. X-rays of the foot will help your farrier see what the bones are doing inside the hoof. X-rays let us see if there is arthritis, injuries, or laminitis going on which may require special shoeing.
Visual Aids!
Let’s look at some feet and see if you can spot the problem. First up:
This guy definitely doesn’t have his heels back to the widest part of his frog and that’s with the shoe on. And if you look at the branches of the shoe you will see they aren’t even. The shoe is twisted on the foot. His break-over is also too far forward.
Next up:
A line drawn down the center of this foot definitely won’t give you half inside and half outside.
This shoe…..Unless half this shoe was on one foot and half was on another foot it doesn’t make sense.
Now for the fun stuff. What happens when the foot has been trimmed and we can’t get the alignment the way we want it? We put a shoe on it!! So in answer to the barefoot question. Your horse can go barefoot if two things can happen: the foot can be balanced with a trim, and the work the horse is doing doesn’t unbalance the foot faster than it can grow to compensate.
This shoe is an extreme example of break-over manipulation. It starts with a regular shoe. Bar stock is then welded to the inside. Then the shoe is nailed to the foot. The end result is a shoe that allows this horse to break-over anywhere he wants.
This horse is an example of the opposite end of the spectrum. This foot has been allowed to grow long to bring the break-over forward but notice the principles have still been applied. Now this foot is extra long since this horse is due to be shod but notice the foot is balanced and well supported. We can manipulate feet to make gaits we find appealing but it must be done correctly or we jeopardize the horse.
Ever get tired of your young horse pulling shoes? Or have a horse with really sore heels? This shoe, affectionately called the flip flop, fully supports the foot but is very forgiving of the hind foot grab. Most short coupled young horses go through a shoe pulling phase until they learn to wear shoes. It’s normal and should not be blamed on your farrier. Sore-heeled horses need some support since they hurt too bad to not have a shoe underneath them, but metal shoes can be too hard on them. The heels on these shoes offer them soft support.
This shoe is an example of the compromises we have to make sometimes. This horse has a torn deep digital flexor tendon. This injury will heal best if we can take some of the tension off the tendon. A shoe like this helps reduce that tension but it has moved that pressure to the heels. Notice how the heel is curving under. This shoe can’t be used long term without causing significant hoof problems.
A quick note on some common Florida problems. This beautiful abscess is secondary to all the very wet weather we have been having. Using durasole, thrush buster, keratex hoof hardener or something similar on the foot will help it handle all that excess moisture. Sometimes no matter what we use on the foot they just stay way too wet. In that situation shoes may be the answer if only temporarily.
Along with abscesses, thrush is a common problem. The cattle mastitis ointment Today applied to the affected areas daily for a week and then every few days for three weeks will help clear it up. We have also recently started using a product called Keramend on some really really really bad thrush horses and have been very pleased with the results.
Our horses rely on a good foundation to stay happy and comfortable. I know I learned a lot about feet at this seminar, but Dr. Lacher and the entire Springhill Equine crew are happy to talk feet anytime! This is Tony saying may your food bowl be full and your litter box clean!!
Apr 13, 2015 | Feet, Hoof, Hoof Care, Lameness, Laminitis, Leg issues, Shoeing
This is Tony reporting from the Hoof Seminar on April 11, 2015. I am sure this will be a multi-part blog since I doubt I will be able to get all the information typed up without hitting the food bowl at least once so stay tuned if I stop mid-sentence. I will be back after refreshments….
Let’s start with the very true saying: “No Hoof No Horse.” Much like “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink” this saying sticks around because it is so true. Our horse’s take off, land, turn, and stand on their feet. And it’s a pretty tiny foot on the end of a long stick so little changes make huge differences!
A bit of anatomy will help us all get our bearings for some good discussion later. The lower leg is made up of the cannon bone, sesamoids, long pastern, short pastern, navicular bone, and coffin bone. The most important thing to remember here is that we are manipulating the hoof since that’s the part we can change but it has to align with all those bone and tendons and ligaments above.
