NW Equine Podiatry

07/15/2023

We have had a great case of poor digital alignment and white line disease this year. Initially the horse had a very large defect in the hoof wall which we dremeled the proximal aspect of to be able to access the proximal infection portion while maintaining some integrity to the horn between the bottom & top of the foot to help maintain some hoof wall stability. Using mechanics to help reduce force on the dorsal hoof structure helps the defect grow out over time. The last photo reveals how much the foot has changed over time - it is growing so much foot that is toward the back & collected up under the bone structure instead of running forward and creating a large lever arm with its large digital break over. Will post the radiographic portion of the case next!

01/26/2023

Used the Glu-U shoe on a size 0 laminitis case today. We have worked on this horse for over a year to get her to a stable place and now she just needs a little protection on the bottom of her foot. Such a versatile shoe!

01/01/2023

So thankful to this man for all his years of insight, experience, and innovative ideas in the hoof. It has changed my life and my life’s work. Thank you Dr Redden for all your patience teaching all of us that the tough cases are ‘a piece of cake’ when you have knowledge, will power, and a positive attitude on your side. NANRIC

https://www.americanfarriers.com/articles/13708-5-questions-dr-ric-redden?fbclid=IwAR1yT1K_4c7JmfICS6jmfd-DirVPAp-CUk3YHJs8HydjfiTdgNYfJJPjM5g&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Perhaps no other modern practicing veterinarian has made as much of an impact on the equine hoof-care scene as Dr. Ric Redden.

09/12/2022

Never forget. 💔

08/12/2022

What do you see going on here? This is a complicated case of while line disease and laminitis. Which came first? That can be a difficult question to answer, but in this case, it is the only foot with some true lamellar rotation and in a young horse with very advanced WLD which is suggestive that it occurred after the WLD due to destabilization of the suspensory apparatus of the distal phalanx. We placed a large NANRIC prototype shoe on the horse to reduce DDFT tension but also because there was minimal hoof mass to nail into; you can see how the foot changed in the intervening time to add more heel and the DDFT has relaxed over the shoeing cycle; then we placed a NANRIC mega rocker, which the horse really liked. You can se how much foot the horse has grown over time and how the rotation has grown out - this is approximately a 6 month timeframe from beginning to end.

07/17/2022

Here’s a cool shoe quiz held at Travis this year:

2022 Tevis Cup "hoof-wear" survey results: What's on your horse's hooves at Tevis? This is a very informal, unscientific survey taken by volunteers at the vetting-in at Robie Park. Responses were not verified and are meant for trivia/conversation and enjoyment purposes ONLY and should not be relied upon to answer the ongoing debate of nails or barefoot, steel or composite. Keep riding!
NAILED ON SHOES: Steel shoes - 47%; Composite shoes (all brands) - 39%.
GLUED ON: 7%. (All four glued on, all brands, included when different type on front and back).
COMBINATION:
NAILED ON SHOES: Steel/Composite combo (usually Comp. in front, steel in back - 5%
NAIL & GLUE: 2 nailed (steel), 2 glued - 2% (nailed in front, glued in back)
Additional notes:
- One horse was wearing Renegade boots, not glued.
- Most if not all, whether nailed or glued on shoes also had some type of pads. Some riders mentioned leather pads.
- Riders are generally happy to talk about hoof wear.

07/14/2022

When you had out of control endocrinopathic laminitis with a lot of rotation & some sinking, but now you grow ALL the foot. ❤️

07/12/2022

Happy farrier’s week! Let your farrier know how much you appreciate them by telling them, getting them a baked good or even giving them a little extra tip for their hard & appreciated work. ❤️

05/12/2022

When you’re growing all the new foot after your tenotomy. 🥰 this photo is 8 months post DDFT tenotomy. You can see the obvious defect in the hoof wall at the time when there was suddenly no growth and some sinking about to occur - even his initial growth was fairly slow for the first little bit, but finally the growth centers recovered and kicked it into high gear. This boy is feeling so good he is kicking it up in his stall. 😳🤦‍♀️ keep it together man, keep it together! At least he will be able to have a small outdoor pen now and at 1 year can be turned out to pasture to play again.

