The horse is not lame, he is about ready for a trim. It's been about 4 weeks. In the summer tha's about as far as we can go between trims. I found this "hole" last evening while hosing him off. (Our heat index this time of year stays around 100.) I first thought it was an abcess that had broken through, but looking at the underside of the hoof I don't see much of a dirt line. If you are not in the southeast it may look like quite a bit, but here I fight a never ending battle with flares and separation. The ground here is loose sand, even the turf in the pasture cuts up 6 inches deep when they run on it. I am looking for any ideas on what I am dealing with here. We can't figure out what in his environment he could have hit that would cause the damage from the outside. Also, does anyone else think his toes are two forward?