Moving on to alignment. Tires on your car have to be aligned a certain way so they wear evenly. Hooves aren’t much different. By following certain guidelines the hoof will fly through the air, land, and take off again in perfect alignment with the rest of the limb above, the other three legs, and the big body it’s moving along. Think about it: a horse trotting creates 1,500 pounds of pressure and that’s at the trot! It’s really important to get alignment right.
OK starting with the view from side…….A line drawn down the front of the hoof should lay against the entire hoof wall and front of pastern. A line drawn down from the center of the fetlock joint should lay against the heel bulbs. In a perfect world the fetlock and hoof wall line would intersect at the middle of the fetlock joint but that is where the word guideline comes in.
Now pick up your horse’s foot. When it is freshly trimmed the heels should be at the widest point of the frog. This is really, really, really important. Many of us where taught that heel should never be taken off. Like many things we heard in our youth, things changed. The heels must be at the widest point of the frog. Next draw a line across the widest part of the foot and a line at the toe. Half the foot should be in front of the widest point and half behind.
Draw a line down the center of the foot long ways and half the foot should be to the outside, half to the inside.
Set the foot back down and look at it from the front. A line drawn down the center of the hoof should divide the hoof in half with 50% to the inside, 50% to the outside.
Hold your horse’s hoof up and let it hang from your hand. Draw a line down the center of the heels and again this should divide the hoof in half. This line should also be perpendicular to a line drawn across the heels where they will meet the ground. I hope you are noticing a pattern here. The foot should be symmetrical!
Notice none of this involved touching the sole with a hoof knife! By allowing our horses to form all the sole they want we help them keep good cushion beneath their coffin bone! Horses will naturally wear off any sole they don’t need so we don’t have to do that for them.
All this work has set us up for a discussion about the perfect break over, which is our real goal but you will have to wait until next week since I hear the full food bowl and clean litter box calling. Stay tuned. I will finish writing soon!
Aug 21, 2014 | Ailments, Leg issues
It’s simple but it’s not easy. This saying can be used to describe so much about our horses. Surely it’s simple to keep your heels down, shoulders back, and eyes up and yet I definitely don’t find it easy! Proper trimming of a horse’s foot is similar. There are a few basic principles to proper trimming and yes they are simple but they often aren’t easy.
Our horses are a marvel of engineering and the foot is the epitome of that marvel. Just think about your horse cantering across a field. On the left lead the right front foot is carrying all of the weight along with the forces created by cantering during the stance phase of the gait. What does all this mean for your horse and his foot? Back to high school Physics we go….
During movement the coffin bone rotates around the very center of the short coffin bone creating a center of rotation. Our goal when trimming feet is to put this center at the ideal spot for forces on the navicular bone, deep digital flex-or, and the structure of the heel. This generally translates to half the hoof mass being behind this line and half in front. For the geekiest among us, that gets us the shortest moment arm possible. In the picture here that means this horse should have his toe and heels brought back since too much of the foot is in front of the vertical line right now. The lateral (image from the side) view only gives us part of the information we need to give our horses the perfect foot. The bottom of the foot tells us even more.
There are three important lines on the bottom of the foot. The first one is across the heels. The second is drawn down the center of the foot from front to back and the third is across the foot at its widest point from inside to outside. These lines give you a guide to the structure of the hoof capsule, the bones underneath, and the best way to trim the hoof.
Let’s begin with the line at the heel. The heel should be at the widest point of the frog and the inside and outside heel should be at the same place. The heel must be rasped down to this level! We have all heard don’t touch the heel so they can grow more but it just doesn’t work that way. The heel must be brought back to the widest part of the frog or it is mechanically compromised and this WILL cause big problems later.
