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Discussion on Redness of white line on hoof
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New Member:
trevy
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 6:26 pm:
My farrier came to trim my horses. I was way overdue for trimming. When he trimmed the front hoof of my mare, he showed me where the white line had the color of light red, or blood, it wasn't dark like a bruise. He wasn't sure what caused it other than it had been too long between trimmings and the length of her toe was causing some bruising. She showed no sensitivity to pressure or tapping. She also shows no lameness. Could toe length be the cause of the color in the white line?
Ivy
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 6:41 pm:
Hi Ivy, long toes can cause the white line to become red...I think from the lamanaie stretching, or bruising as your farrier suggested.
If your horse isn't lame or sensitive I wouldn't worry too much about it.
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Member:
pattyb
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 6:41 pm:
Hmmmm, good question Ivy.
My guess would be some degree of laminitis since last farrier visit that has since resolved, therefore no current sensitivity or lameness? I had an elderly gelding do that exact same thing years ago. I'm very interested in seeing what DrO thinks.
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Member:
pattyb
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 6:52 pm:
PS: Diane...you're always so up to date. The long toe stretching make sense although when I saw it with my gelding, it was during his regular 6 week farrier visit. Never had a lame day due to it so we were pretty stumped by it.
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Member:
mitch316
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 8:17 pm:
Ivy, I could be wrong about this, but my guess is that the toe was getting ready to shed itself. If you have ever spent any time around the wild horses out west, you will see that their feet are in really good condition. We adopted a mustang from white Sands Missile range in New Mexico ($80 plus expenses...they are getting ready to euthanize about 1400 of them or so if any are interested) and the entire hoof and frog area look and feel totally different than any I had seen. The vet in Alamogordo told us that they develop a type of callus, and that I would see a "hairline crack" start to appear and then the toe would "slough off on its own". He also said it would go away once we started keeping shoes on him. I never got to see this as I gave him to my uncle in Arizona who uses him as a work horse on a ranch.
As a side note, the USDA is in charge of these herds and by law are requires to euthanize the captives that are not adopted (they need to keep the herd at a certain size for environmental reasons), but they have ignored this law during the last 4 years. Now they have about 1400 that the new administration has given them 60 days to adopt out, or they will be euthanized and sold for their meat. So if anyone is interested in owning a wild mustang that will be hard to break, but a top horse once you do it, I can look up the numbers and give them to you. All told, if you include the trip out there and the quarantine fee and shots, it cost us just over $3000, but if you were familiar with the process, you could probably get this lower.
Any way, the foot is just a guess for me. if it had been a while since it was trimmed, I would think nature was trying to take over and do it for you, but who knows. I too would be interested to hear Dr. O's response on this matter.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Feb 16, 2009 - 7:26 am:
Overly long toes does create extra pressure and abduction forces between the wall and the white line leading to bruising. I am uncertain about shedding of the toe but unless the ground is fairly hard and abrasive and the horse moves around a lot more than many in fenced pastures the foot will not naturally keep itself trimmed by wear and tear.
DrO
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