05/17/2024
Great info from great people!
🗣️ Let’s take a minute to talk about the 🄲🄾🅁🄾🄽🄰🅁🅈 🄱🄰🄽🄳…
🐴 This horse was a vet referral for a lameness evaluation and radiographs due to chronic lameness.
📸 Prior to each new appointment, I request pictures of the horses hooves. This helps us determine the condition of the hooves and approximate time we will need for the appointment.
👀 Look at the coronary band in the picture on the left. When I received this before picture, the first thing I noticed was the amount of swelling of the coronary band. That is almost always and indication of imbalance.
⚕️The coronary band, or coronary corium, is a critical structure in a horse's hoof located at the junction where the hairline meets the hoof. It plays several essential roles:
1️⃣ Hoof Growth: The coronary band is responsible for producing the outer hoof wall. It generates the keratinized cells that form the hard, protective layer of the hoof, ensuring continuous growth and replacement of the hoof wall.
2️⃣ Shock Absorption: This structure also contributes to shock absorption. Its resilient, slightly flexible nature helps dissipate the impact forces when the horse's hoof strikes the ground.
3️⃣ Structural Integrity: The coronary band provides structural integrity and stability to the hoof. It acts as an anchor point, holding the hoof wall firmly to the soft tissues of the leg.
4️⃣ Circulation: It has a rich blood supply that nourishes the growing hoof wall, ensuring healthy growth and repair of the hoof.
⚖️ When a horse's hooves are not properly balanced, it can lead to uneven distribution of weight and stress on different parts of the hoof. This imbalance can result in excessive pressure and strain on the coronary band, leading to inflammation and swelling.
🩻 Radiographs are instrumental in diagnosis when dealing with chronic cases. These images are a true picture of what is going on inside the hoof. Since we do not have X-ray vision, they are the best resource we have to determine what we are dealing with.
🧲 Once we evaluated the horse and took radiographs, we were able to come up with a care plan to get this horse on the road to recovery. Notice in the after picture on the right, the coronary band immediately started relaxing after we did a balanced trim and applied this shoeing package. You can literally watch it reducing in size right before your eyes. One day when this happens I will remember to video it in slow motion to share with y’all!
💕 This horse walked out of the clinic sound and when I checked in on her this week, the owner said she was doing amazing! Best she has been in a long time and she was actually able to ride her after being unable to for a few months.
🗝️ Here are a few key components in this situation…
⭐️ When dealing with lameness,
get radiographs ASAP
⭐️ This horse needs to be on a 4
week schedule in order to
maintain and correct the issues.
Going longer than that will keep
you chasing the problem
instead of correcting it
⭐️ Environment is a crucial part of
the success puzzle for 2️⃣
reasons…
~ If your farrier does
not have a flat surface (mats,
concrete or something level) to
work on, they are going into it
with a good chance that
balance will not be obtained.
Trimming/shoeing your horse
in dirt and grass is setting your
farrier up for failure. Provide
them with an area that allows
them to do their best work.
Balance is difficult to obtain if
your horse can’t stand on level
ground.
~ The second reason is,
providing an environment that
keeps your horses hooves
dry and in good condition,
gives your farrier a better
canvas to work on. Make sure
their area is free of roots, rocks
and anything else they can
damage their hooves on.
💥 Remember, being proactive instead of reactive is the way to go. Once your horses hooves have been damaged or they cause an injury, it takes a long time to get them back on track.