Next, the line down the center of the hoof. This line should not only cut the foot in half but also cut the frog in half. If it doesn’t the frog is telling you there are problems! This line does have some wiggle room based on your horse’s conformation but it is only a little wiggle room. For instance, a pigeon toed horse will carry more foot to the inside and that will be normal for them.
Finally, the line across the widest part of the hoof. Again half the foot should be in front of this line and half behind. The half behind is determined by the spot where the heels hit the ground. This is why it is so important to have the heels at the widest part of the frog. If the foot starts with the heels at the right place, this line will give you an excellent guide to proper break-over location.
These lines are the start of everything we do with feet. A horse with good feet keeps these proportions without the need for shoes. However, bad feet, lameness, or laminitis cause the need for shoes to recreate these proportions. And that’s exactly what a good farrier does with shoes: recreates these proportions. It’s not easy but it really is simple!
Mar 30, 2014 | Leg issues
Our Doctors spend an awful lot of time talking about joint supplements. Just yesterday I caught Dr. Lacher reading this article http://www.thehorse.com/articles/33601/oral-joint-supplement-efficacy-tested-in-senior-horses about joint supplements in older horses. So this week I thought we could chat a bit about these supplements. Personally I find most of them to be very tasty but more on that later.
Let’s start with why a joint supplement might or might not be needed in the first place. Lots of you ask your horses to perform as athletes. This is why I’m glad I’m a cat and don’t have such demands placed on my days. In the process of performing low level damage is done to the joints and particularly to the cartilage. This is part of exercise and is very normal. Most of this damage is readily repaired by the body but some of it is too extensive for the normal repair processes. When this happens we call it an injury and over time injuries can lead to arthritis.
So what’s a human to do? Well logic says if we give the body the stuff it needs to make more cartilage it will help those joints heal faster. Logic does say this but I have been doing a lot of research. After all with this much rain it’s not like this cat wants to go outside and play. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate have been shown to be absorbed by the equine intestinal tract and to have potential for anti-inflammatory effects. However, studies looking at the level of these molecules in blood and joints after oral and intravenous administration show they aren’t anywhere near high enough to be therapeutic. Hyaluronic acid fared even worse in studies. It was shown to be absorbed but nearly 95% of what was given was found in the feces. Studies have also been done in rats and dogs only, not horses. Fatty acids are new to the picture and the studies are preliminary at best. It looks like alpha-linoleic acid and cetyl myristoleate are the top candidates for horses. Moral of the story: There is some science behind the ingredients in joint supplements but most simply can’t be fed at high enough levels to be effective.
And then we get to the confusing part. Articles, like the one Dr. Lacher was reading, show that using objective measurements older horses with known arthritic conditions benefited from joint supplements. One way this may work is that inflammation in a joint will cause glucosamine and chondroitin to increase. This is likely due to an increase in cell transport mechanisms secondary to inflammation. Some scientists theorize that these molecules also work as anti-inflammatories in the liver and kidneys where they reach much higher levels due to the filtering nature of these organs. Fatty acids work in the entire body to reduce inflammation. This means that some horses sometimes have been shown to respond for reasons we don’t fully understand.
Real world advice time. You have a horse you would like to give a joint supplement to but you aren’t sure which one to use. Start with a well known name brand such as Cosequin or the SmartPak brands. glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are probably the most important ingredients. For the horse in intense work or with known problems fatty acids added to the chondroitin and glucosamine may increase the benefit. However, when it comes down to your horse the best answer is to pick a supplement, try it for 30 days, stop it for 30 days and see how you feel. At the end of the day your horse’s response is really the only one that matters.
I have posted links to many of the articles I read for this blog. Most are very sciency and I had to ask Dr. Lacher and Dr. Bourke for help interpreting them. They said they would be more than happy to do the same for you guys any time. Until next time may your litter box be clean and your food bowl full!
