cracked hooves and lameness

[treacle_beastie]

The horse I ride has recently gone very mildly lame behind and is most probably caused by a crack in her outside hoof wall that has recently appeared. We put hind shoes on a couple of days ago in hope this will support her feet better and prevent further damage. The crack has not worsened since. I gave her a couple of days off and let her into the school today. She ran around like a loon, jumping anything in sight and doing sliding stops and bucks etc and I couldn't see any lameness but when I got on her she was still slighlty lame ( I can't feel this when i'm on her so have to get someone to tell me she is lame). After work she was hot again on the hoof wall where the crack is and also slightly warm up her leg so she was hosed off again. Can anyone tell me if they have had a simlar experience and what they did and how long it took to resolve - she doesn't appear to be in any pain (but obviously must be!) but I don't want to cause any further damage. She was apparantly hopping on corners but is now just slighlty shorter in the stride on the affected leg. Could this all be down to the crack or could it be something else? She is uneven anyway and did have a wonky pelvis a couple of years back. She sometimes drops the affected leg when walking downhill and i'm beginning to wonder if this has been going on for a long time and I haven't noticed. Any advice welcome.

 

[AmyMay]

Unlikely to be the crack I would have thought. If she has a history I would get her checked out by a good and qualified oesteophath and wouldn't ride her until she has the all clear and is sound.

 

[treacle_beastie]

Hmm maybe - we have had two back people out - the first diagnosed wonky pelvis and the second about a year later said nothing wrong with back but had weaker ligaments on left side and gave us some exercises to do and said would come right with schooling - this is the affected side. It did improve with schooling and things were progressing well. Farrier detected heat where crack is and everthing else fine. Maybe its both the crack and a pelvis aligment prob. Hoof wall was very pink around bottom and farrier said was too much work without shoes causing her to be sore and recommended shoes. Her workload has increased and is being asked to work properly now whereas before she was basically just an unschooled hack.

 

[happihorse]

How big is the crack? Does it start from the bottom of the hoof or the top? Is the crack at the front or the side of the hoof? How deep is the crack?

If the crack is superficial one which starts from the bottom I'd have thought it had been caused by a combination of the harder ground and dry spell that we have had which has taken the moisture out of her hoof. You could try Camrosa ointment (http://www.camrosa.co.uk/products.htm) which is a bit messy but does work very well to improve the condition of her feet and possibly some biotin if this is a regular problem. I wouldn't have though this would make her lame as it appears to have got worse when she was turned out on a surface.

As you suggest, it could be caused by a combination of factors. If she is uneven anyway and you are asking her to work in a more collected outline, this could be putting pressure on the weakspot(s) and highlighting the uneveness.

Have you tried doing a simple flexion test (ie fetlock and hock) to see if you can get any idea of where the pain stems from?

Sorry this really isn't much help - I seem to be asking more questions than providng answers for!

Hope she is better soon.

 

[henryhorn]

One of ours had a crack that was pinching slightly on the upward movement of the hoof, so it was hard to diagnose.
Your horse mayneed radical remedial work as ours has, it must wear bar shoes for life now and always be watched carefully for a repeat crack appearing.
Our mare had the crack dremmelled out, pinned and glued together and was on box rest for over a year to allow the hoof to grow a total new hoof. She was shod in front every four weeks at a cost of £76... her back feet were ok bare.
I reckon it's cost us over £1500 and although she is now back in work, last week a tiny crack appeared and we panicked. the farriers say they will watch it and pin it if necessary..
I'd be checking that crack if I were you, we ignored what appeared to be a hairline sized one, and look at the result..

 

[Sugarplum Furry]

A crack in the hoof wall will sometimes cause unsoundness as it will close and pinch the horse when he bears weight on it.

It can also be a site of entry for infection.

 

[ISHmad]

If the hoof has been bruising and the hoof and lower leg is warm she may well have an infection in that crack. Putting shoes on is only going to exacerbate it as will keep the infection in. Ideally have the shoe removed and Cleantrax the foot. This will get rid of any infection which may be inside.

I think a lot of horses will have foot problems this year - we seem to have gone from soaking wet boggey ground to hard as rock terrain in no time at all.

Hope your horse is soon okay.

 

[treacle_beastie]

shoes seem to have helped - lunged her today so I could see what everyone was seeing - its barely noticeable but I think she got better the more I worked her - it was hot again after work but no heat in the leg and there is no more swelling to the leg so things have improved. The actual crack looks better now as has been pinned by the shoe and nails. We are putting some hoof grease on and hosing her practically daily to keep some moisture in hooves and look much better. Crack is full length of hoof outside wall towards back - runs top to bottom. She was also slightly foot sore on that side. We have asked her to work more in an outline and became lame pretty much from that point so obviously weak hoof could not stand up to it. Think will be Ok now has shoes on. Will continue for a week working from ground and see how she goes.