Thalia Rehab Project: Examination of the Laminitic Hoof

This is the 3rd trim since Thalia joined my barn around the first of the year.  An improved connection of her hoof capsule to the coffin bone (P3), which you can see in the “Right Front” photo,  has grown down from the coronary band enough for me to feel comfortable with REALLY backing her toe up.  I used my nippers laying flat on the barn floor to clip away dead hoof.  This is the rough cut before rasping smooth.  Saves me lots of rasping!  What you see in the picture is all dead hoof, called the Lamellar Wedge .   The lamellar wedge is what forms in between the live structures of the inner hoof  and the hoof capsule.  In other words the “white line”.  That thin yellow/whitish line between the hoof wall and the sole.  This is what happens to the white line  when the coffin bone loses its connection to the hoof capsule.  The white line in the area where separation has occurred stretches. And the more it stretches the more severe the rotation. The more severe the rotation the larger the lamellar wedge will be. The “Left Front” picture shows how Thalia’s coffin bones have become “sinkers”. “Sinkers” are…