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

[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.

I agree with everyone though, keep his feet dry, lay off the oil (Instead try a hoof moistener 1-2 times a week, when his feet have dried out and he's back to a 'normal' routine). Stockholm tar is great for feet (Especially in the frog area), keeps everything disinfected. If your in a humid climate, definitely think about a disinfectant routine for his feet (Any anti-thrush treatment will work), as a precaution, this will also help to harden his feet.

Also make sure his bed is SUPER clean, take all the wet bedding out each day, and make sure his feet are dry when he goes in. If he's getting turn out, try to see that he's not out in pure mud all day, a dry paddock will help with his feet drying out etc.

[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!

When we pull the shoes out, we also noticed that the nails are all over the whiteline of the hooves. Is this also Europe standard? If we didn't pull his shoes out yesterday, we may not know he's developing a Whiteline disease.

To update about his softness hooves, they're much better today. Almost 100% normal now. :) Thank you so so much for your advice. I'll keep my eyes on him and his hooves. ( My other horse is Friesian. I have him for 5 years now and never ever have any kind of problem with the hoof as he has super hooves, so I really don't know how to seriously take care of a horse's hooves. :/ )

[thehomicidehoe]

we also noticed that the nails are all over the whiteline of the hooves
I don't really understand what you mean. WhiteLine disease is when the white like looks all black and 'gooey', and it smells pretty bad.

As for a European standard, there isn't really one. Europe is pretty big for one, but also, its like anywhere, you get good farriers and bad ones. I've only had English and Irish farriers, and IME English Farriers are more consistently good. In Ireland there's two farriers I can think of that are GOOD, theres a few that are ok, and there's a lot are bad, but we are a very small country. It may just be a case that your guy was just being shod wrong for his feet, or that he had a crap farrier.

Hoof care is pretty simple once you get into a routine, good feed is the best thing for them. Other than that keep them clean (Regularly picked out) and dry and you'll be fine.

[glory_horse]

Sorry, I mean the farrier who did this horse in Europe put the nails 'inside' the White line of the hooves, if you know what I mean. I learned from a farrier ( and also from Internet ) that when a farrier puts the nail in, they shouldn't put it beyond the white line of the hooves or else it can do some damages to the hooves. Do I understand correctly? :O

Also, when we brought the shoes out, the white line did start to become black and a bit smelly. The farrier then used his tool to scratch all those smelly black skins out and we cleaned the hooves before putting new shoes on him. We are treating his hooves that start to develop Whiteline disease at the moment and my vet said it should be gone in a few days. :)

[thehomicidehoe]

Oh I understand, so the nails were in the laminae of the hoof? I'm surprised he wasn't more lame them!

White line is relatively simple to treat, its a similar treatment to thrush. Remove as much black stuff as possible and then disinfect regularly. If it is becoming a serious problem you can look into something called Formalin (Farmers use in for sheeps feet), that kills any bacteria and makes feet rock hard