The Inner Wall contains more moisture than the outer wall, and, because it is more flexible than the outer wall, the horn that it is made of is less dense. White Line Disease likes to eat into the white Inner Wall of the hoof first. Once they take hold they begin to eat their way up and can do a lot of damage. A healthy hoof wall is almost impervious to infection, but when horn quality is compromised, tiny faults appear in the hoof wall which allow bugs in. The microorganisms found in White Line Disease are likely to be whatever opportune bugs in the horses’ environment have managed to find their way into the hoof wall. Instead of trying to isolate an organism to blame for the damage caused to a hoof wall, maybe we should be viewing the problem from a completely different perspective. So maybe we should be looking at the problem in a different way. However, studies carried out on these hoof wall infections have isolated a whole host of bacteria, fungi and yeast within the hoof wall in greatly varying combinations 7. There are some who believe that true Onychomycosis is a fungal infection 4, 5, whereas traditionally it is often believed in the farriery profession to be a yeast infection 6. It has been found not only in humans, but in all sorts of animals including cows 1, cats and dogs 2 and goats and sheep 3. Onychomycosis doesn’t just affect horse hooves. Even if we ignore the fact that it’s not a nail (it’s a hoof) to assume the infection is fungal is again not always true. Its latin name is Onychomycosis, which is equally misleading as it means a “fungal infection of the nail”. For a start it primarily affects the inner wall of the hoof (stratum internum) rather than the white line, and it’s not a disease, it’s an infection. The name “White Line Disease” is misleading. White Line Disease is characterised by a variety of cracks and fissures that appear in the non-pigmented inner wall of the hoof which, if left unchecked, can eat so far up the hoof wall that it becomes completely unstable. White Line Disease: What is it and and How do I control it?
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