The horse's hoof is often compared to the human fingernail because the anatomy is similar in both structures. This thumb nail was smashed by a large hammer two months before this photo was taken. The immediate pain, though considerable, was nothing like that which was to follow. The new nail is just visible below the sloughing nail. The pinkish area in the right corner of the nail is healthy lamellar tissue. This area of the nail remains attached to the thumb throughout the sloughing process. Eventually it will grow off the end of the thumb and the old nail will fall off. With a horse this would have produced "rotation". The rest of the nail would have "rotated" around the attached area. Here the nail is being rotated by loading the area over the healthy tissue. This view is looking down under the lifted nail. You can see the new nail growing in. Finally the nail sloughs entirely! In this image the nail has almost completely regrown. The new nail will soon be free of defects and scars. The horse's toe nail (hoof) can also grow back just as this thumb nail is. All that is needed are productive coria and alternate P3 support until the new nail can take over the job of carrying the weight of the horse.

© Copyright MMII Peter Van Dyke