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Hoof slough off

20K views 40 replies 15 participants last post by  NewHorseGirl 
#1 ·
Hello
we just lost a stallion today. eventually he was lame on the hind leg. but we woke up in the morning to find the area above his hind hoof ruptured. this caused the hoof to totally come off the leg like it had been amputated. please what kind of disease is this and what are the possible causes?
 
#4 ·
hoof slough off

hey
unfortunately some places in the world, veterinary practice is still primitive and coupled with the lack of diagnostics equipments. its just a sad sad and painful happening. but if any one has some advice on what caused it please do reply. this is the first time we ve lost a stallion in such a painful way.
 
#6 ·
hoof slough off

i have never witnessed anything happen so fast. he showed signs of lameness at the back leg. no way he could have sustained that injury in his perfectly bedded stable.the area above his hoof just ruptured overnight.and the hoof came off separately. the vet put him down.
 
#11 ·
offcourse. an infection caused it. abscess in the hoof. but the rupture happened overnight. and it had minor swelling before it happened. not even enough to get ones attention. so pls need more suggestions and advice if anyone has more experience.
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#12 ·
Sorry for the loss of your horse, that is horrible! The professional you should have asked as to what caused this, would be the vet when he euthanized him, we can only speculate as we did not see the horse nor do we have a degree in vet medicine. I would give the attending vet a call & ask.
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#17 ·
poppy .. the hoof is like your fingernail. You can lose a fingernail without losing the first digit of your finger. It sounds like the hoof wall sloughed off.

OP. If there was an abscess that ruptured at the top, then that is the reason the hoof became separated. Whether or not your stallion showed it, it was going on longer than overnight. What caused the abscess, none of us can tell you..

I'm sorry for your loss....
 
#20 ·
Please be aware, before you bash, that the OP, evidently, is posting from an African country. Their claim that vet care is not the same as in many other places in the world are quite likely.

Op, I am so sorry for your loss. The extent of an infection that could cause such a catastrophic hoof wall failure really can happen fairly quickly. The hoof is especially prone to such quick problems due to its inability to swell.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Hi! Welcome to the horse forum. I wish it were under better circumstances.

Yes! I have seen hooves slough off. And yes, it can be from an infection. But, It is more likely to be because the hoof has died from a lack of blood supply.

It is usually caused by gangrene -- the necrosis or death of the hoof. There are different kinds of gangrene -- wet, dry and gas gangrene. In the horses I have seen lose hooves, the blood supply had been lost in one or both arteries on the sides of the pastern at or above the coronet. This can be caused by a deep cut that severed the artery or some kind of wire or rope got hung up around a lower leg long enough to destroy the blood supply, laminitis and founder was severe enough to destroy the blood supply or an infection from a deep puncture wound literally 'killed' the hoof from the inside out.

Lameness is not always real severe. Infection can be very severe depending on how much of the hoof is dead and how much is alive enough to be infected. Dry gangrene has no pus and the affected hoof just sloughs off leaving a dry, nearly dead black coffin bone exposed that is also dying. [Think diabetic person that has to have a leg or foot amputated.] Other cases of gangrene cause a severe cellulitis, extreme fever and the horse can die from the toxins produced by the infection. These infections are usually caused by an anaerobic bacteria related to Tetanus. The bacteria is Clostridium Perfrengens. It produces gas as it multiplies and is responsible for gas gangrene. Wet gangrene causes a lot of pus, a horrible smell and usually is home to thousands of maggots.

The one thing they all have in common is that the lower leg will smell very bad a good while before it sloughs, particularly if there is an open or running sore or abscess. If there are flies around, there will frequently be maggots or screw worms in the wound. The only time you would not smell it before hand would be if the blood supply was lost without an open wound of any kind until it sloughed. But, I'll bet it smelled really bad after it sloughed.

I hope this explains how a hoof can appear to just be there one day and slough off the next without a drop of blood. There just had to be trauma or some disease process that caused the hoof to die first.
 
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