b'NEAEP Conference Wrap SPONSORED BYbiomechanical shifts could be irritating those laminae, encouraging them to fuse together to fortify themselves.You have changes to the laminae, changes to the corium, but when you lookdeeper, you have clear changes to the coffin bone, she said. What isnt clear is whether the pressure of the fused, hard-ened PELs causes bone loss, or vice versa.These internal changes cause the outer hoof wall to not have good attachment in this area, she added. She likens this process to a rotten or otherwise damaged wall stud that a builder covers with new drywall. The outside looks great, but it all falls apart when you add pressure.Good balance and a strict trimmingPoss revealed how primary epidermal laminae had fused beneath double toe cracks, creating sig-and shoeing schedule help those internalnificantly large and hard spikes. The cracks had proceeded all the way into the white line (above) shifts, she said.and had significant coffin bone loss beneath them (see below). Double Cracks Next, Poss showed a foot with two cracks, revealing how they had proceeded all the way into the white line (visible at the sole surface) and had significant coffin bone loss beneath.The difference between the single crack and the double crack is there seems to be more coffin bone damage behind the double cracks and more of the PELs have fused, she said.In this hoof the epidermal laminae spikes, as she referred to them, were significantly large and hard. It appears PHOTOS COURTESY PAIGE POSS/ANATOMY OF THE EQUINEthey were more invasively pushing on the coffin bone and were the possible cause of the extensive bone loss, she said.She was surprised by the extensive cof-fin bone damage in this hoof, but she said in her trimming practice she wouldnt have been alarmed to work on a horse with cracks like this one. With proper hoof care, the walls usually look good, she said, but the cracks will reappear quickly if the hoof is allowed to get long.Quarter Cracks Next, she compared aof these cracks because she believes theBar Cracks Poss noted that the bars are simple quarter crack to a severe quartermore we see and share, the better we canactually hoof wall but are on the bottom crack with coffin bone damage beneathprevent or treat in the future. Some areof the hoof on either side of the frog.it. Theres so much tissue damage, youdrelatively benign and straightforward, butShe showed a foot she perceived as have to be very careful on how you handleothers are tricky and cause lameness. unusualit was very tall, unlike many(the latter crack), she said, noting thatHeel Cracks Poss has never had a heelof the feet she seesbut she didnt think youre always going to be fighting this. crack to dissect, so she showed a photomuch of the bar crack until she dissected The hoof wall and the sensitive laminaeof one in a live horse. She theorized thatit. Beneath it she found a 90-degree devia-beneath appeared to fold inward. such gaps are caused by pressure on softtion of the laminae. In many cases the farrier or vet mighttissue only; theres no bone involvement. Take-Home Message Poss consistently use a plate or wire to stabilize the crack.Solar Cracks She said her sole crack ex- saw significant damage beneath cracks in But Poss cautioned that more damage toample appeared as if it formed due to anher dissections, both to laminae and the the underlying structures could occur ifold abscess exit wound. As she dissectedcoffin bone, which she attributes to imbal-the crack is stabilized incorrectly. the crack, she revealed it had underminedances and lack of farrier care. She noted:She said shed like to photograph morethe whole level of the sole.Cracks become chroniceasy to TheHorse.com|The HorseFebruary 202029PLACEMENT OF PHOTO AND TEXT MAY CHANGE (please remember to keep whitespace for caption)NEAEPWrapUp.indd 29 1/3/20 10:54 AM'