Really weird hoof condition

[SLW]

Waiting on the University to ring back my vet with ideas on what is going on with my standard donkey’s front hooves. A funny ripple appeared on both front hooves back in Feb. At that time her hooves were unbalanced with extra length on the ripple side which was caused by my rasp work. I thought this was the problem and so had the farrier do all hoof work since then. Underside of hoof was fine and donkey was not, and has not ever been, lame through this event. The funny ripples have been growing out and getting wider. Last Wednesday my farrier said take her in for radiographs to rule out boney growth problems inside her hoof wall.

We did digital radiographs yesterday and everything was clear, no boney growth or arthritis inside her hoof. She is still 100% sound. Has anyone seen this before with a horse, or donkey??

Her diet hasn’t changed this year, she lives on a large dry lot and she is 6 years old. Her work load is light- she pulls a cart on grass surfaces for the grand children once a month.

Left front as it looked in Feb '17. The right front is a mirror image, ripples just to the outside of the front center of hoof.
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag82/gravelroadmom/IMG_1429_zpsyrvfuezh.jpg

Left front as of last night. My farrier dug out a little last week on a search and seek mission.
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag82/gravelroadmom/IMG_2051_zpsr4jmmsqe.jpg

Left front side view last night.
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag82/gravelroadmom/IMG_2052_zps7npg51fm.jpg

For the sake of discussion, donkey hooves do grow more upright than horse hooves, you just keep the angles correct for the leg. The hoof does not flare like a horses hoof will.

Any ideas???

[beowulf]

Can’t see them - PB does not like third party hosting IE hosting images for forum use, etc. Try Imgur or Flickr.

[SLW]

Well darn, thank you for the info! Let me see if I can open an account on the other sites you offered.

[SLW]

Here are the photos.

Feb 17
http://i.imgur.com/Z5TBZ9y.jpg

Aug 17
http://i.imgur.com/1sq0KZ7.jpg

Aug 17
http://i.imgur.com/stf4W8z.jpg

[kathy_s]

That is a really strange “growth” for lack of a better word. Have you gotten any new opinions?

[SLW]

Thank you for taking another look.

After viewing the photos and X-rays, yesterday the university vet said the unusual growth is from a trauma/damage to the coronet band and if the donkey isn’t lame don’t worry about it.

I want to believe him but it doesn’t make sense. Whatever injury there was would have to have been blunt force trauma which did not make her lame or cause bleeding to the area. My horses are at home and the donkey hasn’t been lameone day in the 3 1/2 years I’ve owned her and not a drop of blood has been on her hooves/coronet band.

Because the weird growth is just off center of her hooves I don’t see how she could have fallen on say her knees and banged them up. She does toe out slightly and in Feb her hooves were unbalanced however they’ve been balanced since then and the weirdness has increased.

Ive got an appointment with a Equine only vet, top tier man in a week to get his opinion.

[beowulf]

thanks for the links to imgur! I will be honest, I have no idea… I have never seen that in a horse much less a donkey.

I almost wonder if it is not a growth but dry/cracked tissue? Has the ground been exceptionally hard? I agree if the x-rays don’t say anything and she looks sound to not worry about it…

I’ll keep an eye on this thread, interested in other more knowledgeable opinions!

[Ainsley688]

What about keratoma? Can’t recall too much about them, but figured I’d throw it out there! So crazy, those horizontal ridges are bizarre!

[csaper58]

What does the donkey eat?

What is her hoof care regime?

[Second_Star_To_The_R]

It really does look like the result of trauma. I don’t know that much about donkey feet but I’ve seen a similar area on a mule foot after he blew an abscess at the coronette. It may not have to be a severe trauma that caused bleeding. Perhaps a bruising or something. I’ve seen mold infections cause some pretty weird hoof anomalies. I do know that donkeys grow stress rings very differently from horses and my initial gut reaction was a previous laminitic event or nutritional issue. . It looks to be improving though.

