Lessons Learned This Week About Sole Tubules

Question:   Why does the sole run forward from under the toe wall?

Answer:   Because I have rasped/trimmed away too much wall too often.

Explanation of above comment by way of the following story:   

Somehow I was led to a video on youtube where a woman was explaining why horse’s feet go flat. I don’t know how I came to find it. It’s just one of those things. Why I didn’t find it or a similar thing 1 or 2 years ago I have no idea. Why no-one could answer this question is also dumbfounding to me.

This lady talked about how the sole tubules grow (something I’ve not found in any other farrier or trimmer YT video or in any literature or any website). She said they grow out of the sole usually fairly perpendicular but when the wall is taken away they ‘get loose’ & escape by running along flat out through the space where the wall is gone. If the wall is persistently removed all the sole tubules change direction permanently & run along the plane of the sole. This is particularly bad if the toe wall is removed consistently as the horse’s movement causes the tubules to push forward, thereby causing them to run out under the wall.

This then stops the wall from growing straight down to the ground anymore so it flares out. Eventually the flaring is so bad it can no longer contain the sole at all. As the walls extend further forward applying more & more breakover leverage & tearing around the toe, lamella wedge grows to fill the space. This flaring causes the sole thickness to diminish as the tubules are worn off faster than they can be replaced. Tubules that grow flat wear off faster than tubules that grow perpendicular. This wearing off process eventually makes the sole very thin & the inevitable result is that the internal structures get closer to the ground & the sole flattens. So there is this continual flattening & thinning process going on which can easily lead to founder.

The other thing about flattened tubules is that as they wear they let in moisture which can run right up to the live tissue causing all sorts of rot & fungal problems as well.

Laminitis is associated with this condition because the internal structures are under much more stress than usual. The heels run under since they are being dragged forward by the sole tubules & flared out toe. They end up in a place they aren’t supposed to be causing side wall flaring & much internal trauma, hence laminitis, abscessing & fungal issues. Of course laminitis can be due to gastric problems as well.

 

 

I uploaded these photos in full 1500pix sizing so all the tiny details could be seen clearly. To see the full sized photos click on these links & it should jump to 100% size.

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o358/claireT_2008/BBB/October%202012%20Sonnys%20feet/Soletubuledemophoto.jpg

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o358/claireT_2008/BBB/October%202012%20Sonnys%20feet/Soletubuledemophotoenlargedsection.jpg

 

If that doesn't work for you click on the this album link & you will find these photos there.

http://photobucket.com/oct2012Sonnysfeet

Here is an enlargement of part of that photo.

 

Interestingly the pattern of tiny dots of the worn off sole tubules looks a bit like tanned pig skin.

How to Solve this Problem:

Initially the only way to get new hoof to grow down at the correct angle is to remove all the flaring & keep it removed by way of beveling the bottom of the walls so they aren’t in contact with the ground during movement. However as soon as the renewed hoof reaches the ground, the beveling method has to be modified to leave some wall in place proud of the sole plane as a barrier to the sole tubules. As the flattened tubules grow, they begin to run up against that 1/16^th inch of that little bit of wall left at each weekly trim. Soon the sole begins to form a low ridge like a roll right beside/behind the toe wall which in turn allows a slightly thicker height of wall to be left at subsequent trims. So the height of wall above the original sole plane gradually grows & the sole backs up behind it. Soon the tubules begin to turn & grow more perpendicular & eventually the whole sole tubules are again growing in the right direction.

It is this backing up process of sole tubules behind the toe wall into a rolled shape that gives rise to the concavity that is so well documented & sort after in the healthy hoof. The front of the toe wall extends well down past the original sole plane thereby lifting the rest of the sole off the ground into that concave shape, hence lifting the internal structures away from the ground & allowing the sole to thicken. In turn the perpendicular tubules wear a lot less thus thickening the sole even more. The internal structures & in particular P3 again attain their correct alignment to the ground by being pushed upwards by the rising toe wall.

The stronger the lift from the toe wall, the greater the relief at the quarters & the shorter & more upright the heels will naturally be.

 

What the Future Can Hold:

This is my new aim. Sonny has now grown a full set of new capsules all round. Now I need to be sure to leave a little wall (1/16^th -1/8^th inch (2-4ml)) each trim. It would be so much easier if his hoof walls were strong but they aren’t so that small height gets worn off within a day of the trim. The more height  I can leave the better I think.

To that end I have finally discovered a carving bit to fit my Dremel carving tools. I have both a cordless & an electric so I can go to the paddock & just do a tiny bit of hoof carving each day. The bit isn’t the big ones seen on other youtube videos. How I wish I could buy one of those here! But the little one I bought does do the job for now. I can carve out the extreme overlaying bars which all the horses have now & which must be uncomfortable for them. Sonny’s overlaid bars extend right up to the tip of the frog. My guess is the hooves have been growing those long overlaid bars as extra protection, more or less whatever they can grow is better than nothing. However now I need to remove most of it to allow the new tubules to grow in the right direction rather than being forced from behind to conform & grow forward.

I have some photos showing the sole after rain when it is really clean & there is this lovely wavy pattern fanning out in all directions from the frog. I hadn’t seen it before & no-one knew what it was. But I do now! It is the ends of the tubules that are now growing flat, all laying over one another with their ends worn off at a very sharp angle!

 So I think I have all the tools now to restore Sonny’s feet (& my other horse’s feet too) to their rightful shape, structure & hopefully health.

 

To Wrap Up:

 

This knowledge is so important I don’t understand why it isn’t rammed into every horse owner’s knowledge base. It is particularly important to those who wish to have their horses bare footed. There aren’t that many horses with such sound hooves that they are always perfect. Yes, the trimming instructions always say to leave a small ridge of wall above the sole, but that can only apply to perfect hooves. Every other barefooted horse has some degree of flare or miss-shaping & there are many methods now that rasp (round) the wall up to well above the sole plane. Their reasoning is that the sole must share the responsibility of the weight bearing processes. That is true but the sole can only do that when & if the hoof structure is totally correct in the first instance.  It’s the process of attaining that correct structure where the possible problems lay. Without this piece of knowledge about the way the sole tubules grow, it is impossible to reach any sort of correct barefoot shape.


If you want to watch the youtube videos that I found there are many of them not all titled consecutively so you have to hunt around a bit to find them all. Here are the links to 2 anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmAcRPtbhoE&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ceb4HYBXDk&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Here is her latest video which talks about a thing called the 'Toe Stay'. This link should open up a set of videos that autoplay one after the other as they are only a few minutes long each. It does look like the photos are old 3x2 format & her comptuer screen is wide screen so the photos are quite stretched horizontally making the toe look very long. However I think I have seen those photos online & the toes are definately not that sloping. About the 5th of that set of autoplay vids she talks at length about how the tubules grow & shows some really good photos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Wq-phzgbQ&list=PLB11900FC6C774F9C&index=3&feature=plcp

This link is to one of the vids in the autoplay series that shows the toe stay really well along with the toe ridge/roll.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCf5b0rqd7E&feature=autoplay&list=PLB11900FC6C774F9C&playnext=11


I still haven't discovered this lady's name! She's just known as 'The Happy Hoof'.