Barefoot and cracking feet?

ShadowFlame

ShadowFlame

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Hi guys,

Quick question - would these cracks concern you? FWIW, I'm aware these feet aren't looking their best, but he has only been here a couple of weeks. Farrier gave them a quick rasp round last week, cracks were there before the rasp and have continued like this since.



 
Always, he's an unbroken 4yo - never seen a set of shoes.

Having said that, I believe he's only used to standing in a field / stable. Those pics show the track en route to his field, which is around half a mile long. There are grass verges he can walk on for part of the walk, but given the choice he'll opt for the track.

He's not lame, but he is footy on some of the larger stones. Backs are cracking / chipping more than the fronts, pics show worst foot.
 
It looks like the very top of the hoof is growing in at a tighter angle. :)

I wouldn't worry about surface cracks (they don't look deep in the photo) or chips at the bottom as long as the horse is sound.
 
OP photos of soles would be helpful. I suspect quarters maybe flared and/or a bit long. As Faracat says, sound is good.
 
Faracat said:
It looks like the very top of the hoof is growing in at a tighter angle. :)

I wouldn't worry about surface cracks (they don't look deep in the photo) or chips at the bottom as long as the horse is sound.
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I don't think they're massively deep, just look a bit of a mess. His grazing / routine / etc changed around 2.5 weeks ago, which explains the change in angle - am I best off just allowing him to pick his way over the gravel and allow his feet to adapt? He'll be starting a small amount of roadwork soon, which I'm guessing will help too.

LucyPriory said:
OP photos of soles would be helpful. I suspect quarters maybe flared and/or a bit long. As Faracat says, sound is good.
Click to expand...

I'll try and get some sole pics tonight, but feet picking is still a little hairy at the moment! He is sound, I'm just conscious that he was happily storming over the surface when he arrived, he's now a bit footy on the rockier stretches. Maybe that's experience talking, though?
 
Cracking and chipping is the horses natural way of keeping their hooves short (they don't have farriers in the wild) the uneven ground they are constantly walking on naturally wears the hooves down. As long as the horse is not lame i would not worry at all and the more exercise the horse gets the better they will become. Also look at his diet and check he is not getting to much sugar.
 
Is he on better grass?
Does he have molasses in his feed?
Does he have a vit&min supplement?
Does being less happy on the stones coincide with the rasping?
 
Yes, he's on better grass.
Unmolassed feed.
Not currently on any supplements.
Footiness doesn't coincide with rasping.

In fairness, he's not consistently footy - but you can see he's being careful over the larger stones. I assumed it was probably due to not being used to harsher surfaces.

Sole pic, sorry it's not clean, best I can do ATM!

 
Mine had worse cracks than that when I bought him as yearling. Two years down the line they are miles better, they will grow out with time if you look after his feet.
 
Sorry guys, gonna bump this up with a couple more pics taken tonight.

As previously noted, he's doing approx a mile most days on gravelly ground in terms of being brought in and chucked out, but the large chunk that is missing out of his near fore (white) appeared overnight while he was out in the field.

It doesn't look so superficial anymore... any advice, please? Farrier is booked for around 3 weeks time (on his recommendation - 6 weeks between trims). For record, he's not lame. He's a bit footy on stones still, nothing major though and I'm trying to keep him off harsh surfaces as far as possible. Any recommendations on hoof stuff / supplements / how bad this looks would be appreciated!









 
It's just poor hoof quality, really. The only way to address it ime is through diet. Until you grow in some healthier horn, you'll continue to get these chips. Grass may be your main culprit, but I'd also suspect zinc deficiency. One of the usual suspects - pro balance/hoof or forage plus would be a good supplement to pick.

As for the chipping, it's nowhere near live laminae so imo it's not going to affect the horse in any way as it is.
 
ShadowFlame said:
Sorry guys, gonna bump this up with a couple more pics taken tonight.

As previously noted, he's doing approx a mile most days on gravelly ground in terms of being brought in and chucked out, but the large chunk that is missing out of his near fore (white) appeared overnight while he was out in the field.

It doesn't look so superficial anymore... any advice, please? Farrier is booked for around 3 weeks time (on his recommendation - 6 weeks between trims). For record, he's not lame. He's a bit footy on stones still, nothing major though and I'm trying to keep him off harsh surfaces as far as possible. Any recommendations on hoof stuff / supplements / how bad this looks would be appreciated!
Click to expand...



