Treatment of White Line DiseaseSpecific Treatment of white line disease in the Horse by Farrier and Vet I'm a strong supporter of co-ordinated work between owner, farrier and vet. For Rolex's case, I contacted José, one of the vets I work with. He concentrates on veterinary work on horses, keeps up to date with developments, and is well equipped for specialised treatment. This is page 4 in a series of pages on White line disease and Hoof repair and Reconstruction. Click-through links are listed at the end of this page.
The first step was to X-ray the two front hooves. White line disease shows up in X-rays as a shadowy area. On these X-rays you can see this around the base of the hoof, and rising up the toe area towards the coronet.
José was able to show the x-rays to Roy and Lynn immediately, and to explain to them what he saw there. At the same time, he was able to assure them that there were no traces of navicular disease - something that had been proposed to them as the cause of Rolex's ongoing intermittent lameness. Having confirmed the presence of white line disease, it is essential to open up all the affected areas. 
I must comment here on Rolex: throughout this entire process, he was an absolute gentleman. He handled the noise, the people - and the discomfort he was undoubtedly feeling - with a gentle tolerance that was admirable. 
What we're doing here is removing all the invaded and dead tissue, along with the resident bacteria / fungus. At the same time we're performing a critical operation in the treatment of white line disease - exposing the affected areas to oxygen, thus neutralising the impact of anaerobic agents. 
In Passing: All the photos of these cases are taken
as the job is being done. Josephine works around us as we treat the horses - we can't
stop for 'model-posed' shots. The advantage here is that you see what's happening
as it happens - a real life record. 
The hoof walls have been debrided (literally - broken down, and affected areas removed), and the extent of the damage caused to the hooves by the white line disease is obvious. Because I was sure of the hoof care that Roy and Lynn would implement, we were able to leave Rolex like this for nearly four weeks, allowing the hoof wall and sole to grow just a little. More important, though, was the exposure of the affected areas of the foot to fresh air. The next stage is reconstruction of the two hooves, and applying horse shoes without nails. top of this page and hoof repair and reconstruction in co-operation with farrier and vet.
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