Sunshine's foot

It is showing me a lot of growth in 24 days.

Looks like evidence of a diet change! Awesome!

I asked my farrier about it today. I didn't have the picture. He said he did a pony like that, just the one foot with the big ridge. He said the pony had a puncture wound that graveled. After it healed the ridge kept growing down until he trimmed it off.

If it were a diet change it would be on all 4 feet. When I began feeding flax seed to Kabarr you could see the grow out on his feet. They're awesome now; as is his coat.

He actually has a ridge on all four feet, but it is the most noticeable on the right forefoot.  This happens to be the foot the sole blew on (as in started to come off).  Jerry trimmed him around the time of the first picture and then came back Sunday and took more off and put front shoes on.   Sunshine has a problem where the old and new growth meet on that foot.  He got tender and I could see that he had a lot of stress on the back portion of the hoof wall.  Jerry took a lot of foot off there and told me to be sure and clean it daily and to treat him for thrush.  He is hopeful that the foot will be fine without a shoe by winter.  He thinks the problem with this foot was either an abscess before I got him, or bad thrush.  Not much odor in the foot.  

Miles developed cracks on all 4 feet along the same line. The hoof wall began to seperate and it looked like his feet were going to fall off. Very painful. Steve kept him trimmed down to the sole to keep pressure off the wall. They eventually grew out. This occurred 4 years in a row, beginning about December. The vet tried to tell me thrush but - no odor so honestly, I didn't buy it. She couldn't get past his appearance to even SEE his feet. She started scolding me about worms and Sr.Feed...  *sigh* (gee....no worms in the fecal...go figure...) I bought her concoction, however which contained antibiotics, embalming fluid and some other stuff.  I used it and who's to say it didn't help? (Embalming fluid is popular as a wound dressing in the midsouth - not sure if it's popular elsewhere - I never heard of it before Mississippi)

The ridge on four feet for sure is diet. Since he actually got fed when he came to you.  
Do you know his age?  
Any kind of trauma, abscess or thrush if it was bad enough would cause the heavy ridge?

He has a good mouth and the vet called him 14 for his coggins yesterday.  I only know for sure how he has been fed since Feb. 24th. &nbsprior to that he spent some time with other horses in a run in situation and before that was somewhere in PA in a slaughter feed lot where the bigger horses didn't let him eat.  He is extremely meek when it comes to being bullied.  Blacksmith said the foot issue is probably what led to his initial weight loss and his trip to the slaughter lot.  I know from past experience that a gravel, or abscess, or whatever one wants to call it can cause the weight to just fall off a horse, even when being well taken care of.

The ridges were there when I picked him up.

Hey Connie: Just checking in. Its usually some kind of gut disturbance that causes that. The amount of protruding that wave does, is tell you how serious the occasion is. This one was serious. You'll have to put your detective hat on to figure out what caused it, because you don't want another one coming in behind it. It happened about 2-3 weeks ago. Was there a colic episode involved, anything stressful? In a certain pasture? Change in feed? Vaccinations? Did she go on grass suddenly? This is a burp in hoof growth that is evidence of some kind of event that you will want to avoid in the future. It is a break in the attachment of hoof to bone. It will have to grow out. It could also be an injury, like somebody stepped on the front of her coronary band and that an abscess was involved. Go back and find out what caused it. Either way, you don't want this happening again.

I got him on Feb. 24th.  He was a skeleton.  My blacksmith, who came 6-7 weeks after Sunshine came to me said his foot looked like he almost died.  The sole on that foot was peeling off.  He had the ridge on all four feet but it was most pronounced on the right front.  This foot has a problem in that the back of the foot started to separate the old growth hoof wall from the new growth.  Blacksmith came back.  Trimmed out the hoof wall that was trying to separate and put shoes on him in front.  He travels sound now.  I think he will be fine when the foot finishes growing out.  I have very little info on him prior to him coming to live with me.  The man I bought (yes, I paid for this horse) him from picked him up from a holding lot for killers because "he was too thin to kill".  He supposedly was out with horses that would not let him eat.  He is pretty timid with other horses.  When I found out he was gaited, I went and picked him up.  He has responded well to food and care.  Thanks for your input.