"Fake" Sole

It seems since moving to Nevada I have seen many more cases of horses with, what I call, “fake sole”. I think it may be due to the sandy conditions, but it could be any one of a variety of reasons.
What I call “fake sole” is when the horny (or dead) sole does not slough off and takes on the appearance of a sole near the quick or live sole. Meaning it is solid and shiny, etc. The frog can even look healthy and solid. In other words to the untrained eye it seems like the hoof (from the stand point of sole appearance) has been trimmed to its proper depth. If left unattended this foot will grow out of balance. Usually the unbalance properties are in the form of a longer than normal hoof wall. (Did you know that even on Draft horses, the length of the hoof wall from the coronary band down the front of the wall to the ground at the toe usually doesn’t exceed 41/2 inches? And typically on riding horses it ranges from 3 to 4 inches?)
A shoer needs to evaluate the hoof as a whole and get to the true “bottom”, even though it may seem that to go further in paring out the sole would surely result in quicking the sole. I know, I get hesitant even though I am confident I need to trim more. No shoer wants to go too deep and get blood. This is not good for the horse or for securing cliental. But you have to go the distance that the horse needs or again the hoof will start to distort from its true balance.
I will list some of the things I look for to determine if I am dealing with a fake sole and need to trim more off.
· The hoof is just too long even though the sole looks like it can’t be trimmed anymore.
· If you use the apex of the frog as a guideline for the positioning of the toe breakover point, and you eye ball that things are in proportion and the frog looks clean and intact, but it blends into the sole. It is probably stretched and not in proportion with the true frog.
· As you pare away the sole look for any dark fissures especially around the bars. Usually if you start paring these out you will notice some flaking of the sole and realize it can come out.
· Are the commissures real deep? You can usually nip out the bars and find the “bottom”.
Like I said, even though I realize something is not right it is still scary to start removing sole, bars, and wall when things look so solid. But if the farrier constantly reminds himself what a properly trimmed foot is suppose to look like and, moreover, considers the anatomy of the hoof the shoer can have the confidence to trim the hoof to its proper depth. Don’t worry about being slow and cautious. Sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry, so if you can’t get yourself to go where you think it should be try and trim the horse again in less than 6 weeks and maybe some of these signs will start showing themselves more clearly.
Again, these are just some of my thoughts I am journaling on this blog mainly for my own record, but if a shoer or horse owner finds this site I hope they will enjoy some of these essays.