04/14/2022

When you’re trying to get the right view of the horse’s foot, you’ve got to get down on foot level! Side note- look how happy horse feet make me!

04/05/2022

I was recently asked why a laminitic horse would get sore at the end of shoeing as the mechanical shoe moves forward. To answer this, we have to look at the lamellar anatomy. The first slide, you can see how the epidermal lamellae (left) ljne the hoof capsule and the dermal lamellae (middle) line the distal phalanx/coffin bone. In the pictographs to the right, you can see how the primary epidermal lamellae & the dermal lamellae are interlocked via the secondary epidermal lamellae (SEL). When we look at the second slide, you can again see how the epidermal lamellae are interlocking via the SEL which are present to increase the surface area of contact and act as the suspensory apparatus of the distal phalanx. As you can see in the picture, the black lines are showing the dermal lamellae. The yellow arrow shows the nerves which branch out into the connective tissue of the dermal lamellae. You can also see the profuse blood supply in the dermal lamellae, which of course, is what we evaluate in a venogram. When the foot is more loaded at the end of the cycle, the lamellae are loaded which causes stretch receptors to activate and causes pain. In addition, there can be some circulation deficits, depending on severity of laminitis, which is of course also very painful. In short, increased load on the DDFT at the end of the cycle causes pain by loading the (dermal) lamellae.

03/26/2022

From concept to reality - Making it happen! We are 4 months in & the horse is doing very well after essentially injuring his entire DDFT, including a 90% rupture in the pastern region. You can see his successful package he has been wearing since diagnosis in the last image. He needed a more robust shoe to stand up to finally being able to do some rehab!

02/15/2022

Here’s a great example of the foot growth we can get with mechanics on a laminitis case. This horse had severe endocrinopathic laminitis which the rDVM had initiated treatment for a month before we saw the horse. The horse was getting significantly worse though. We were able to put a derotation ultimate on and significantly improve comfort as well as start the hoof growth process by improving the internal forces of the soft tissue of the foot and allowing for normal hoof growth. You can see that cycle is now in the middle of the hoof and the most recent growth ring has a huge amount of growth in the toe region. We will be posting on the case in the next couple of days so you can see it’s progress.

02/07/2022

I see a lot of coffin bones like this, some are laminitic, some are from chronic thin sole, and yet others are club feet. The coffin bone takes a beating in all of these cases with less blood blow, more impact, and more dense brittle bone.

01/28/2022

A mini donkey with laminitis today. Trying out a recommendation from the man himself . I have been trying to improve on making a fast set glue bubble, but the perfect technique has evaded me for quite awhile. This one isn’t so bad that I mind showing it. Still lots to learn, this one is a bit too tall, but easier to rasp down if needed that way. The perfect balance between too much fast set glue to have to grind or rasp down and too little to make an effective rocker is a tough balance! Hopefully this tiny 2” shoe stays on!!

01/27/2022

Feeling a low PA 😕. Often we see horses with low plantar angles in the hind limbs stand like this. They have sore gluteals & top of hamstrings. Ouch. Try a full rocker on these horses and you might be impressed by how much more comfortable they are!

