OK..here is one that seems to be getting me into disagreements lately with some Vets as to how much this foot has actually "rotated". What do you all think..... how much actual "rotation" do you see here? After you all weigh in, I'll tell you how many degrees of rotation the attending Vet assigned to this foot and how many I considered it rotated.. hint=they are different (the red lines were applied by the vet before I got the rads) Dave
I don't see this as a rotated coffin bone; I see it as a hoof capsule that has rotated around the bone column, possibly a sinker. If anything, it is a broken back alignment of the coffin bone. Steep alignment of the bone column suggests excess SFT tension? Have seen some folks rasp off the flared toe wall and claim to have "derotated" cb on hooves like this.
The horse is a 14yo Morgan that supposedly foundered at age of 2 and hasn't been "right" since..he tested positive for Cushings... To my original question, I don't think this horse has "rotated" much if any at all. The coffin joint alignment, in my opinion, is pretty much where it belongs in relation to the very upright pastern axis... The Vet was right with Tom at 17 degrees.(David, interested in where your 7.5 degrees came from?). In my experience, 17 degrees of rotation is usually a death sentence with the tip of PIII headed out the bottom. I describe feet like these as more of a hoof capsule displacement than a coffin joint rotation, as in, "Elvis, the dorsal hoof wall has left the building". I do think the palmar angle is slightly on the high side of positive..... What I did was trim from the widest part of the foot back to the heels removing about a half inch of heel. I then set an aluminum PLR shoe so that the breakover was just forward of the tip of PIII and used a frog support pad with Magic Cushion underneath in the back half of the foot. Then I took all the displaced dorsal wall off about to where the Vet drew the red line. The RF was very similar and treated basically the same. I find these types of "founder" to have a much greater chance of substantially improving than what I consider the true "rotators". I agree with Denise whereas I don't think that we "derotate" anything even in the really rotated cases. I think, instead, we rearrange the orientation of the hoof capsule with the displaced bone in order to encourage a more "normal" relationship as the new hoof grows down. At least that's what was rumaging through my thoughts on the ride back home yesterday after doing this horse. The horse is reportedly "doing awesome" today.......... For what it's worth, Dave Dave
I agree. Considering the amount of sole beneath p3 and taking a SWAG at the location of the coronary band, I don't see a sinker. How so? People make all sorts of silly claims, especially on the internet. Problem is that some folks actually believe them.....
Does that appear to be a "full" coffin bone or is it missing it's tip and a little fuzzy? P1 appears to be pretty steep (assuming the cannon was perpendicular to ground when radiographs were taken) in comparison to P3 palmar angle.
Palmer angle would be between 5/8 degrees, I measured it at 15, beer assisted so halved it. My guess and I stress its a guess is it has a history all its life of superfical contracture and has mechanically foundered, so trim it and wedge it.
