Lines Across Front of Hooves?

[chestnuthunter]

My horse that was purchased in November has 4 white feet, and across each hoof there is a dark line/indentation. My farrier took one look at them and said they mean the horse has foundered in the past. However, I had a very intensive PPE done on this horse and both the vet that did the PPE and the former owners said that is not true.

Regardless, the horse is totally sound and in good shape. Do the lines actually mean anything, or is my farrier misinformed? He is a very reputable guy that does a lot of sport horse farms in the area.

Here are pictures for reference:

[merrygoround]

Horses also get those lines in their feet when their diet suddenly changes, or their routine shifted from winter light work to more intense work.

[Belmont]

I’ve heard a ton of theory’s about those lines. Injury, sickness, diet change, etc.

[chestnuthunter]

Diet change would make sense. I did totally revamp his diet because he was overweight and out of shape. He is on feed with a much lower fat content and has access to a round bale of hay when he is out, so he is also getting a lot more forage.

His workload has been increased a good bit too, so that theory would also work for him. Thanks!

[Zipsmom]

My horse got them when I had to wash his legs every day for a bad case of scratches. Coronet band got soft because of all the water.

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=chestnuthunter;8073704]
My horse that was purchased in November has 4 white feet, and across each hoof there is a dark line/indentation. My farrier took one look at them and said they mean the horse has foundered in the past. However, I had a very intensive PPE done on this horse and both the vet that did the PPE and the former owners said that is not true.

Regardless, the horse is totally sound and in good shape. Do the lines actually mean anything, or is my farrier misinformed? He is a very reputable guy that does a lot of sport horse farms in the area.

Here are pictures for reference: [/QUOTE]

your farrier is not entirely wrong. what you are seeing does show up as symptom of laminitis and founder. it doesn’t mean your horse HAS foundered.

those are ‘fever rings’, which are a symptom/causation of something else. by the time they show up on the horse whatever it was that was ailing the horse has already happened (and is usually long gone). the line in that picture means whatever happened happened months ago - it is very far down the hoof.

IME, fever rings pop up for a variety of reasons but the most common are fairly sinister:
high fever or sickness
founder / laminitis / hoof inflammation
hoof trauma (abscess, coffin injuries)
IR / cushings / metabolic disorders
increase in limb loading (followed by abscess or soundness issues)

if your horse was overweight and you adjusted his feed i would strongly suggest looking into the possibility of founder however slight or remote you think the possibility is. usually these lines mean something fairly malignant happened. i have never seen them show up just from diet change (YMMV), but i have seen them show up AFTER a diet change prompted by controlled management/stall-rest because of injury or founder.

i have also seen them show up on horses after battling severe infections from big injuries.

[equitationlane]

It usually means there was heat in the feet, but doesn’t mean he actually foundered, just had some inflammation. If you X-rayed him when you bought him, if he had foundered, it would have shown up then.

[Equibrit]

Stress.