Chips in ends of rear hooves

[Winters100]

Hi, I would love some advice about my horse's hooves. I have had her about a month, and the farrier came during the first week. I wanted to keep her shod all round, but as I was not there at the time the rather bossy yard owner asked him to remove the rear ones, I guess because he wanted to turn her out with others. I have since (after a kick, not serious but we saw it) insisted that she is turned out alone. She is anyway not at all interested in other horses. Her front (shod) hooves are in good shape, but the rear ones are getting chipped. We live in Poland at the moment so everything is frozen, which is the explanation of the groom, however I do not see the same in other unshod horses in the yard, nor did we have the same problem with my last horse who was also here and was unshod and doing similar winter exercise. I have asked for the farrier to come back, but does anyone have any ideas about this? Her hooves were not long and were trimmed 3 weeks ago. She is 13 years and had full vetting before she came, including blood tests, and was then checked by my own vet when she arrived. She eats a well balanced diet agreed with our vet, including vitamin supplements. I ride 6 days a week, but almost always in the arena, about 30 minutes in gentle trot / canter, nothing too taxing and if we do go to the forest we only walk.

I am also now terrified as today, on advice of another owner, I applied Pine Tar. So now I am wondering if I did the right thing, and if not should I rush back to try to scrub it off?

I am so at sea with all of this, because although I had ponies when I was a child and cared for them myself I was not responsible for these sorts of decisions as I just did as I was told, and anyway that was 30 years ago so horse care has moved on! My last horse was under the control of a trainer who was also responsible for his care, but after a couple of bad accidents I decided to 'trade down' to a nice easy horse who doesn't need a full time arrangement for training, but I am learning that nothing is all that 'easy'! I would so appreciate any advice as I really love her and want to do the right thing.

 

[Cortez]

Firstly, don't worry about the pine tar - it's a good old fashioned remedy for scrapes and also really good for hooves. Horse's hooves can take a lot of chipping without coming to any harm, even really horrible looking hooves with chunks out are usually just cosmetic with no damage done. Can you take a photograph of the hooves and post on here? It is probable that your horse might not need shoes if she is only working in an arena with the occasional hack, but we can't really tell much unless we can see them.

 

[ester]

If she was shod before I suspect she is just chipping below the nail holes? which is very normal. (And why it won’t happen with those longer term unshod).

I’m not a fan of anything oil based on hooves

 

[Pinkvboots]

Same opinion as above really they will chip a bit to start with but should soon get a bit tougher, with the ground frozen as well it's probably not helping, one of mine has just fronts his chip a bit in summer when it's dry and the ground is hard.

 

[Winters100]

Firstly, don't worry about the pine tar - it's a good old fashioned remedy for scrapes and also really good for hooves. Horse's hooves can take a lot of chipping without coming to any harm, even really horrible looking hooves with chunks out are usually just cosmetic with no damage done. Can you take a photograph of the hooves and post on here? It is probable that your horse might not need shoes if she is only working in an arena with the occasional hack, but we can't really tell much unless we can see them.

Firstly, don't worry about the pine tar - it's a good old fashioned remedy for scrapes and also really good for hooves. Horse's hooves can take a lot of chipping without coming to any harm, even really horrible looking hooves with chunks out are usually just cosmetic with no damage done. Can you take a photograph of the hooves and post on here? It is probable that your horse might not need shoes if she is only working in an arena with the occasional hack, but we can't really tell much unless we can see them.

Thanks so much! This is really good to know. I will take a photo tomorrow and will post it. I feel a lot better after reading your reply, so thank you!

 

[Hoof_Prints]

I have removed the shoes on many , in fact most of my horses and the key is to have your own rasp handy Get the farrier to bring you a rasp and show you how to bevel the edges. You can tidy up even the tiny little cracks as they appear to stop them spreading or building up! I had to rasp one of mine after every hack as they'd chip on stones, but as he didn't do much hacking overall I never shod him behind. A water/gel based hoof moisturizer soaking in overnight has proved to be the best for reducing cracks on my horses, combined with the use of Keratex hoof hardener twice a week.

 

[Goldenstar]

I too would not worry about the pine or the chips which will just be the feet chipping back because of the nail holes in time your feet will look like the other unshod horses .
Enjoy your horse and have fun in the forest .

 

[Winters100]

Thank you very much to everyone who helped me out with this. You were right, the farrier tidied it up and once he did this it looked much less dramatic! He says that it is fine to keep riding as we were, and since he does a lot of horses in the vicinity he will drop by every 2 - 3 weeks to give them a quick check (one of the wonderful things about living abroad is that this doesn't cost the earth!). But really a big thank you to everyone - it is so wonderful to have the benefit of your experience here.

 

[claret09]

I use sunflower oil on my boy's hooves. I have been really surprised and pleased with the results. he doesn't have back shoes and hasn't had any for years but his feet both front and back definitely look better. he has always had good feet but had the occasional chip and obviously nail holes in front. I have been using sunflower oil for about six months now and his feet look amazing. he is shod and trimmed every six week but even at the six week mark his feet still look really good. it's definitely worth a try.

 

[Red-1]

Congratulations on your new horse.

I use Pine Tar in a base with other oils on the soles overnight if the feet look to be absorbing urine as she wees in the same place as she stands. It has only ever made her look better.

I would remember that you have a different way of keeping the horse now, we all make mistakes, and it is fun! In other words - relax! Enjoy your horse in the forest. I wish I had forest to ride mine in