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Wall Cracks and Thin Sensitive Soles
Wall Cracks, Thin Soles, Sensitive Soles in Horses
Introduction
Problems with the quality of the hoof horn, both of the sole and wall, is a common problem in horses and can occur for a variety of reasons. Some of the easier to identify factors are:
- Nutrition
- Environment
- Trimming and Shoeing
- Trauma
- Local and Systemic Disease
- Exercise
- Genetics, including the size and conformation of a horse
Overall Poor Quality Hooves
One important diagnostic distinction to make when addressing poor quality hooves is whether just one foot is effected or are you looking at overall poor quality walls and/or soles? If just one foot is effected it is unlikely you are dealing with a systemic, genetic, or environmental problem but instead you are looking at a local event. This might be trauma, abnormal conformation, trimming, or local infection. When 2 or more hooves are effected you are looking at a environmental or systemic problem. Also local infection and trimming can effect more than one foot. This is an important consideration because if you have general problems with horn quality often you need to address potential predisposing causes. Here is a step-wise diagnostic paradigm to help you review potential predisposing causes:
Body Condition
In order for a horse to have good quality feet he must be in overall good condition. Step back and decide does your horse overall look good: bright and alert, a proper weight, a clear eye and shiny coat? Carefully evaluate the horse's nutrition. Is your horse receiving excellent quality pasture or hay at greater than 1.5% of their body weight (bwt) or free choice levels? If the condition seems less than optimum or it seems that large quantities of grain is needed to maintain condition:
- Slowly add alfalfa (hay or cubes) at the rate of 0.5% bwt.
- Add a human adult multi-vitamin to the diet at the rate of 1 per 200 lbs of bwt and 500 to 1000 mg of vitamin E daily.
- Evaluate your deworming program and if you are doing something besides our recommendations, correct the deficiency.
- Is your area known for either selenium deficiency or excess? If so have the feed stuffs evaluated and correct any deficiencies.
- Is your horse over 18 years old? Evaluate for Equine Cushingnoid Disease and if positive consider management changes and treating with pergolide.
Environment
In order for horn quality to not degrade quickly, hooves must be kept dry and reasonably clean. Except when it rains do your horse's hooves remain clean and dry for at least 22 hours a day? How about mud? Are your horses feet constantly muddy or standing in dirty stalls? Wet and dirty feet both dry out the horn excessivly and promote microbial growth that can break down horn. Another environmental problem is created by the use of sole pads. Water and dirt tend to collect under the pad and become trapped resulting in a weakened sole and frog. Some ways to deal with these problems are:
- Keep pastures mowed so they dry quickly.
- Water tubs should be placed in areas that drain well and surrounded with a tough, impervious surface that prevents a mud hole from developing.
- Stalls should be kept dry and meticulously clean. During rainy weather the horses can be brought in for half a day to allow the feet to dry out.
- If you your horse has pads try to managed so that they are off periodically. Placing packing between the pad and sole may help but will not totally prevent it.
- When all else fails use a good quality hoof protector
Conformation, Trimming and Shoeing
Carefully evaluate the feet in with a special regard for balance and length. Feet that are long, upright, have low heels, and/or display uneven wall lengths all predispose to sole and wall problems. Sometimes these are conformational issues that have to be managed but often these are trimming faults. If there is a question about the conformation study the article on Hoof Care and Proper Trimming then discuss with your farrier what might be done to better balance your horses hoof.
Exercise and Footing
Exercise and the footing is an important consideration with poor quality feet. Horses should receive regular exercise on firm but not hard footing to promote proper circulation and feedback to the coronet for strong growth of the horn or the wall and sole, for more see "Weak Soles" below.
Supplements
Once all of the above factors have been addressed you should consider the following supplements :
- A biotin and methionine feed supplement. Biotin, a vitamin helpful in protein synthesis, is believed to increase the rate of hoof growth as much as 15% and methionine, a amino acid important in hoof horn synthesis, makes the hoof stronger.
- Be sure the supplement provides greater than 20 mg. biotin and 2 grams of D-L methionine per 1000 lbs. of body weight daily.
Topical Treatments
If you are having problems with flaking crumbly horn that is breaking our and cracking along the solar margin, consider excessive wetting or chronic infection as a cause. Products contain pine tar, waxes, oils, lanolin, or rosin are likely to be most useful. Be careful many of the "hoof conditioning" products that contain a high percentage of water or alcohol, they may be too wet to help. Some studies have found plain pine tar to be very effective but floor waxes made of carnaba wax affords inexpensive excellent protection. They should be applied as often as needed to keep the wall protected.
Twice daily application of a disinfectant to wall and sole was shown in a study to greatly benefit poor quality horn. Possibly it could be applied allowed to dry then if a wet environment is also a problem and wall treatments put over the top.
Here is a fascinating study that suggests that chronic low grade infection with a mix of bacteria and fungi is responsible for many cases of poor quality horn. I don't think there are any commercial products with these ingredients so for the mean time would need to be mixed up. Though it requires more care in handling perhaps a dilute formaldehyde solution (5%) or full strength chlorhexidine solution (2%) would substitute. Spray the hoof lightly, allow to dry then apply a hoof dressing. Note that this was part of a overall program for improved hoof health and it may be that the other changes were responsible for the improvement, see the rest of the article on hoof horn defects for more on environmental and nutritional suggestions:
Vet Rec. 2004 May 22;154(21):647-52.
Use of a topical disinfectant as part of a hoof care programme for horses with diseases of the hoof capsule.Kempson SA, Robb R. Department of Preclinical Veterinary Sciences, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Summerhall, Edinburgh. Twenty-three horses with persistent hoof horn defects were treated topically with a hoof disinfectant as part of a hoof care programme for a year. The active ingredients of the disinfectant were a poloaximer-iodine complex, ethylenediamine dihydriodide, isopropyl alcohol and propylene glycol. Hoof trimmings were taken at the start of the study and every six weeks, and examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. At the beginning of the study all the horn samples contained large numbers of bacteria, and samples from eight of the horses also had fungal hyphae intermingled with the bacteria. After the application of the hoof disinfectant and adjustments to their diet, there were rapid improvements in the gross appearance of the feet of all the horses; some of them improved within two to three weeks and by 12 weeks the horn quality of all the horses had greatly improved. |
Thin Weak Soles
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