01/20/2022

Sometimes our job as vets/podiatrists/therapeutic farriers is to understand what is going on between horse/farrier/owners. Sometimes there’s a communication breakdown. Sometimes there’s a lack of mechanical fundamentals. Sometimes horses are uncooperative or dangerous and the person is struggling to get anything on the foot. So is the case with this horse. This horse was sore and becoming more and more aggressive about resisting any foot care; the farrier was just trying to get something tacked on to protect what little foot this horse had- Foot balance? Digital alignment? No way that was gonna happen for this horse without help. So please be easy on your judgements about farriers. Getting a shoe near the horse may be the biggest accomplishment out there, so don’t be rude, just figure out what’s happening and help everyone accomplish their goals. Give someone a chance by improving the horse’s demeanor and then come back & assess the hoof after it’s had a chance to settle into something worthy of judgement. (This is pre & post shoeing with the use of chemical restraint - pretty big difference in hoof care, but not because the farrier couldn’t do better generally or didn’t have any knowledge. It was because the horse was a d**k and trying to kill him. Are there things we could change here? Sure. But can we let the horse settle into this if it isn’t overtly lame and change it up once we see how the horse responds at the next shoeing? Absolutely.) 🤷‍♀️

01/18/2022

Another successful case that has turned around so nicely. Almost done growing out the rotation; about 2/3 of the way down the dorsal aspect of the distal phalanx/coffin bone. There’s a photo at the end showing this horse’s original set up to get mechanical unloading within the hoof. If you want to explore the benefits of mechanics, you’re in luck. There’s new classes posted to learn how you can help provide podiatry solutions for horses!

12/28/2021

Check out Dr Blake’s talk on podiatry coming up! Join the OCEN group for $9.99 and you get access to ALL of their cutting edge talks!!

https://www.oncourseequinenutrition.com/event-details-registration/equine-podiatry-preventing-lameness-in-horses-performance-sport-and-recreational

"No Hoof, No Horse", right? So, the old saying goes, and this could not be more true today. Many equine lamenesses originate in the hoof, so it's an important structure to know and understand. Learn about the anatomy and how to prevent lameness with Dr. Karen Blake of Bend Equine!

12/24/2021

Excited to be a part of the team to keep Santa on track! Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to everyone!

12/21/2021

This pony has endocrinopathic laminitis which is getting under control with daily medication, but her feet were out of control and so painful. You can see the progression on the LH and RF. Note the terminal lamellar separation, the serum and bleeding into the lamellar tissue and this pony has a classic rotation bruising on top of stretched lamina look which causes that double ‘smiley face’ bruising. Note how we have dramatically changed the heel angle of this hoof to raise the internal palmar angle. This pony responded dramatically and walked off sound!

12/17/2021

Here’s a good photos series of how we address a club foot. This filly has a large bone angle, so the overall change in hoof capsule won’t be as dramatic as some, but it helps to know that going in. We trim the heels to 0* PA and apply the shoe after preparing the hoof. The toe is bolstered up a bit to keep it in the proper position within the shoe. We take radiographs during the trim so we know how well our trim has done and then one blistered up to ensure the heel is being properly loaded. Then we do a distal check ligament desmotomy. There is a bumper in place initially to prevent sudden let down of soft tissue structures, but this will be turned tomorrow and probably removed tomorrow night or the next day.

11/27/2021

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Hope you get to enjoy your family & the long weekend! 🦃

11/17/2021

When clients know you so well ❤️❤️❤️

11/09/2021

If you catch them early, you can make a huge difference in patient outcome, client’s life & horse’s life. This is one of many who have responded like this in just 8 weeks of being placed in an emergency ultimate. If you don’t know when or how to place these, reach out, we can help you change lives ❤️

11/01/2021

It’s so satisfying to help a horse with laminitis grow foot and reduce pain. It’s one of the best things we can do for a horse with a horrible disease process. ❤️ see the growth at the top of the hoof and how it’s even from front to back? This horse went from 5 mm sole depth to 15 in one shoeing. That’s 10mm in 8 weeks folks. Mechanical shoeing works, if you haven’t got , you should.

10/25/2021

If you’re a farrier, then likely you’re the horse’s first line of defense and the person the owner most trusts regarding your horse’s hoof. If you see a hoof that suddenly starts to have narrow growth rings at the toe and wide at the heel, oh man, you better get in a hurry! Alert the owner that the horse may have laminitis and needs radiographs as this is the reason why the hoof takes on this appearance. For some horses, it can be too late by the time this much growth occurs. 🥺