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bdd.392/abstract
The bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulfate after oral and intravenous single dose administration in the horse
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.2002.tb05422.x/abstract
Effect of glucosamine on interleukin-1-conditioned articular cartilage
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.20762/full
Synovial fluid levels and serum pharmacokinetics in a large animal model following treatment with oral glucosamine at clinically relevant doses
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf8017029
Absorption, Uptake and Tissue Affinity of High-Molecular-Weight Hyaluronan after Oral Administration in Rats and Dogs
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049017201986378
Biochemical basis of the pharmacologic action of chondroitin sulfates on the osteoarticular system
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2746/0425164054530687/abstract
Effects of glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate, alone and in combination, on normal and interleukin-1 conditioned equine articular cartilage explant metabolism
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.2006.tb05615.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false
Double blind investigation of the effects of oral supplementation of combined glucosamine hydrochloride (GHCL) and chondroitin sulphate (CS) on stride characteristics of veteran horses
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2012.00901.x/full
Systematic Review of Efficacy of Nutraceuticals to Alleviate Clinical Signs of Osteoarthritis
Mar 19, 2014 | Ailments, Feed, Leg issues, Pests
They were making a fuss around here recently about a groundhog and a shadow and warmer weather. I don’t know what the big deal was I see my shadow all the time and it has nothing to do with the weather. This did, however, lead to a conversation about Spring and horses. Turns out horses face some pretty unique challenges during the warm up from our frigid winter. I realize some of my readers from the north are chuckling about the weather but this cat thought it was plenty chilly.
New green grass. New grass is very high in sugar. This sugar can quickly bring on an attack of laminitis in horses who are overweight or have Cushings. These horses are prone to a syndrome called Equine Metabolic Syndrome which causes them to have diabetes type responses to sugar. There are some treatments available but diet control and exercise are the most important.
Parasites. Parasites love Spring and Fall, feel pretty good about Winter, and hate Summer. The best parasite control methods use fecal egg counts to figure out which horses carry the most worms. Now is the best time to do fecal egg counts. Use this handy chart to determine how long you need to wait after you deworm to bring us poop:
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Product Given
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Wait this long to bring us a sample
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Moxidectin
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16 weeks
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Ivermectin
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12 weeks
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Pyrantel, Oxibendazole, Fenbendazole
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9 weeks
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Weather changes. Rapid weather changes play havoc with our horses GI tract. The best advice our Doctors have is water, water, water! Adding water to your horse’s grain on a regular basis helps combat those cold weather colics. A small handful of salt when temperatures suddenly drop will encourage your horse to drink.
Encephalitis. Yep encephalitis. Spring is prime time for Eastern Encephalitis. Our mosquitoes are wicked any time of year but during the Spring they are likely to be carrying this deadly disease(99% of horses who begin to show symptoms later die of the disease). The vaccine for Eastern Encephalitis is extremely effective but only lasts for a short time. We recommend giving the vaccine every 4-6 months depending on the age and lifestyle of your horse.
Skin funk. Florida is famous worldwide for its horse skin funk. Well maybe not to regular people but definitely for horse people. Keeping your horses as dry as possible is the key! Since we all know this is next to impossible this time of year, there are several treatment options for funky Florida skin. Desitin or diaper rash cream is great for lower limbs, the zinc oxide helps heal the compromised skin while simultaneously sealing water out. Dilute Listerine or dilute vinegar may help with the thorax/ back funk but will not address a serious problem. For more severe cases (all of those sensitive skinned chestnuts out there) Springhill carries a medicated CK product that comes in a shampoo, salve, rinse and spray depending on where the problem is. Silly horses I don’t understand why they can’t just clean themselves…that’s what your tongue is for!
May your litter box be clean, and your food bowl be full!
-Tony
Jan 31, 2014 | Ailments, Disaster Preparedness, Leg issues, Pests
This week I have been consoling Dr. Lacher on a regular basis about her horse, Ernie. Ernie has developed a significant cellulitis in his right hind leg and Dr. Lacher is trying very hard to stay calm about (more…)
