Cyrill ZuberHoof problems

Club foot

The Club foot

The club foot is created by a too strong pull of the deep flexor tendon which concave pulls the toe wall and presses the growth channels together at the front and pulls them apart at the back. Solution: With a full rocker fitting the tension of the deep flexor tendon is reduced, the concavity of the toe wall disappears and the growth grooves become parallel.

Definition of the club foot

Club foot is a special form of the deformity of the limbs of horses. In extreme cases not only the position but also the shape of the hoof is lost. The hoof is too steep to load and use normally.

Types of club foot

In the case of longhorn bock, a distinction must be made between congenital and acquired longhorn bock. If a foal is born with a club foot, it can usually be completely corrected. The adult horse must be treated more cautiously, as the tendons and ligaments are no longer deformable so quickly.

Features of the club foot

Increased abrasion at the toe, high and steep traditional costumes, a horiontally running coronet, concave dorsal hoof wall, widened white line.

Hoof abscess

Definition of hoof abscesses

Accumulation of pus in a tissue cavity created by tissue melting and enclosed on all sides. Hoof abscesses can be very painful and lead to severe lameness.

Cause of hoof abscesses

Extremely cracked and dry hooves, hooves that are often found in urine and horse droppings (risk of ammonia decomposition), sharp objects on the pasture or in the run (e.g. broken glass, nails, etc.), improper or rare hoof processing by a blacksmith or farrier, open wounds on the ball or crown, extremely strong impact on pointed stone, horseshoes that are too narrow, incorrect nailing of the iron, thin soft hoof horn, etc.

Treatment of a hoof abscess

The place where the pus is located can be palpated with a pair of hoof tongs. The hoof knife is used to cut a funnel-shaped hole at this point so that the pus can drain off. In some cases it may be necessary to cut several times over a period of days until the pus has completely drained off. After cutting with a hoof knife, the wound is disinfected.

Use of cover irons

Covers are used for large hoof abscesses in cases where the treated horse should be shoed again to be taken home. This treatment usually takes place in the animal hospital. The advantage of this method is that the wound on the sole side can be treated again and again after unscrewing the cover.

Hoof balance

Definition of hoof balance

Ideally, the hoof balance is such that the pressure point - the centre of the hoof joint - falls into the centre of the horseshoe. The same applies from the front view, of course.

Features Hoof balance

With an optimal hoof balance, the hoof walls behave straight and symmetrically, without significant changes in the growth grooves and without dents.

Laminitis

Laminitis

Once the cause of laminitis has been determined and can be treated, the aim is to relieve the diseased, poorly supplied lamella zone in order to prevent rotation of the coffin bone (rockerrail fogging). This shoe must be attached until the lamella zone grows parallel to the tip of the coffin bone, then your horse is healthy again.

Definition of laminitis

Laminitis is a disease that occurs in ungulates. It is an aseptic diffuse inflammation of the hoofskin, in which the hoof capsule detaches from the dermis. Acute laminitis is an emergency and requires immediate treatment. In extreme cases it can come to shoe-shoeing. The chronic roe deer can lead to a rotation of the coffin bone.

Types of laminitis

Es gibt verschiedene Arten der Hufrehe, wie

1. - Contraction
2. - Fodder laminitis
3. - Burden laminitis
4. - Poisoning laminitis

Here an example of a laminitis treatment that I did in 2011.

Characteristics of laminitis

Laminitis of the hoof can be recognised from a distance and at a glance, so unmistakable are the signs and symptoms of an acute lesion of the hoof. The horse walks clammy and stiff as a stick, sensitive, has pain in turning, can walk very badly over hard ground and uneven ground, the facial expression is pain distorted, breathing faster, the pulse faster (from pain...), sometimes even additional fever occurs. Symptoms range from mild to moderate to very severe. Not all horses, not even with a very massive hoof deer thrust, are in the so-called "roebuck position", which is therefore not an unmistakable sign of laminitis or better said not a common sign of laminitis, although it can sometimes be seen naturally. Laminitis is characterized by painful pain, many horses can hardly walk at all, many horses lie down and don't want to get up anymore, every step becomes painful...

Hoof crack

Hoof crack

The longitudinal gap comes from a crown injury, which is usually not dangerous. A hoof gap from bottom to top is usually also harmless. However, a crevice from top to bottom is dangerous. The lateral as well as the hoof balance must be determined exactly from the front. The cause of the tension in the hoof must be recognized, then the ideal relieving shoe must be applied and in addition the gap can be glued, screwed or even sewn. A hoof gap can lead to lameness if an infection can spread!

Definition of hoof gap

Horn fissures are cracks in the horse's hoof that run parallel to the horn tubes at the edge of the supporting surface. At the beginning of their development, as long as they are still small and inconspicuous, they are called wind cracks. We only speak of horn fissures when they are so deep that they extend through the entire hoof wall to the hoof corium.

Types of crevices

There are several types of horn fissures, namely

1. - wind cracks
2. - bleeding column
3. - bearing edge gaps
4. - continuous horn gaps
5. - fissures of the coronet

It is only an excerpt, of course there are more...

Features Hoof Split

Stumbling, unevenly lame, reversible pain, you can't see anything on the outside, only appearing in front, show jumpers stop in the combination.

Position problem

Definition of position problem

In the case of a position problem, we speak of a deviation from the ideal. Ideal means a lateral straight toe axis and a positive palmar angle. The position must be found in such a way that the joint gaps - especially the hoof joint and the crown joint - behave symmetrically.

Types of position problems

1. - position too steep
2. - position too flat
3. - tookew position

Characteristics Position problems

Changes to the growth grooves, namely:

1. - the growth grooves are narrow at the front and wide in the heels of the hoof that is too steep
2. - the growth grooves are wide at the front and narrow in the heel area of the hoof that is too flat
3. - are dents and bumps on the side of the horn wall and the load grooves squeezed in the case of a lateral imbalance

Navicular bone

Navicular bone

A very good solution for relieving the navicular region is the full-rock iron (aluminium), which increases the palmar angle by up to 8 degrees and relieves the tension of the deep flexor tendon from the floor by means of a rocker mechanism.

Definition of the navicular bone

As navicular bone one calls the sesame bone at the deep flexor tendon of the hoof-animals. One navicular bone is formed per toe. It lies under the tendon at the joint between coffin bone and crown bone. Between tendon and navicular bone lies a bursa, the hoof roll bursa.

Types of navicular bone

There are generally four types of fractures affecting the navicular bone, namely

1. - Chip-fractures
2. - Simple fractures
3. - Comminuted fractures
4. - congenital interrelationships

Characteristics of the navicular bone

Increased abrasion at the toe, high and steep traditional costumes, a horiontally running coronet, concave dorsal hoof wall, widened white line.