American Farriers Journal
American Farriers Journal is the “hands-on” magazine for professional farriers, equine veterinarians and horse care product and service buyers.
“Misguided Practices” are Damaging Horses’ Coffin Bones
Keeping P3 closer to the ground increases the likelihood of morphology
Takeaways
- Excessive, abnormal or focused compression features should not exceed osmotic cellular pressures, ensuring that growth period occurs timely and correctly.
- Excessive movement of P3 within the hoof capsule causes focalized soft tissue tearing, compression and grinding. The normal hoof capsule bears between 60 and 78 psi and deforms at loads above 78 psi and fractures at more than 100 psi.
- Keeping P3 closer to the ground increases the likelihood of abrasion and subsequent degeneration or absorption of the bone as it gets captured between the ground and the force going down the limb.
- Horses’ hooves that are routinely cut as short as humanly possible, have the toes of the wall rasped back and sole packs on the bottom are candidates for changes of P3 morphology.
I wrote an article in the late 1980s on the development of the third phalanx (P3) from a neonate to an adult of 3 years of age. That article went into the stages of morphological development from the dorsal surface to the cup on the bottom and the palmar processes (wing tips). That developmental process is dependent on the animal having a somewhat normal weight-bearing posture. Excessive, abnormal, or focused compression features should not exceed osmotic cellular pressures, ensuring that the growth period occurs in a timely and correct manner. This excessive compression process is similar to a tourniquet, bed sores or other pressure necrosis.
“Our services are based on anecdotal evidence that shorter is always better …”
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American Farriers Journal is the “hands-on” magazine for professional farriers, equine veterinarians and horse care product and service buyers.
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