Nipper
Wry Foot &
Crack Due To Coronet Injury
Nipper is a registered American Paint and is 13 years old.
Nipper has been shod most all of her life and her owner says "I have always felt she acted as if she had HOT feet, ever since her shoes were pulled, the crack in her hoof seems to be changing and her hooves are noticeably growing thicker. Nipper is going through body work, because of a pulled muscle in her hip, so I have not really been able to ride her to test her unshod attitude. "
March 14, 2006 - Shoes Pulled
March 24, 2006 - Dropped Flare & De contraction
May 12, 2006
August 25, 2006 - Rear Feet Still Thrushy & Wry
October 15, 2006 - Relaxing Heels!
Nipper's owner Jill was referred to me by another client. Jill's main concerns with Nipper were her tightly contracted feet and an old injury to her right hind hoof that happened when she was 6 years old. The injury to her coronet band resulted in a crack that had grown worse over the years.
We knew that the contracted heels would be resolved by removing her shoes, but what would happen with the crack?
I've dealt with enough cracks that I felt okay about removing the shoes, but I was concerned that the rear portion would get caught on something and potentially tear.
Jill's farrier had dealt with the crack by trying to do as little as possible in the area, and as a result, the wall behind the crack had gotten gradually longer than the wall in front of the crack, stretching the lamina that was binding the two sides together
Nippers feet were at 6 weeks and were VERY long, and the wide variety of wall flare displayed what happens when excess wall builds up over time. Her walls had been allowed to grow too long for many shoeing's, and the length had resulted in the feet curving inward at the middle of the foot.
She also had wry feet on the back, a condition that starts when a horse weights an inner or outer wall, usually in an attempt to avoid "hoof mechanism" or frog pressure. We were to discover that Nippers Wry feet were caused by a very subtle case of thrush. |