Injuries, White Line Disease and Hoof Wall Repair
by Ralph Casey
| Photo 1 is a case where an injury and unnoticed abscesses eventually decayed this hoof wall almost to the coronary band, or hairline. |
Photo 2 shows where we rebuilt the hoof wall with a bonding material provided by Hoof-it Technologies of Nevada. This horse and owner are back riding as normal but must have regular re-shoeing until the hoof wall grows out which can normally take up to eight months or more |
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| Photo 3 is of a mare with white line disease, which has rotted away the hoof wall at the toe region. This caused her to walk on the sole, or bottom, of the hoof casing abscesses and excruciating pain. She could not and would not take a step on her own. |
Photo 4 is the same mare after three treatments over a 6-day period to eliminate the white line disease. Afterwards we carefully applied a material provided by Level-it of to walk normal and off the sole. It isn’t very pretty at this point but she was comfortable but easily walked to her trailer to go home. Her owner agreed to feed a supplement of Right Balance provided by Mustad, Inc. to aid in hoof growth. After six weeks she returned for re-shoeing with much improvement and will continue the supplement for another six weeks. The owner has been extremely happy and the horse is pain free. |
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| In photo 5, another product we have had a success with is Equithane provided by Vettec in California. Here we are building a hoof wall and heels, actually a size 6 custom shoe, for this Clydesdale who will remain barefoot. It is also used to extend the toe and build heels when shoes are applied, help extend the toe of club footed horses and colts and general hoof repair. |
Photo 6 Cleaning and repairing the smallest hairline crack gets our utmost attention at the FNRC as these farriers work together as seen on Horseshoe’n Time, our monthly television show. The smallest of cracks or crevices unattended can cause painful injuries to the white line and sensitive areas of the hoof anatomy. |
(l to r) Kathy Boran, co-host, Ralph Casey, Host, with guest farriers Melissa Williams of Milledgeville, Georgia and Marvin Horton of Dublin, Georgia. |
Always let your farrier take the special care and time to eliminate future problems.
Repairs, maintenance, identifying and solving hoof problems all play a role in the business of
shoeing horses by professional farriers. We always recommend that owners seek out the services of a professional who is on top of the latest technology available to them. The FNRC is working hard to provide an invaluable part of hoof care education to the horse owning public. We welcome your calls, questions, emails and visits. All of the information provided in our articles is derived directly from the work performed here and in much more detail. This facility has been made available to you through the hard work of caring horse owners and farriers working together for the betterment of the industry and welfare of all horses.
The Farriers’ National Research Center & School
14013 East Hwy 136
LaFayette, GA 30728
(706)397-8047
email: farrierhdq@aol.com
Catch us on Horseshoe'n Time on Dish Network Channel 9411
Sundays mornings and Monday nights. You can also watch us on
Youtube.com and Horsetv.com