Hooves being soft and the wall skin comes out

[glory_horse]

Hi. Long time no post here. I come to you with a burden in my heart. :(

My new horse has a hooves problem, which I am not sure how serious it is. His two front hooves just became very soft for these past 3 days. I'm not good with English and I don't know how to describe his hoof condition. By saying "soft", I mean the hoof wall is oily/soft and when

Comments

[chiquita522]

Try to get him to dry out. Don't oil his hooves for a few days. Often when horses' feet get wet and stay wet, there will be a peeling and softness that you described.

It could be laminitis, but I don't think that's the first thing you all should jump to. White line disease could be a possibility. Most important thing, KEEP HIS FEET DRY! To cool him down, a light sponge bath would be better than a full-out bath.

[pony_love]

Agreed on the "dry him out" thing. No more oil and try not to get his feet wet when you hose him. A horse's feet are absorbent like sponges.

Do his feet smell at all? Or is the tissue that is coming away black? You could start using a mild thrush medicine as a precaution and a drying aid. Not sure if you can get it in Asia, but something like Hooflex works well.

Bottom line, keep his feet clean and dry. Be sure his stall or pasture is also clean and dry. Good luck!

[glory_horse]

Thank you! And his feet do not smell at all. The wall tissues that come out is white or brown ( same color as his hoof ). I don't have Hooflex at the moment but I think I should be able to get it. I have a Stockholm tar with me now but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use it on him. Many people said I shouldn't use it on the hoof wall. I also ordered 'Hoof Essential' and Biotin for him. Hope it will help.

Thanks again for your help. I'll get his pictures tomorrow.

[glory_horse]

Thank you so much for your advice! I'll make sure his hooves are dry.

Maybe I'll just use sponge and water to clean ( and cool him down ) after exercises for the time being. I suspect my groom may be lazy and not wait until my horse is perfectly dry, after being washed, before putting him in the stall.

[harnessphoto]

The 'crack' situation you are describing sounds like he is shedding his frog, which is normal. If there's no bad smell coming from the bottom of the foot, I wouldn't worry about it. Is he walking sound? I've seen horses with 'moist' hooves whose wall surface can be scratched away. It's not great long term, but doesn't normally cause any major problems. It doesn't SOUND like laminitis, but definitely ask your senior vet. Is there a way to put the horse inside on dry footing for a while to give his hooves a break?

[glory_horse]

Thank you so much for your comment. I think you're right. I went to see him this morning and the soft skin is gone! And he's walking sound. He stayed in a dry rubber footing in the afternoon. Everything was okay until I notice a bit of swollen leg. It's not big and we had done everything by the book ( putting ice on him, massage his leg, walk him to help the circulation,etc. ) but I will have to wait and see again tomorrow. if the swollen is gone or not. Not sure how it could happen.

A farrier saw him today and pointed out that he had a problem with the angle of the hooves and they're not looking good. ( You may notice it from the pic above. ) I can feel that when I trot him, he is a little bit uneven in some steps. Not lame, just uneven on the front. I will update more about him later on. :)

[harnessphoto]

I agre with the farrier's comment about his angles, but otherwise his feet actually look decent.

[glory_horse]

Thank you! :))
The farrier just fixed it this afternoon and now they're okay. Not yet perfect but it gets better.

[blitzen_]

where in asia are you? i'm in australia & we have had issues here with an unusually wet summer causing a LOT of probs with barefoot ponies. hoof wall separation & crumbliness & all that jazz.

i've been using a silcone based product to seal the hooves in (commonly used in winter) called Hoof Seal. It's made by Khonke's.

and have changed mineral supps for my horse. you could also add extra biotin. have also reduced her trim rotation to 5 weeks (from 7).

it's helped.

[glory_horse]

I live in Bangkok, Thailand. :) I heard that our climate is quite similar. I have already ordered Biotin for him. And I just let a Farrier fix his shoes ( they're wayyy too small for him and make his front legs 'toes-in'. I don't know how could a farrier in Europe could let this happen. ) I'll keep my eyes closely on his hooves now as there seems to be many problem with them. :(

[thehomicidehoe]

It depends where in Europe he came from, for example, German farriers tend to like a more 'boxy' foot (Like your guy), and almost always shoe that way. German Horses also tend to have 'boxy' feet, but its a bit of a chicken and egg thing as to which came first! Irish farriers on the other hand, will throw a shoe on anything, and tend not to leave much heel on the horse

[glory_horse]

Hmm, this is interesting! I didn't know that they tend to do the 'boxy' shape for horses shoe in German. ( My horse came from Austria and I assume they should adopt the German style? ) I just learned it yesterday when the farrier pull his shoes out and we can see that they do not match with the horse's hoof shape. The hoof shape is round while the shoes are kinda boxy, and small in the front, as you mentioned. I'm not 100% sure but I have a feeling that the shoes may be the reason my horse feels a bit uneven when I ride him in circle. But then again, the owner said he had this horse for 3 years and he did not have any problem with him, so I don't really know. But he definitely feels much better today. No uneven-ness shows at all

[hotarumusume]

That might be white line disease, which is (according to my vet but apparently there's some disagreement over this on the internet) a form of laminitis. It doesn't have to smell or turn the white line black to be white line disease. White line disease can show up where the white line is crumbly and turns into a powder if you scrape it. If you take off his show and there's a pretty obvious dent where the white line is and the hoof wall seems to be separating from the hoof or the white line looks stretched it's probably white line disease.