The Laminar Wedge
is the space in the front of the hoof at the toe, where stretched and torn laminae have caused the coffin bone to rotate away from the hoof wall. The space between coffin bone and hoof wall has widened at the bottom, relative to the top, and has filled with wound secretion, blood and torn and dead laminae.
From the Front
The ’dead’ laminae are black.
From the Top
From the side. The tip of the toe no longer contacts the ground.
(the photos are of both front feet, both of which foundered).
June 22, 2009 at 5:36 pm
hello,
i started trimming horses feet in the area where i live about two years ago. Just today i came across a little pony that man just bought that foundered in all 4 feet and they look a lot worse than this as the sole wall has rotated up towards the horses knees, but the laminae looks similar to this. I trimmed everything that i could, but as i have not seen a condition this bad before i am wondering if you have any advice as to how to trim this particular case.
June 23, 2009 at 12:16 am
Well the pictures of the laminar wedge are ‘after’ pictures, months after the pony had been being trimmed regularly. They started out worse than this too. However your case does sound very severe with the convex sole and all 4 feet foundered. It sounds challenging. Generally speaking the advice is to lower heels and shorten toes but without more information I can’t say anything more. Is there any way you could get some pictures online? And in particular with ponies it is extremely important to manage the diet. Is the pony overweight? What does s/he eat? Does it show signs of metabolic symptoms? Such as insulin resistance?
June 23, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Well, this is actually not my pony. So i wont be able to get any pictures for about 3 weeks. The problem is that the man does not have the finances to get any x-rays done for me to see exactly where the coffin bone rests, so i feel as though i have to trim blind. the pony is not overweight at all in fact the pony was slightly underweight when he got him. I will have to ask him what he is feeding him. If i am able to go back out there in the next few days, i will take some pictures.
August 26, 2009 at 12:58 pm
sure. I have alot of pictures! i have trimmed the pony several times now, and i have my previous trim and the most recent trim in pictures. if you would send me your email or wherever else i need to send them to i will
August 31, 2009 at 1:56 am
Hi Trisha,
Send your pictures to barefoothoofcare@verizon.net
Christina
June 24, 2009 at 2:29 am
I did understand you were trimming this pony for an owner. Whatever you can do in the way of pictures will be helpful. If you like I can post them here once you get them, and we can discuss them. Xrays are always helpful but you can still provide a reasonably knowledgeable trim without them especially in the beginning. Primarily you will most likely be lowering the heels, and then backing up the toe, but not touching the sole forward of the frog apex because of the convex condition you describe. Xrays would show how close to the sole the tip of the coffin bone is and how thick the sole is, but there isn’t much you can do about that anyway other than wait for it to grow, all you can do is lower the heels to get the pressure off the tip of the coffin bone on the sole.