Lameness is such a broad topic, I am going to break it up into more than one post. This one will focus on locating the pain. This is a picture of my mare that had white line disease in her front right foot from a hot nail, then her low heel on the other foot helped her get a stone bruise, and it has just been non-stop injury with her front legs since I pulled her shoes off. You may wonder how the heck I figured that out.
First you want to get an idea if it is in the front or back. Then on the ground, ask her to trot. Pay close attention to when her head bobs down. If it is a hind leg, it will bob down when the hurt leg/foot hits the ground. If it is a front leg, it will bob down when the sound front leg hits the ground, therefore it will be the opposite leg. Now that you have hopefully identified the leg, there are a few things that you can look for. Run your hand down each leg to see if there is a spot that is hotter than the rest, heat indicates the area of pain. If there is no heat, you might consider the possibility of an abscess in the hoof. An abscess can be caused by several different things, but one thing is certain, the abscess, will likely be seen once it travels up the hoof to the where the hoof meets the skin and it can erupt, like a boil. Another common ailment in the hoof is thrush which can be identified by an offensive odor when cleaning the horses hoof. This can be treated with any thrush remover from your feed store, some people use an apple cider vinegar mix. If it is not thrush, consider white line disease, which is an infection in the white line that eats away the hoof. It is a fungus, despite what many others say. This fungus, will eat away at the healthy tissue. This can be cured with iodine, 2-5 times a week, but be careful that iodine will dry out the hoof. There is also a mix called White Lightning, however, it comes in a small bottle and it is difficult to soak the hoof if you do not have the proper boot (Ziplock bags do not work).
To be continued...
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