Hoof Injury

QUESTION: 

Dr. Teskey,

My mare recently injured her hoof and I'm wondering how it is likely to
heal. A sharp piece of metal punctured her foot about 3/4 inch about the
coronary band and as she pulled away a 1 inch crescent shape portion of
hoof wall below it was sliced away exposing laminae. Although, everything was
still attached, there really was no way to "sew" hoof to hoof, so I cleaned
it well, added iodine and wrapped it. Unfortunately, when she walked it
seemed like tissue was forced out from the plane of the injury. Will that
portion of her coronary band and hoof ever produce proper hoof wall
material again? I am a trimmer, so if there's anything I can do to help in that
department please tell me.

Thanks, Terry Owens

DR. TOM'S ANSWER:

This kind of injury that crosses the coronary band will leave you with hoof
growth that will always "look" different, but will likely not cause long
term disability. Depending on whether the coronary corium was badly
scarred, you may have a defect in outer wall/hoof tubule material in this
part of the hoof. It usually won't extend all the way to the ground,
however, because tubules from either side will usually spread out and come
together beneath the area of the original injury. Over the hairline, you'll
often get a flaky somewhat haired-over scar that is softer than actual hoof
material. When using iodine based disinfectants, make sure to dilute them
to light tea color in saline or water before using on wounds so that you
don't hurt the new, healing tissue. There are lots of good herbal salves
available that have comfrey, myrrh, calendula and such, and these are more
friendly to the healing tissue than the traditional scarlet oils or caustic
powders that dry out and irritate the healing areas. Trimming wise, just
continue as you have been, keeping balanced, short/rolled toes and keep the
horse out where she can move around as she heals. When it comes to injuries
in horses, I very rarely prescribe confinement...but that's another topic!
:)