White Line Disease And Laminitis

The rise of white line disease has driven thousands of horse owners and farriers to natural hoof care.

White line disease and laminitis.

A 5 year old quarter horse mare presented with a grade iv v lameness 1 in the right front leg. The difference is where that cavity a gas pocket shows up on the x ray. Bruised soles or stone bruises widened white line commonly called seedy toe with occurrence of seromas blood pockets and or abscesses. White line disease is an opportunistic disease meaning the pathogens take advantage of a weakened or compromised hoof wall such as hoof wall separation caused by an improperly balanced hoof i e.

Of these laminitis and white line disease are some of the hardest to cure. White line disease can also cause some rotation of the coffin bone like laminitis but it s a little different type of rotation. The horse becomes very lame or topical antibacterial or antifungal treatments don t seem to help. Lameness was of 6 weeks duration and the mare had been treated with stall rest and phenylbutazone dominion veterinary laboratories winnipeg manitoba 2g d po.

In this case it is likely secondary to the chronic founder laminits however in primary cases it can cause coffin bone rotation and result in laminitis. Whether white line disease or laminitis was the primary lesion remains unclear. It s an insidious problem and probably the worst of the foot disorders and is most often found in fat overweight ponies although all horses can get it. Signs of chronic laminitis may include the following.

White line disease suspect laminitis if. White line disease may be the primary problem or secondary. Rings in hoof wall that become wider as they are followed from toe to heel. In these instances the white line disease will grow out once the laminitis is brought back under control although it may need additional disinfection if the white line disease is particularly bad.

Dropped soles or flat feet. This has allowed much more focused research and effort in treating the cause rather. Regardless the gas lucency corresponds to separation of the hoof wall from the underlying tissue. Fortunately in the last 10 to 20 years there have been great strides in understanding the causes of this terrible condition.

Most often a horse that has been diagnosed with laminitis will have problems for the rest of its life. In general however the disease leads to chalky crumbly tissue in the stratum medium layer of the hoof. Equine laminitis has been with us for a long long time. White line disease and chronic laminitis can sometimes be confused with each other fraley said.

The more a farrier tries to patch or cover up the damage the wetter and darker the environment becomes for the fungi and they just get happier and more aggressive.