[SLW]

I really appreciate the ideas, hunches and opinions from each of you. One of the disadvantages of horse keeping at home is you don’t have friends in the tack room to look at something with you.

The donkeys diet has not changed since I purchased her. Full time turn out on large dry lot, a flake of brome or prairie (grass hay) morning & night. She gets 3 handfuls of molasses free beet pulp (hydrated) AM/PM. She also gets turned out on a grass paddock a couple times a week for the amount of time appropriate for the condition of the grass- less in Spring & Fall when paddocks are lush.

When I first noticed the hooves in February the most unusual feature was that the area looked like crackled paint. The bulge & width came later. Based on the location- you can see it in the photo labeled Feb '17- I wracked my brain trying to recall a stresser 8-10 weeks earlier. The only thing she did was a Christmas pageant & a parade (on a hard surface road) the first weekend in December. She did both things the previous December.

She is trimmed by my farrier every 6 weeks.

I know with the picture perfect xrays and complete absence of lameness I should shrug and call it good. It just seems so weird.

[Kolsch]

That is odd. My guess, and this is a total guess because I’ve never seen that before, is that the jamming of the hoof wall irritated the coronary band such that the hoof keratin produced was compromised in that area.

[SLW]

@Kolsch

That is odd. My guess, and this is a total guess because I’ve never seen that before, is that the jamming of the hoof wall irritated the coronary band such that the hoof keratin produced was compromised in that area.

That is my guess too verses trauma to coronet band. She does toe out slightly and I did a parade with her on pavement 10 weeks prior to the Feb photo. Hunch is walking/trotting on pavement stressed it (can’t recall the condition of her frogs back in December but they do try to contract) in the absence of hoof disease during trims this year. Her white line is fine.

I may keep the appt for next week just for the second opinion.

[goodhors]

Not a good answer, but you might want to check out equine pemphigus. Images are not exactly like your photos, but some have similar seperation horizontally on the hoof. I would love to be wrong on this, for your sake and the donkey. I found the images with a Google search of equine pemphigus and scrolled down.

[melula]

I had a horse that injured his cornet band and forever had a similar growth pattern. It doesn’t make sense that it’s occurring in both fronts though.

[SLW]

@Whoanellie

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How long have you had your donkette? At anytime prior to coming to you were her hooves grossly overgrown? The reason I ask is that we had a donkey with the same thing on one hoof. The trauma was from the hooves being so long. Think slippers. We cut off 5" before we could begin to trim.

The ‘bulb’ on front of the one hoof eventually came off once there was a good/solid hoof underneath it. Adding pics. Hope they show up.

Wow, those are amazing photos, unbelievable how someone let that happen. I’ve owned her 3 years, she’s 6 now, and she has always had regular hoof care. Good hunch though!!

[SLW]

@goodhors

Not a good answer, but you might want to check out equine pemphigus. Images are not exactly like your photos, but some have similar seperation horizontally on the hoof. I would love to be wrong on this, for your sake and the donkey. I found the images with a Google search of equine pemphigus and scrolled down.

Yikes, just did a short search and can see where some hooves are similar. What was particularly interesting to me is this: that condition is said to be autoimmune related. This spring one of my horses was diagnosed with Fat Necrosis which is (they think) autoimmune triggered and quite rare in adult horses. In conclusion as the doc shared the positive biopsy results I asked “Is this a one in a million condition?” and he nodded yes.

I did treat the donkey for a sarcoid on a rear leg in June '16. Her ergots and chestnuts (donkeys only have chestnuts on their front legs) look fine so hopefully not EP.

[SLW]

And the second opinion today was: imbalanced hoof + parade on pavement = stress/compression of the hoof wall & jammed into coronet band. He advised that my farrier should continue the “float” of the previously imbalanced areas. Should see a return to normal appearance as time passes.

I am very lucky that this was that simple and a (preventable) condition caused by me because last year I had my farrier trim her every other visit and I would rasp in between.