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Input on hoof ripples- stress rings? Laminitis?

38K views 80 replies 15 participants last post by  loosie 
#1 · (Edited)
I about fell over when I noticed these distinct ripples on my horses hooves yesterday. The farrier was already scheduled to come today so that was good. I asked him but he didn't seem too concerned and said they were just 'fever' rings. She is not ouchy, not lame, not overweight, maybe a bit of a hay belly. She gets no sweet feed- just less than 1 lb of pellets with some supplements and 24/7 turnout on pretty low quality pasture.

The rippley growth rings look to have started exactly when I bought her- almost 3 months ago. Everything in her world changed at that time so I am really hoping they could be from stress? (She was moved to different pasture, new pasture mate, increase in work, and changes in diet)

The thing that scares me is that I would think an 'event' ring would be just that- one abnormal growth ring. To me it looks like the hoof is growing in ripples right now.

:( :( I am so worried.

Note: hoof angle looks really upright but she was on uneven ground, it's not that upright in person, I'll do another thread about trim, but I'm just concerned about the ripples now. They are on all four feet but this shows it best.
 

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#7 ·
They are pretty significant rings. Couldbe stress, weather change, diet change, or even small laminitic episodes.

What were her feet like 3 months ago? She has very high heels. Has the farrier been addressing that?
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#8 ·
No, these rings are distinctly new and you can see the smoothness below.

Like I said, all of the above (diet, owner, workload) changed at the same time, so stress could very well be the issue. The first two weeks with me she was distinctly freaked out but then she settled into her new life. She was free in the pasture for the first time (maybe ever), previously she was just tied. She is now in pasture with a pretty strong mannered gelding (alone before) she's the low man on the totem pole and she's also gone into heat about 3 times (triggered by being with him I think).

I think the angle is just bad in that picture, her heels aren't as high as they look there. When I can get some accurate hoof pics I'll post them.
 
#9 ·
Hi,

I think you are right to be concerned, altho no need for 'panic stations'. Those are some pretty significant rings & whatever stress that's caused them has been happening regularly in the last 2-3 months.

As you've seen an eg of here, people have frequently discounted these type of signs as 'growth rings' 'grass rings', etc, etc although it of course has also been recognised as a sign of laminitis. So no wonder you're confused about it! The way I see it, at the base level, ANY rings & ridges - or pink rings in white hooves - signify a laminitic 'episode'. However, the degree & longevity of the 'attack' may be extremely mild & apart from the rings, a relative non-event. Laminitis is commonly brought on from diet/metabolic issues, but it can also be mechanical, due to physical or mental stress, or toxins - drugs, gut damage, etc.

So... look up 'low grade' or 'sub clinical' laminitis for more info. Major laminitis 'attacks' & founder very rarely come suddenly 'out of the blue' and as I said, don't panic, but if you can learn to recognise & consider these 'mild' symptoms, in the majority of situations, any major laminitis can then be avoided.

While you're at that, I would also start learning about hoof form & function, because while that picture isn't great for accuracy, I agree with others that it looks like those heels are significantly high & also contracted & run forward - your horse is heading for soundness issues if left like that.
 
#11 ·
Concussion can absolutely be a cause of stress to laminae & subsequent wall deviations/founder. Imbalance & overloading the walls is generally a contributor. Depends how it's done, but I'd be avoiding shoes on a laminitic horse, especially if concussion is an issue.
 
#12 ·
I did see some of the discussions on sub-clinical laminitis on here as well as some other sites when I was researching.... Rode today and I did notice that it was really hard to keep her in a gait. She's a natural bred paso fino so the gait is her natural stride, she normally only breaks to a trot when she's really tired. Today it was all trot. I'm going to give her some days off and keep a close eye...

Since there's nothing striking in her diet per se that could be causing this, what is the suggested course of action? I could completely eliminate her pellets or I could take her off pasture and just do hay...reduce/eliminate work... It's hard for me to take a wait and see approach...
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#13 ·
Yes, regardless of any discomfort(& 'laziness' is often an indication) I wouldn't be asking her to go above a walk on asphalt if she is peripherally loaded &/or her feet are imbalanced - as said, with only that pic to go on, hard to tell, but it appears....

Re her diet, without more info, don't know whether 1lb pellets problematic. Or the pasture. Or hay, which is, after all, made from pasture & doesn't lose sugars in processing. Depends how sensitive she may be to sugars, etc too.
 
