Holy retained sole!

[StraightForward]

I've been trimming Obie for over eight years now, so I'm pretty well-acquainted with his feet. I've been noticing that his right front looks long, but there is just nothing to trim underneath. It appeared that the sole/frog apex was right at the ground, and he was walking on his sole. The backstory is that he broke a radiocarpal bone on the left side, so I was thinking that he was over-weighting the right and his coffin bone had rotated and was about to pop through the bottom of his foot.

So he went in for a radiograph today, and here is what they found. In my defense, the vet also called his sole prolapsed and thought he might have coffin bone rotation, so we were happy with what we saw. Lots and lots of retained sole. I went home and cut a lot of it out, and more wants to come out, plus more wall needs to be taken off now, but I needed my nippers and didn't have them.

The little horizontal lines are air pockets that show where the sole is trying to slough off. I got to those pockets with my trimming today, but it's still impossible to see any sort of dirt line where his frog and sole meet. His coffin bone should be in a better position now; it was borderline negative in this shot. Thought others would find this interesting. His three other feet have been exfoliating normally.

[Srhorselady]

Fascinating! Thanks for showing. Excellent angles.

[Flight]

Thanks for sharing! Very interesting.

[khall]

Wow! Never seen that much sole on a horse before!! Me with the thin soled horses who have had to wear pads to protect them.

[Saddlebum]

It's motivated me to call the vet for x-rays! Thank YOU!

[StraightForward]

Wow! Never seen that much sole on a horse before!! Me with the thin soled horses who have had to wear pads to protect them.

Yes, it was really weird; I try to just let the hoof show me how it wants to be trimmed, but that failed me this time. It's been a learning process accommodating the uneven use of his fronts since the knee injury. As you can see in the radiograph, he has a significant roll at the front because I was trying to back his toe up and shorten it, but the false sole had a toe callous, and frog grown into it less than 1" from the white line. Still scratching my head as to what caused this. I had a pro trim him in February while I was out of town, and she didn't mention any asymmetries, but I did notice when I returned that his toe was longer on that side. I got them close to evened up in March, so most of this happened over the last two months. I think almost 1/2" has come out since the radiograph.

[kande50]

Wouldn't it be great if someone made an inexpensive xray machine for owners and trimmers? A group could get together and buy one and share it.

[highoctane]

Oh WOW...this is totally fascinating! Had the vet(s) seen anything like it before?

[StraightForward]

Oh WOW...this is totally fascinating! Had the vet(s) seen anything like it before?

They didn't say specifically, but the senior vet who was summoned for a second opinion seemed pretty nonplussed when he saw the rad. I'd actually suspect that it's somewhat common in a shod horse with contracted feet, but seems weird in a barefoot situation.

[Kyra's Mom]

And only one foot...strange. Have you done more work on it and is he more comfortable?

Susan

[silk]

I'd be interested in seeing photos, if you have any, from the time of the xray and now.

[kande50]

They didn't say specifically, but the senior vet who was summoned for a second opinion seemed pretty nonplussed when he saw the rad. I'd actually suspect that it's somewhat common in a shod horse with contracted feet, but seems weird in a barefoot situation.

It's very common in donkeys and mules, and is probably quite common in horses who don't move around much due to old age or lameness. Donkeys will grow a sole that almost covers the retained sole underneath it, so when you scrape or trim into the covering sole it looks just like live sole (because it is).

It's the reason I've learned to look at the depth of the collateral grooves, rather than just the soles, if the hoof looks too long even when I've trimmed down to the "live" sole.

[StraightForward]

I'd be interested in seeing photos, if you have any, from the time of the xray and now.

Unfortunately I didn't take any before photos.

Kande - I know to look at the collateral grooves, and his were deep in back, but at the front, there were none; the apex of the frog had grown together with the sole in a way that there was no groove or dirt line, which is what I imagine it would look like if there was serious coffin bone rotation and no sole depth.

Susan - I've gotten most of the height off of it. I very cleverly took my nippers out to Jerome and left them there, so it's been all (dull) knife and rasp work, but it pretty much matches the other foot now.

Oddly, his hind feel have exfoliated and I was able to make some adjustments so they look better than they ever have (I've been fighting his crushed heels forever).

I love working on Annabelle's feet; they're textbook perfect next to his trainwreck hooves.

[kande50]

Kande - I know to look at the collateral grooves, and his were deep in back, but at the front, there were none; the apex of the frog had grown together with the sole in a way that there was no groove or dirt line, which is what I imagine it would look like if there was serious coffin bone rotation and no sole depth.

Depending on the size and shape of the hoof, I don't let the collateral grooves get any deeper than about 3/4" in back, and then I keep taking the toe back until the sole toward the apex of the frog starts to loosen up so I can see the line where the false sole is.

You'll likely never miss it again now that you know what the hoof starts looking like when it's hiding a bunch of extra sole under there.