The HOOF

Objectives:
1. Define the hoof
2. Describe the structures of the hoof
3. Explain the Concussion- Absorbing mechanism in the hoof
4. Analyze the hoof problems

- The hoof is a complex structure.

- Keratin is the substance of the hoof
- Healthy hoof indicates healthy animals and good productivity and income.
- A lame animal means pain and economic losses
- Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs are cloven-footed animals,
meaning that the hoof consists of two digits, instead of
one solid entity like that of a horse
- Bovine hooves grow about 1/5 to ¼ of an inch per month and horse’s
hooves grown in general ¼ to 3/8 of an inch per month.
- The hoof needs to be trimmed, healthy and treatment
 The skeleton of the hoof:

1- Distal part of P11

2- Coffin or pedal bone (PIII): forms the shape of the hoof

and support structure for the leg and the rest of the body. It
attached to the corium by laminar tissue and attached from
its back by the DDFT (for locomotion and flexion of foot).

3-Navicular bone

4- Two lateral cartilages

 The Hoof

1. Digital Flexor Tendon

2. Sesamoidean ligament
3. Digital extensor tendon
4. Long pastern bone
5. Short pastern bone
6. Coronary corium
7. Pedal bone
8. Laminar corium
9. Wall
10. White Line
11. Sole
12. Plantar cushion
13. Navicular bone
 The hoof consists of three layers or parts
1- Outer epidermis (hoof capsule)
2- 3- Subcut.
3- Underlying dermis (Corium)

The hoof capsule has the followings:

I- Wall II- Sole III- Frog
I- Wall (horn):
- The part of the hoof visible in standing animal

- is a hard surface, structurally similar to the human fingernail,

but functionally like the epidermis of the skin.
- It consists of:
- A- Toe: Dorsal part of the wall which is thickest and highest

- B- Quarter: sides of the wall

- C- Heel: Palmar or planter aspect of the wall

- D- Bars: Extension of the heel dorsally (Best seen in the

ground surface on either sides of the frog)
- Notice:
- The wall turns on itself on the heels forming bars
- - The bars are continuous with the sole directly. While the bars are
separated from the frog by collateral (paracuneal) grooves.
- The wall consists of tubular horn directed downwards
- - The wall consists of 3 layers from outward to inward (inside
the hoof capsule
- 1- Stratum externum: Perioplic segment
- 2- Stratum medium: Coronary segment
- 3-Stratum internum: 550-600 epidermal laminae

 II- Sole:
- It is the concave surface facing the ground between the frog
and wall
- while line or zona alba (Horse shoe) : is the junction between
the wall and sole on the ground surface of the foot and is acts
as an indication of the internal sensitive structure. This line
is a somewhat flexible junction between the sole and wall,
allowing the hoof to be more flexible as the animal moves
- III- Frog:
- It is known as the heart of the horse foot as it pushes the
blood from the foot to the body
- It consists of V- shaped crura meet in apex and separated by
a central or cuneal groove
- The central groove is projected internally forming frog spine
or frog stay
- - The frog forms the bulbs of the heel
- Frog serves as a cushy, weight bearing surface that absorbs
shock and aids in pumping blood throughout the hoof
and up the leg.

Subcuts.
- Is that the connective tissue that fixes the dermis to the
periosteum of the skeleton of the foot.
- - It is greatly thickened at the coronet forming the coronary
cushion and at the frog forming digital cushion between the
two hoof cartilages:
- Digital cushion: is a pad of fatty tissue that serves to protect
the corium, as well as to aid in blood transport in the leg. It
also serves as a shock absorber for the digital phalange bones
1. Bulb of Heel
2. Bar(s)
3. Sole
4. Wall
5. Toe
6. White Line
7. Frog
A. Central groove
B. Ridge
C. Lateral groove
D. Apex

1.Insensitive laminae
2.Sensitive laminae
3.Laminar corium
 The corium (Dermis):
- The cells that form the horn. It is a nutrient-rich tissue that
contains many important blood vessels and nerves inside the
hoof-As the cells are pushed away from the corium, they die
and produce the hard, keratinized, or cornified tissue.
- It divides into:

1- Periople dermis: produce shiny thin external layer of the wall

- 2- Coronary dermis: raised band distal to peroplic dermis

- 3- Laminar dermis: 600 dermal laminae which are sensitive

and non pigmented which nourishes and interdigitate with the
horny non sensitive epidermal laminae of hoof capsule and
connected deeply with the periosteum of the 3rd phalanx
- 4- Dermis of the sole: nourishes the horny sole

- 5- Dermis of the frog: nourishes the horny frog and blends

deeply with the digital cushion.
- [

- Concussion- Absorbing mechanism in the hoof:

- 1- Frog: is the first segment touches the ground then
expands transmits the concussions into the digital cushion

- 2- Digital cushion (torus): is a pyramidal mass formed of

fibrous and elastic tissue and is present between frog and
deep digital flexor tendon.

