The Horse Listener

THE HORSE LISTENER

The importance of a balanced hoof

Flat feet is a much worse problem for horses than it sounds, writes CANDIDA BAKER who is currently rehabilitating a horse with negative palmar angles.

Acurious little item to start this column with - did you know that your horses can get dehydrated in sudden cold weather just as quickly as they can in extreme heat?

Writing this in the generally balmy climate of the Northern Rivers seems a little odd – you wouldn’t think it would be a problem in the tropics or sub-tropics, but a sudden plunge in temperature can confuse a horse’s system, and it can forget to drink.

A local vet who had treated three horses in a week told me about this condition (not mine fortunately). Doing a bit of research I found it was quite common. There is a simple way to help your horse ‘remember’ to drink - provide clean, fresh drinking water every day. If your horse seems just a little off-colour, but the symptoms don’t seem to be colic, pinch a little bit of skin on the neck in front of the shoulder and if it doesn’t spring back within two seconds it means your horse may be slightly (within 4-8%) dehydrated. Another sign is if the horse’s gums are paler than the normal bubble-gum pink. In this case offer your horse fresh water, perhaps with a bit of molasses in if they like a treat.

Be warned – if a horse has slightly sunken eyes, or a tucked-up tummy then the dehydration has increased to over 8% and you need a vet to administer fluids. If your horse has colic, it will exhibit pain in some way rather than lethargy but of course, if in any doubt call a vet anyway.

From fluids to feet. As President of a small equine charity, Equus Alliance, I’ve recently been caring for two ex-Riding for the Disabled horses, who were retired from riding classes, one because of his age – 20 – the other, Phoenix, because of an ongoing intermittent lameness.

Now, we knew, because we had the vet records that Phoenix, a beautiful nine-year-old 15hh bay Stockhorse, had already had an operation to have a small bone-spur removed, so we weren’t in any doubt that full rehabilitation back to being a riding horse might not be possible, but we wanted to leave no stone unturned.

The turning included, of course, an extensive set of x-rays, which revealed that Phoenix has low – in fact negative – palmar angles on his two front hooves.

In case you’re not aware, the triangular bone inside the hoof is known as the distal phalanx, or P3, or the coffin bone, or the pedal bone – just to confuse you! In the front feet, the two corners of the coffin bone that are closest to the heels are known as the palmar processes, and in the back feet the plantar processes.

Ideally, when viewed from the side in a an x-ray the lower perimeter of the coffin bone should be positioned

An x-ray of Phoenix’s hoof.

Phoenix is a beautiful nine-year-old Stockhorse who has been diagnosed with negative palmar angles, or flat feet, which has resulted in joint issues (Image courtesy Candida Baker).

so that the heel end is slightly higher than the toe end of the bone, up to about 5º. This allows the back of the bone to drop at the same time as the heels of the hoof capsule expand when the horse is moving.

In some horses the coffin bone has repositioned itself so that the palmar or plantar processes are too low, and may even lie below the horizontal plane. This is known as ‘low palmar angle’ in the front feet and ‘low plantar angle’ in the back feet, and may occur in either the fore or hind feet, or sometimes in all four feet.

The resulting excessive pressure on the joints, and the fact that the bottom three joints of the leg (P1, P2 and P3) are not in alignment, creates structural discomfort throughout the body as the horse tries to adjust to the pain coming from its hooves. The condition can often account for a stiff or uneven gait, or a reluctance to trot is noticeable when there’s no obvious answer for it. (Tip: watch for a horse that places its toe on the ground first rather than its heel.)

So what can you do if you suspect this might be the case with your horse? The first thing you could try is to place a folded face-cloth on the back of your horse’s hooves, secure it with duct tape around the hoof, and see if this makes an immediate difference to your horse in terms of its comfort when it’s walking or trotting. If it does, then you’re probably on the money, which means you will need to actually spend the money to get the x-rays done because it’s very important to know at what degree the low palmar or plantar processes are lying.

An obvious next step is corrective shoeing – with shoes that have a wedge in them of usually between 1 to 4 degrees. This takes pressure off the front of the leg through the P1, 2 and 3 joints, and can offer your horse huge relief. But there is increasingly a school of thought – not unknown throughout the world of farriers, vets and more holistic horse practitioners - that long-term use of wedges can be detrimental in itself, causing the unsupported frog to sink or prolapse down between the wedged heels,

ABOVE: A) Aligned foot, B) Club foot, C) Negative palmar angle (Image courtesy The Essential Hoof Book).

RIGHT: Example of a negative hoof angle.

BELOW: A balanced hoof.

which, in the long-term, can actually worsen the structural weakness.

One interesting thing that all the research points to is that just as in humans whose physical bodies are put under stress, the horse with this condition has a MUCH higher need for magnesium, and if you haven’t discovered the miracle of magnesium for your equine companion (and even for yourself) I would suggest a trip down the Google rabbit hole.

What researchers have found is that, in the same way humans respond to orthotics, horses given boots to wear with foam wedges inserted into them, for four-to-five hours a day gradually increasing until they are wearing them all day, and with a maximum dose of magnesium given daily, often begin to self-correct.

Boots with a soft or elasticated heel area are apparently ideal because the raised wedge pads will place the heel bulbs higher up within the boot. Be warned that boots that fitted when the hoof was flat on the ground may not fit when wedge pads are inserted. Once the feet and body are pain-free, the horse can begin using its feet more normally, including striking the ground with the heels first, rather than the toe, which is what horses with low palmar or plantar angles will do to avoid the pain. Correct movement in turn stimulates development of fibrocartilage, gradually creating a stronger and more functional back-of-the-foot.

Low palmar or plantar processes can be genetic, or caused by too much pressure on joints through exercise when a horse is too young and their bones have not yet formed properly, or by soft or stringy laminae in the hoof.

It’s not the easiest condition to diagnose, and it’s not the easiest to treat, but – and it will be interesting to see, since this is the way Equus has decided to go long-term with Phoenix – there are reports that the magnesium given daily and ongoing, and the wedges in boots can make a big difference over a period of time, sometimes short, sometimes longer depending on the angle needed to correct the condition, the age and condition of the horse.

We’ll let you know how Phoenix goes. At his young age, it’s well worth taking the time to try and correct this problem for him.

As well as from our farrier, vet and other practitioners, much of the material in this article was sourced from: www.gravelproofhoof.org

Candida Baker has a Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ TheHorseListener1/ and is the President of Equus Alliance: https:// www.facebook.com/equusalliance/