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the entire sole just peeled off!
Post At
07/31/2010 - 3:44 am
reply from
trisha mcdowell
In 21 years of handeling horses i have never seen anything like it. As soon as i can ger my camera working I will post a picture.
This horse was purchased about 1 1/2 months ago and he was abscessing in his left front hoof. The abscess came out the coronary band 4 days later. He is a 3 year old who has never had his feet touched until now. When i removed the 4in of excess toe I came to my grizzly discovery, there was a hole on the inside of the white line towards the toe.
So i decided to clean it out with my hoof pick and noticed that it was much more than a hole. I was actually able to stick my hoof pick under the sole and lift it up. The entire sole on one side of the hoof lifted away from the hoof.
At first I decided to leave it alone. I cleaned out the debri, poured some iodine inside, and left it at that. By that afternoon the tiny hole became a 2in seperation. He had alot of sand under the sole so i cleaned it out with a hose and decided to remove a small section at the area of seperation that was peeling off. Well i decided to go ahead and remove the entire seperated sole to see how bad the damage was. It went on one side of the hoof from the toe clear to the heels. So he is missing half his sole.
What i dont understand is how he can be standing on this "naked" hoof with no sign of lameness, or what could have caused this. When i removed the sole there was absolutly no sign of infection. Everything was clean. just not connected. The only thing holding the sole on the foot was where the sole connected to the frog and where it connected to the hoof wall.
Im baffled. Please help if you have seen or heard of this before.
This horse was purchased about 1 1/2 months ago and he was abscessing in his left front hoof. The abscess came out the coronary band 4 days later. He is a 3 year old who has never had his feet touched until now. When i removed the 4in of excess toe I came to my grizzly discovery, there was a hole on the inside of the white line towards the toe.
So i decided to clean it out with my hoof pick and noticed that it was much more than a hole. I was actually able to stick my hoof pick under the sole and lift it up. The entire sole on one side of the hoof lifted away from the hoof.
At first I decided to leave it alone. I cleaned out the debri, poured some iodine inside, and left it at that. By that afternoon the tiny hole became a 2in seperation. He had alot of sand under the sole so i cleaned it out with a hose and decided to remove a small section at the area of seperation that was peeling off. Well i decided to go ahead and remove the entire seperated sole to see how bad the damage was. It went on one side of the hoof from the toe clear to the heels. So he is missing half his sole.
What i dont understand is how he can be standing on this "naked" hoof with no sign of lameness, or what could have caused this. When i removed the sole there was absolutly no sign of infection. Everything was clean. just not connected. The only thing holding the sole on the foot was where the sole connected to the frog and where it connected to the hoof wall.
Im baffled. Please help if you have seen or heard of this before.
Reply at
07/31/2010 - 7:19 am
reply from
Dr. Esco Buff, PhD, CF
Hello Trisha,
It sounds like your describing a retained sole or sometimes also referred to as a false sole. If you would like to see pics of several of these, log into my facebook account under the photo album, "False Soles."
I'm not sure we know exactly why some animals do this - extra foot and over due trims, protection, etc. They usually come off in one piece except sometimes you have to cut some frog off to get them to come out. Some horses you will see it once and others every time you trim it is trying to grow it back.
No need to worry. Scarry when you've never seen it before.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to write.
Esco Buff, PhD, CF
It sounds like your describing a retained sole or sometimes also referred to as a false sole. If you would like to see pics of several of these, log into my facebook account under the photo album, "False Soles."
I'm not sure we know exactly why some animals do this - extra foot and over due trims, protection, etc. They usually come off in one piece except sometimes you have to cut some frog off to get them to come out. Some horses you will see it once and others every time you trim it is trying to grow it back.
No need to worry. Scarry when you've never seen it before.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to write.
Esco Buff, PhD, CF
Reply at
07/31/2010 - 8:58 am
reply from
trisha mcdowell
Wow. That is truly amazing. I did some research and that is excactly what it is. What do you reccommend as far as protecting the foot while its still developing some hardness?
Reply at
07/31/2010 - 2:34 pm
reply from
Dr. Esco Buff, PhD, CF
Sometimes the horse is just fine with a regular trim, other times they may need shoes and pads, and other times you can apply venice turpentine, sole-ez, etc. onto the soles only to help toughen the soles. You will find that most harden up on their own within a week.
Esco Buff, PhD, CF
Esco Buff, PhD, CF
Reply at
08/ 8/2010 - 9:11 pm
reply from
Derek Grimwood
It also sounds like it could be a solar abscess. With 4 inches of hoof to trim off, the path of least resistance was most likely the coronary band for which the abscess to exit. The hoof will grow a new sole underneath. Now that it is pared away you will see that you have a nice fresh foot to work with which will reveal all of your true reference points.
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