#14 ·
Mine did exactly that. We had changed barns, and we had a shower every day all summer, and the rings showed up. Even the coronary band was more noticeable. Turns out, between the rain, change in diet, and change in hoof care, they appeared overnight.

Turns out the metabolic part let the outer hoof grow faster than the inner hoof, therefore needing to "ripple". I rounded the edges off her feet (she had also come out of 12 weeks of shoes). Nice mustang roll. And within a few days, they literally disappeared. Try getting the outer wall up off the ground a bit and see what happens. You see results real fast because hooves are a large percentage of water.

Don't worry. It already kept me up at night when it happened.
 
#17 ·
Turns out the metabolic part let the outer hoof grow faster than the inner hoof, therefore needing to "ripple". ....You see results real fast because hooves are a large percentage of water.
Just being particular.... The outer hoof wall grows down from the coronary border & is impervious & dry(one reason 'moisturisers' aren't beneficial. It's not designed for weight bearing & tends to grow at a relatively uniform rate. The inner wall grows out from the laminae and has a high degree of water. It's more flexible and is the part of the wall that naturally shares weight bearing. It also responds quickly to metabolic &/or mechanical changes & stresses, the laminae dividing & putting out extra material when/where needed.
 
#15 ·
It was noticed on 10-1-13. By 10/14/13 , they almost went away on their own. 6 weeks ago, since I rolled her edges better on 10-14, now, she has very light rings, the ripples are gone, and her quarters let themselves down and straight horizontally. This picture was on 10/14, 2 weeks after being really ripple-y.

Too bad I don't have pics when they looked more like yours.
 

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#19 ·
Thanks princess I'll look into that- good to hear you had a similar situation and it went well
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Like Loosie was saying, hooves contain a lot of water, that's why you'll see the problem correcting itself pretty quick when that outer wall is rolled up a bit. Be sure to take the transformation pics.

Even when I get a curve in the horizontal lines on the quarters, once I relieve the quarters, the lines straighten out in 1-3 days.

What was really funny with the ripples I had was that I rolled the edges off the ground, 2 days later they were back on the ground from that outer wall relaxing. And I had to roll them again.
 
#23 ·
Actually, it looks awful. I think what I did was scooping instead of rolling, meaning that maybe the inner half of the hoof still needed contact with the ground while the outside half straightens out. So I got to give a much better roll.

I had moved from a barn to another barn with pasture, to another barn with paddocks, no grass, back to pasture the other day. Long story. So those ripples must be metabolic, outer wall growing faster because of the changes in feed over the last 4 months, worsened by a rainy season, and I didn't keep rolling the wall, and the problem is now Screaming at me!!!!
 
#27 ·
If it was concussion that caused the rings then I'd expect to see them lower down as well - unless the horse was out of work or in really light work during that period of growth
We used to do between 2 and 4 hours of road work every day with the (fox) hunters when they were in fitness work and I never saw concussion rings in any of them - and they were all shod
Those rings could just as easily be from a recent attack of diet related laminitis or from some ill health issues that upped the blood pressure.
I'm surprised that the horse didn't show even some minor signs of lameness or reluctance to move as willingly as usual
 
#29 ·
My gelding had rings on his back feet when he was shod. Once shoes were off and I trimmed his feet rings disapeared. We ride on hard sufaces and do a lot of running our horses never have had rings on hoofs from it. They were shod also but did have pads on fronts not just shoes.
 
#32 ·
I would take him barefoot. Those rings are, as Loosie says, diet related episodes - changes in the grass cause changes in the hoof (or laminae structure).
Shoeing (IMO) will not be helping AT ALL. Get yourself a good barefoot farrier nad make sure you are feeding plenty of hay and plain feeds - nothing with mollases in it, along with a quality vit/min mix :)
 
#38 ·
The problem is not the shoes it is the trim .
As I've said before, I don't personally believe shoes are necessarily bad news & also 'pros' of shoes can often outweight 'cons'. And also yes, absolutely agree that the way they're trimmed is of vital importance, whether bare or shod.

However I absolutely disagree that shoes themselves aren't problematic - there are innate 'cons', as with most things. One of those 'cons' is overloading hoof walls & in the case of laminitis, pounding hard ground & the likes, that is absolutely a big 'con'. Too big IMO, in that situation.
 
#35 ·
On the hoof from two weeks ago I'm seeing hoof jamming at the toe quarters. You can see the upward curve. Try scooping this from toe quarter to heel quarter, about the thickness of a credit card. It should start to come down and a few rasps every week should look after it.
 
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