- 3- Wall: absorbs a great part of concussion and transmits it

to the 3rd phalanx via the laminar dermis (laminar
interdigitations)

- 4- Lateral cartilages: rectangular plates of cartilage attach

to the palmar processes of 3rd phalanx with their
longitudinal axis extends slightly above the hoof.
- - They facilitate the expansion of the hoof at the quarters
- - They have holes for veins
 Blood supply
I- Arterial blood supply: via digital arteries

II- Venous drainage:

- The veins are embedded within the dermis as well as
coronary and digital cushion.
- They are valveless venous plexuses

- Theses veins force the blood proximally into the digital veins
which have valves to prevent blood from returning back into
the hoof
- this explain how blood returns from lower parts of limbs
(distal to carpus and tarsus) where muscle bellies are absent.
 Hoof affections:
1- Thrush in horse (foot rot in ruminants): hoof in wet area.
- An anaerobic bacteria (Spherophorus neaophorus) infects
the hoof by invading the grooves on either side of the frog and
begins to eat away at it, causing a black discharge in the frog
that is often followed
by lameness and inflammation.
Approach: a- Regular cleaning of the horse’s hooves.
b-Topical treatment

2- Corns: Trauma in sole wound in subsloar dermis subsolar

abscess
3- Hoof cracks: Cracks in the hoof , may be superficial or deep
(laminar dermis)
4- Sharp object in the horny frog ------ from frog to navicular
bursa under the navicular bone
5- Quittor: pus in lateral cartilages
6- Side bone: ossification of the lateral cartilages --- may be
broken
 7- Navicular Disease: conditions affecting the navicular bone and
associated structures in the foot
Causes: 1- The exact primary cause of Navicular Syndrome is not
known
2- Damage to the navicular bone may occur due to interference with
blood supply or trauma to the bone
Site:
Site: Damage can occur to the deep flexor tendon, navicular bursa, or
navicular ligaments. All resulting in pain and lameness
Age: 5 years old horse and older – front feet
Symptoms: lameness from time to time or when the horse is exercised
Diagnosis: history (recurrent lameness), symptoms, radiography and
nerve block
TT: 1- phenylbutazone for pain –
2-aspirin for blood supply
3- inject the navicular bursa with Corticosteroids
4- Neurectomy to the heel nerves (last stage) but this
May cause painful inflammation of the cut nerve
endings (neuromas) and damage to the foot
Others affection (especially cattle)

1-punctures 2-ulcers 3- abscesses 4-lacerations

6-Interdigital Dermatitis ( hairy heel warts) infection that

occurs mostly in dairy cows, producing inflamed, red lesions
on the interdigital skin of the hoof. It is caused by strains of
the anaerobic bacteria Treponema. These bacteria thrive in
muddy, dirty, and damp conditions.
 Laminitis
Founder (chronic stage)
Def: inflammation of the laminar tissue or the laminae which is
the sensitive connective tissue that holds the pedal bone to the
wall of
the hoof.
Action: When the tissue swells, it puts pressure on the wall,
and cuts off the circulation in the blood vessels of the corium
so that the laminae become starved for blood, oxygen, and
nutrients. As the tissues die, the bond that
holds the pedal bone to the hoof wall weakens, and the bone
begins to separate from the wall. With less support, and
a weaker bond to the wall, the pedal bone begins to pull from
the deep flexor tendon and rotates in the hoof. Hooves that are
afflicted with laminitis also begin to grow at abnormal rates
due to increased vascularization, altering the shape of the hoof
and adding more discomfort to the animal.
Causes of laminitis:

A- Hoof affections in horse and ruminants

B- Other causes:
I- In horse
1- Eat an excessive amount of grain at one time
2- by sudden changes in available carbohydrate in the diet,
3- Excessive work on a hard surface or long trailer rides without
adequate bedding or cushion can cause “road” or “mechanical
founder

II- In ruminants:
1- laminitis may be from acidosis
Ergot and Chestnut

- Ergot is a small mass of horny tissue situated in a tuft of hair

at the fetlock.
- It is commonly regarded as the vestige of the second and
fourth digits of the equinae.

- Chestnut is formed by masses of horn which occur on the

medial surface of the forearm about a handbreadth from the
carpus and on the distal part of the medial face of the
tarsus.
- They are regarded as vestiges of the first digit.