This is hoof wall separation syndrome by the look of it. Does he have any Connemara blood? In Connies it's genetic and the advice is to keep the feet in a damp condition.
 
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Just had a flick through that link... it doesn't sound good :eek:

TwoStroke said:
It's just poor hoof quality, really. The only way to address it ime is through diet. Until you grow in some healthier horn, you'll continue to get these chips. Grass may be your main culprit, but I'd also suspect zinc deficiency. One of the usual suspects - pro balance/hoof or forage plus would be a good supplement to pick.

As for the chipping, it's nowhere near live laminae so imo it's not going to affect the horse in any way as it is.
Click to expand...

From what I can gather, he spent a fair amount of time stabled in his old home, so main diet was hay. The grass he was out on didn't look particularly lush, and he was underweight when he arrived. He's been here for 4wks now, mainly out 24/7 on better grass, which has helped his weight no end. Is there anything I can use that might minimise chipping until better horn comes through, or is it just a case of accepting they'll look a mess until it does? I'll look into the pro balance / hoof.

cptrayes said:
This is hoof wall separation syndrome by the look of it. Does he have any Connemara blood? In Connies it's genetic and the advice is to keep the feet in a damp condition.
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Faracat is spot on - he's full Arab. It does look worryingly similar though... his back hooves especially look like they have some separation anyway, and farrier did comment that "they need work" when he looked at them. Is there any way to distinguish between hoof separation syndrome and simply rubbish feet?

Also am I better off leaving him to deal with it, or do I need to think about protecting his feet (i.e. boots?).

I didn't appreciate how good Rod's feet were until now lol.
 
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HWSS is genetic, but the hoof wall can separate like that though diet as well, without the horse necessarily having the syndrome. My friends TB's feet looked just like that - it was dietary in his case, and resolved when she introduced pro balance + (and the new growth reached the floor).

To minimise chipping you can maintain a roll on the outer hoof wall, but mainly it's a waiting game.
 
I think it's very good news that he was poor and on poor feeding.

I have had two with some level of it and both had been on hay only diets and one was very thin. Both resolved with a diet change.

Meanwhile, I would remove everything which will come off easily and disinfect scrupulously every day with 3% hydrogen peroxide. You can buy a litre of 30% on eBay and water it down . Cheap as chips. Don't splash your jods!
 
TwoStroke said:
HWSS is genetic, but the hoof wall can separate like that though diet as well, without the horse necessarily having the syndrome. My friends TB's feet looked just like that - it was dietary in his case, and resolved when she introduced pro balance + (and the new growth reached the floor).

To minimise chipping you can maintain a roll on the outer hoof wall, but mainly it's a waiting game.
Click to expand...

Ah fair enough. I've got a rider's rasp, so I can try to keep a bit of a roll on it... not that there's enough outer wall left at the minute to really roll :o Sounds like Pro Balance might be a good one to introduce.

cptrayes said:
I think it's very good news that he was poor and on poor feeding.

I have had two with some level of it and both had been on hay only diets and one was very thin. Both resolved with a diet change.

Meanwhile, I would remove everything which will come off easily and disinfect scrupulously every day with 3% hydrogen peroxide. You can buy a litre of 30% on eBay and water it down . Cheap as chips. Don't splash your jods!
Click to expand...

That sounds more positive! For reference, this is what arrived 4 weeks ago:



He now looks like this:



so he's definitely looking a lot better. I guess the feet will be the last thing to improve. I'll grab some peroxide (maybe a silly question, would something like iodine work as an interim or does it need to be peroxide?), and go back to the waiting game... is it fair to leave him to deal with the ground, providing he's not lame?
 
Yes it will be a bit of a waiting game as the new diet will only improve the new hoof growth, so all the old crappy hoof will need to grow out.

I know that I've written this before, but when I changed my horses feed to a non-molassed chaff from a molassed one, the change in the horn quality was amazing.
 
I know... just frustrating that they look so awful!

He's on Top Chop Lite at the minute, unmolassed :) I spent forever trying to find one with no molasses at all for Rods as he was such a fatty!
 
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