# Hoof slough off



## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

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?


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Did you have a vet out? Did they say anything bout it??
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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Hooves don't spontaneously slough off. The animal had to be in horrible pain prior to losing his hoof. If you didn't have a vet out, there are many things I'd like to say but probably shouldn't. At least he's out of pain now.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*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.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

The horses hoof simply didn't slough off. Somethig must've happened where he cut it off himself by becoming tangled or something of the like. I take there was no vet called?
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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*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.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Do you have pictures? What did the vet say it was?
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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

ill work on sending pictures first thing in the morning. id like prsfessional advice on what are the causes if anyone knows.
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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

Vets are professionals..... What did the vet say?


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## wetrain17 (May 25, 2011)

If the vet put him down, did you not ask him/her what caused this?


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

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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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

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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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

If it ruptured to the point the hoof came off in the middle of the night, how did the horse not bleed to death before anyone found it?


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

puss not much blood
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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

So then the hoof didn't come off?? If an animal loses part of a limb they will bleed.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

mind u the hoof is more like a nail not a limb.
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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

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....


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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

Sorry, when I hear someone say the hoof came off to me that sounds like the whole hoof which has a blood supply came off from coronet band on down.


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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

Understandable, however the hoof is actually just the growth/structure part around the 3rd digit .. not the 3rd digit itself. So now ya know!


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

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.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

thanks allison. but i am in west africa abd vet practice is quite bad here.
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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

I am sorry for your loss.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

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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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*hoof slough off*

hi
thank you very much cherry. your post explaine well. i have attached the pictures of the hoof as it came off.


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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

Wow, ibronx, that pic really brings it home. Looks like he was recently shod ...

I'm so sorry for your loss.


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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

Oh I have never seen anything like that before, gave me goosebumps, icky.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*hoof slough off*

yeah 
thanks to all you people for your support. Ive never even imagined anything like this. and the rate at which it occurred is just baffling. looking forward to starting a new discussion on lymphangitis and possible safe treatments.


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I am sorry.
He looked like a very nice horse.
Lokks like you kept him in good health.


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## arrowsaway (Aug 31, 2011)

How terrible! And so sudden, too. He was beautiful; it's a shame.
I'm glad you joined the forum though. Most folks here really know their stuff, and it's a great place to learn. So, welcome, and my condolences.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

I'm so sorry for your loss. My vet's tech loss a horse the same way. Hers had obtained an injury when it was younger that they had thought healed just fine. Two years later the hoof fell off. It can even happen to the professionals.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Lymphangitis and Cellulitis are both life threatening conditions where an infection stays internal instead of letting a big, open draining wound heal like it should (although I have seen one cellulitis case that was very open and still developed it.) When the infection travels through the whole body it become Septicemia or blood poisoning -- again life threatening. When one leg swells (like in cellulitis and lymphgangitis), most of the infection stays more localized as is the damage it causes.

The most important thing I think anyone has to remember is that if a horse develops a lot of swelling in one leg after an injury, it is a medical emergency. If it is hot, inflamed and the horse 'usually' has a fever, get a Vet involved and treat it VERY AGGRESSIVELY. We have had cases in our own horses and always opted for very high-powered IV antibiotics like Chloramphenicol, Amakacin, etc and treated locally with same antibiotic mixed with DMSO. Our Vet of 25 years that recently retired (I'm still sad about losing him) used heavy duty antibiotics and gave them with DMSO IV. This reduces the inflammation fast (without compromising the immune system like steroids do). You want to reduce the inflammation because if you don't, the swelling itself cuts off the blood supply and causes hoof or other tissue death. This may well be what caused the death of this horse's hoof. 

Obviously, I am not a Vet and I did not see your horse but have had very good Vets and have had anywhere from 50 to 300 horses I have managed for about 50 years. So, with this number of all kinds of horses, I have seen many very seriously injured or ill horses and have seen many things go from relatively minor to serious to life-threatening overnight. Lymphangitis and cellulitis are life-threatening. 

I, personally, do not think you should call a Vet out for every little thing. If you do, he will not take you seriously if you really have an emergency (think -- 'cry wolf'). I just think everyone should know when things are not going the right direction and you get BIG warning signs like a high fever, scours (particularly in newborns), non-weight-bearing lameness, huge swellings in one limb (especially when it is hot), bi-lateral lameness (like in laminitis and founder) and a pretty long list that should not be ignored or expected to resolve on its own.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*lymphangitis*

hello
cherrie and others.
sorry for the late response went away on a little trip. the reason i joined is to gain more experience in terms of humane way of treating horses. believe it or not till today in the 20th century, burning lymphangiatis is still practiced down here in parts of africa. i am really opposed to it offcourse and would love to share issues persisting in our own side of the world. almost every year we experience an out break of lymphangitis. i dont really know if any immunization exists for this. bcos i realized that imported argentine horses rarely ever contact the disease. i am not a vet but from my little research i know that about four types exist. well i have treated a horse by mixing procaine penicillin and gentimycin. but would love to know stronger antibiotics that would treat it better.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

I have gone back and read more about Lymphangitis. The Lymphangitis I have always dealt with was bacterial or started out with an injury like a puncture wound. 

Evidently there are exotic diseases like Glanders and Farcy in places like Africa that I have never had to deal with (thank goodness). There are forms of Lymphangitis that are not only contagious but are caused by a fungus as well as bacteria. Surgical removable of lesions is one way to treat some of these manifestations.

Here is a paper about lymphangitis that you might find enlightening. http://www.equestrianarts.org/Articles-Horse Health/Hoof & Leg/Lymphangitis.pdf

You may have a lot more going on than a simple Cellulitis / Lymphangitis.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*lyphangitis*

thanks a lot. will definately read the article.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*lyphangitis*

Hello.
id like to know if lymphangitis is only associated with swelling of the legs.
because what happens to horses here is ; they develope a kind of sore which follow a track (lymphatic track) as a doctor once told me. the sores appear even on the body. sometimes beneath the belly, chest,neck, legs and even the cheeks. these sores cause swelling along the path at which they spread and sometimes even rupture. sometimes alot of sores appear all over the body even on the testicles of stallions and breast of mares.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*lymphangitis*

i don't have a picture right now but will post if i get any.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

After you read the article, you will find that you have Glanders and Farcy in Africa and it can be very contagious. 

If you google 'Glanders and Farcy in horses', you will find a lot of pictures and a lot of descriptions and other than surgically removing the lesions in some of the kinds of cases and heavy duty antibiotics for some, most are fatal and then the horse becomes a carrier. Even people can get some forms of it. There is no vaccine, which looks to me to be the logical solution -- but then we're talking about Africa. If it were here in the US, it would already have a vaccine. It took less than a year to come up with the West Nile Virus Vaccine after the disease made it to our country.


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## ibronx (Sep 24, 2012)

*lymphangitis*

yikess
really scary stuff. but thank GOD its not what we experience. it doesnt really come with nasal discharge nor any problem with the respiratory track. epizotic lymphangitis is what i presume.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Yes. It seems to have many forms, many manifestations and many causes. I'm just glad we do not have it here. Evidently it is one of the reasons they are so strict on horses being imported from several countries, particularly from Africa and SE Asia.


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## OliviaMyee (Jul 31, 2012)

So sad do you get frustrated about the Vets in your country ? Sounds scary to just think my horse had an abscess and he could have died sorry for your loss hopefully you will find a good vet !


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## NewHorseGirl (Jul 13, 2012)

Really sorry for loss, never heard of this happening a lot!


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