How do you fix a hoof flare?

A flare in a hoof can be corrected with just trimming, Lesperance says, but a shoe may be necessary in severe cases. “I am fairly aggressive with flares and I like to use my trimming rasp and then my finishing rasp,” she says. “I am not concerned if removing the flare requires me to rasp into the white line.

How do you treat white line disease in horses hooves?

The mainstay of white line disease treatment is hoof-wall resection, where a skilled farrier cuts away all three layers of the hoof wall to remove the infected material. A hoof knife or Dremel tool can clear out the powdery hoof wall.

What causes hoof flare?

Hoof flares are caused by a weakening of the attachments (laminae) of the hoof wall to the coffin bone inside the foot. In wild horses the separation that occurs at the lower part of the wall allows that portion of the wall to break off so their hooves don’t grow too long in soft footing.

What is the white line on hoof?

Simply put, it is the separation between the wall of the hoof and the sole of the hoof where bacteria and/or fungus can reside and eat away at the hoof. White Line Disease (WLD) is also commonly known as seedy toe, hollow foot, wall thrush, and stall rot.

What is a hoof flare?

Flares are a type of hoof-capsule distortion where the wall horn is being stretched outward and pulled away from the coffin bone. The wall of a healthy hoof should follow the same angle all the way from the coronet to the ground. Flares are present when part of the wall deviates or “dishes” outward from that angle.

How do you know if your horse has a white line?

The white line of the foot can be seen by looking at the sole of your horse’s hoof. The area (that looks whitish) between the outside hoof wall and where it meets the sole is the white line.

How long does it take to cure white line disease?

In general, resolution takes as long as the hoof wall takes to grow down and fill in the void. If you consider a full hoof wall at the toe requires nine to 10 months to grow, then resection halfway up the hoof means it’ll take four to five months to recover.

How do you know if your horse has white line disease?

White line disease may be diagnosed during a routine trimming when a farrier notices a small area of crumbly or powdery black or gray tissue at the white line. Paring away the damaged horn reveals separation of the hoof layers leading upward from the toe toward the coronary band.

What does it mean when a horse’s hoof is hot?

Horses do increase blood flow at times to one foot versus another as a normal process, and this manifests as heat in the hoof wall that can be felt. A variety of conditions are known to be associated with hot feet; most notably laminitis, sole abscesses, sole bruises, and fractures.

What is false sole?

False sole buildup generally occurs in the summer time, but can occur at any time of the year really when the ground is dry and hard. The way the hoof works is that it is constantly putting out keratin cells both out to the hoof wall and down to the sole.

How does white line disease start?

“White line disease starts at the bottom of the foot and goes up,” Fraley added. “It originates from hoof wall that was grown six months to a year ago and is now low in the foot, it slowly digests its way up. Again, it doesn’t affect sensitive tissue, just the hard keratin portion of the hoof.”

Is white line disease fatal?

The reality is that deeply rooted infections like white line disease and chronic thrush are nearly impossible to kill with one application of a strong topical agent. Bacteria and fungi are very adept at hiding among healthy hoof tissue due to millions of years of evolution.

What is white line disease caused by?

The exact organism that causes white line disease is not known, but it is known to be caused by bacteria in the soil getting into a weakened spot in the hoof wall, such as a quarter crack, which then sets up a fungal infection that leads to the disease.