separation?

[alove4horses]

What exactly is white line separation and how can it be prevented?
My horse was on stall rest for a while and now my farrier is noticing some separation happening around the quarters.

[peppysan]

White line separation is the deterioration that happens on the inner part of the wall of the horse’s hoof. So basically the line where the hoof connects to the sole gets compromised (in your situration probably due to lack of movement and standing in a moist stall) and then once it has been compromised, bacteria, fungi and other nasty things get up in there and cause further deterioration to the inner hoof wall. Thus the wall starts to separate from the sole.

Get your horse out of a stall rest as soon as possible and get him moving again. Keep his bedding and paddock clean and dry. Make sure you have a good farrier that is balancing the feet properly. Depending on how bad it is, I would pull the shoes for a while and scoop out the separation as much as you can every week until it has grown out.

[horse99]

Typically separation happens in warm, humid climates. The pathogens that attack the hoof usually do not attack healthy hoof tissue so you need to figure out why the foot is not in the healthiest state and remedy it from the source or your efforts to treat the symptoms may be futile. In the meantime, you could try applying betadine solution to the separation areas. I swear by the stuff, it's cheap and seems to kill off the most stubborn of pathogens. Also I agree you will have to get your farrier or vet to scrape out as much of the separation as you can regularly so that the pathogens cannot get deeper and deeper into the foot. You need to nip this in the bud or it will cause major damage to the hoof structure over time.

[peppysan]

Oddly enough I am finding some minor separation happening in a few of my horses right now too. And they all have great feet: barefoot, proper trims, pasture, regular exercise etc. I blame it on the really wet weather we keep having. It is unusual for this time of year as normally by now things have dried out considerably. Their feet just don't have much of a chance with all this wet.