Westman Equine - Shane Westman Meredith Westman

June 04

Star's update
Star has hopefully found a home!  We can hopefully keep to a regular schedule better now to suffer fewer setbacks.  Even with setbacks I am seeing some very good improvement to hoof mass and symmetry.

The distortion at the quarters is much, much better.  It looks like the damage to the coronary band is severe enough to affect the growth of the hoof wall permanently.  She may need structural help with hoof repair continuously. 
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The heels are getting back to where they belong.  The bars are much stronger and we are getting some pretty good hoof mass.  The laminae is still looking pretty significantly stretched at the toe but we should see improvement there with better balance and regular trims.


The right hoof is looking great, although the toe is still a bit stretched.  The growth is more and more even.


This hoof crack is on the way to healing almost completely, as the damage to the coronary band is more superficial than the other hoof.




8:09 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

March 09

"Star' - Toe Crack
This is a rescue mare.  I received a call from the foster "mom" because she was pretty sore.  This is what I saw.

The hoof is pretty obviously not normal.  Quite a bit of flaring, and a severe toe crack. 

From the solar view we can see the heels are very long and pushed forward.  The end of the heels are clear up at the middle of the frog.  They should end near the widest part of the frog.  You can see that the flare is a direct result of the heels.

This is after I made a couple of passes with my hoof knife on that crack.  As you can see, it is a very severe insult to the hoof wall.
Cleaning the crack with my dremel tool and carbide bit.

The crack is clean and dead tissue has been debrided and treated with Thrush Buster.  Dimples were drilled into the hoof wall to help increase surface area and hold hoof repair better.
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The sensitive areas I want to protect are filled with Play Doh and an instrument to create a drain is placed in the crack.

Equilox hoof repair material is mixed and a 'bridge' is formed to help stabilize the hoof wall and provide some protection.  Fiberglass cloth is saturated with Equilox and applied to strengthen hoof repair.

Repaired section is wrapped and allowed to cure.

Hoof is reasonably balanced and when Play Doh is removed the affected area can be further treated with thrush medication.  A clipped wide web shoe was applied to the hoof to help support and stabilize the front hooves.  I am happy to report she was noticeably better the next day, and has been pretty happy for a few months now.  Follow ups to come.






2:00 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

November 05

Another toe crack
This crack had been a bit of a problem for a while.  I decided it was time to get after it.



I used a hoof knife and nippers to begin debriding the crack of the dead and diseased tissue.


I then used a Dremel to debride the remainder of the necrotic tissue. 


The hoof repair material I was prepping to use.  I mix some fiberglass fibers (in cup) in with the material to add strength.  I am going to use a small length of aluminum carefully bent to the radius of the hoof to stabilize the crack to help reduce further damage.


The goal is to be able to clean the area regularly as well as keep it exposed to the air while keeping the hoof capsule stable.



7:38 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

July 27

The Blow out
Client told me "my horse tore a pretty good chunk out of the side of his foot."  Now, this time of year that usually means an inch or so because the hoof wall is growing very quickly and breaks and tears when it hits a rock or uneven hard ground or similar when it is long.  This is what walked up:

He did a pretty good job of it.  One of the better blowouts I have seen on a barefoot horse.

Not a lot supporting the lateral side of the digit.

If you look right towards the front, you can see what looks to be an old abscess hole about halfway down.  I suspect this is where it all started and the moist  conditions led to the tearing, just like a fingernail.

After I cleaned it up with a rasp and rotary tool.

We have to support the hoof, and cannot tack a shoe on so....

Hoof repair, sorry about the cushion pad, but the repair was still setting up.



We left him barefoot, as I felt confident the hoof repair will hold up for him.


2:12 PM GMT  |  Read comments(1)

July 25

Star's update (Hoof Crack)
Here is an update for Star.  This is the hoof crack job I have been tracking for a few months now.  I have been a bit frustrated, as she has been moving from foster home to foster home and I haven't been able to keep up with her consistently.  I have been following up with her on about a 12 week schedule.  I believe we would be much further along on a consistent 6 week schedule, but sometimes things are just out of your control.  Her foster homes and caregivers are doing a great job with her though, she looks great and is feeling almost a little too healthy and frisky ;)
Post trim.  The hoof is improving very nicely.  The heels are stronger, even have a small bit of bar getting trimmed, which is a very good thing.  There is still too much area in the toe in proportion to heel area.  That will come with time.


The lateral view shows the new hoof growing down.  The consistency of growth is slowly improving as well.  The growth rings are becoming more parallel.  The hairline still has a way to go, notice the hump in it, but will improve as we have more hoof mass at the ground to work with now.

Hard to see but the crack actually appears to be growing out!

I wanted more support.  Now that she had more sole mass I decided to do a pour in pad this will add surface area to distribute stress of hoof impact and support while standing as well as a semi rigid cushion.



8:21 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)