Unlimited access >

Quick X Ray? Now founder/laminitis/hoof care talk

I’m ok to leave this horse’s plastic shoes on for hoof x rays? Pictures for suspected laminitis.

The vet is trying to squeeze me in tomorrow afternoon but farrier can’t get her before then.

Shoes are mostly glued on but have one nail in each side.

My brain is fried.

You should be able to get a decent lateral view. Might depend on how the glue ons are attached whether a significant portion of hoof wall is covered that might make the image not ideal quality.

1 Like

It’s fine. You can take laterals and dps with those shoes on. You can’t get good navicular shots or solar margins.

4 Likes

Yes. Make SURE your vet marks the landmarks for these xrays - coronet band, TRUE apex of the frog, meaning, where it joins the sole, NOT just the tip of the frog which may be overgrown

2 Likes

The shoes were just set Friday

I’ll try to ask for x rays to be marked

Hmm well that’s not ideal. If he doesn’t have signs of laminitis/founder then that leaves me with a crippled lame horse and vet here not able to get good other x rays

It’s amazing how many vets don’t mark those things when they are xraying specifically to find out what’s going on, and ESPECIALLY if they’re xraying to look at laminitis/founder issues. Insist.

If the shoes are making enough of a shadow that you can’t clearly see things, you really need those pieces of metal to find the coronet band (as the top of P3 should be easily visible) and the apex of the frog (as the length of toe will be easily visible).

I will insist. Those landmarks would help my farrier I presume? Or me? Or COTH? Somebody I guess.

Presuming his prognosis is ok. He’s really in bad shape and I dunno if he’s gonna make it. Or if it’s fair to make his old self go through this.

Vet’s bringing x ray and euthanasia supplies

1 Like

The landmarks tell you things like:

  • is there sinking? The top of P3 should be more or less level with the coronet band
  • how long is the toe? The true apex of the frog is basically under the tip of P3, and it’s well documented where the breakover belongs in relation to that

Fingers crossed you get some useful answers :frowning:

1 Like

Ok thank you for explaining. I’ve had a good run with horses being comfortably sound for my purposes so I’m afraid this is all new to me as an owner.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but will vet be able to mark where sole joins frog with these shoes on since they cover the whole sole?

oh shoot, I forgot about the shoes covering the sole. No, they can’t do that. But hopefully all of P3 will be visible enough for this.

Hopefully so.

Naturally I just had these fancy shoes glued on right before this all went down. :woman_facepalming:t2:

Stupid question… since you just had the shoes put on, aren’t they the most likely culprit?

4 Likes

That would be a wonderful solution.

He’s been intermittently lame up front recently, hence the shoeing change. Vet thinks it most likely he’s had low grade laminitis and then an acute episode Sunday.

I’d be taking a hard hard look at the shoeing if it coincides with things getting worse. Sometimes big fancy set ups make things worse, not better.

6 Likes

He might have acute laminitis and no changes to his bony structures yet and you won’t see anything on x-rays . Also the fancy shoes might be putting pressure on his soles and making him sore. So maybe this is painful but can be reversed before he has permanent changes. We can hope. Don’t give up yet.

9 Likes

I certainly hope it’s as simple as a shoe or farrier change.

It’s not that fancy of a set up. It’s basically a hoof boot affixed with glue. More flexible than the Renegades I have I guess. It’s not a solid piece across the back. There’s no impression material under it.

He seems to be doing better. Just gave him his bedtime meds and he was less uncomfortable than he was right before his last round of meds. Felt good enough to ask for scratches at least. He is still shifting his weight a lot though. I’ve got an absurd amount of shavings under him. Normally I use pellets but I went and got him some of the big fluffy flakes. Horse approves of both the shavings and his soaked hay.

2 Likes

We can hope! He’s a sweet old guy and I’d hate to lose him.

Fingers crossed for you, keep us updated. I think your vet is on the right track and yes, they can pull x-rays but they won’t be ideal. A sidebar, I’ve seen many feet with angles like your boy’s and they have been low grade laminitic because of zero sole depth. These horses typically didn’t do well in glue on shoes because they had too much contact with their sore soles. Hoping this is the case for you and a swap of shoes and farrier is the fix. It’s so hard finding good farriers these days. :hugs: :hugs:

3 Likes