Cracked Hooves

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Catherine94

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Hello, just looking for a bit of advice.

My 8 year old Cleveland Bay gelding has large cracks on both his front hooves. On one hoof, the crack runs from the coronet band to the bottom of the hoof, and on the other, the crack starts at the coronet band, and runs down to about half an inch from the bottom of the hoof, where a there is a small hole in the hoof wall. He has had them for a while, and my farrier has been trying various ways of improving them for quite some time, but so far, nothing appears to working.

He's completely sound on both hooves, but we do have a bit of an issue with him continually throwing shoes, as the farrier struggles to get nails in due the location of the cracks.

I was just interested if anyone had any advice or ideas as to what may improve this, or if anyone has a horse with a similar problem? Any information is greatly appreciated :)

Thanks! :)
 
Hi Catherine,

Those are very dry and lacking in lots of nutrition I'm afraid to say and they have run under quite a bit which is making those cracks quite a lot worse.

It's a very simple balance issue and if your farrier cannot rebalance these hooves then you have to start again with a new hoof. What I mean by that is roughly six months out of shoes to allow the hoof to remodel and fix it self. Shoes could help with a skilled farrier but it doesn't look as if you have one of those. Sorry.

Also, you may want to revisit the diet situation. The hoof wall is very dry and scaly. Does he have any underlying issues? What is he fed on?

Don't worry! It's very easily fixed in the long term as long as you don't start any short term fixes and make it worse like staples and wedges etc!!

x
 
Good grief!
What is he getting to eat. I suggest you buy a months supply of Pro hoof,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/pro-hoof
after that you can find something else to suit him, a bit cheaper.
Start him on half dose and build up to full dose in a week, add some salt, and 100 gms of micronised linseed , or more if he is underweight.
I would buy a tub of Cornucrescine and rub twice daily round coronet or this hoof dressing http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carr-Day-...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item259316c683
The farrier should have intervened before this and explained to you about nutrition and feet, and I would also expect your vet to comment. There are certain conditions which are difficult to cure, but this needs attention and improvement.
I don't now how much you know about feet, but it is time to find out. I would ask your vet to recommend a good farrier.
How often is he shod, and how long have the feet been like this?
 
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I had thought it may be caused by lack of nutrition, but I was slightly confused as my mare is fed the same thing and her hooves are absolutely fine.

He is kept on grass and is fed a hard feed once a day which is made up of chaff, horse & pony cubes and a conditioning mix. I'll definitely have a look into the things you have suggested and I will also have a chat with my farrier.

Thanks for the advice!
 
Catherine94 said:
I had thought it may be caused by lack of nutrition, but I was slightly confused as my mare is fed the same thing and her hooves are absolutely fine.

He is kept on grass and is fed a hard feed once a day which is made up of chaff, horse & pony cubes and a conditioning mix. I'll definitely have a look into the things you have suggested and I will also have a chat with my farrier.

Thanks for the advice!
Click to expand...

Goes to show each horse is different and if one has underlying metabolic issues then you're confounding the situation sadly. Ask your vet to make sure he hasn't got something going on.

Carefully consider dropping the conditioning mix and horse and pony cubes. Switch to something less sugary like unmollassed beet pulp which is still conditioning and add some good quality micronised linseed. This horse may need some time just to detoxify his system.

In time, add in a quality hoof improver powder like above but Equimins hoof mender is equally good and TEN do some good ones with no iron added.

I would still take him out of shoes for a while and use boots to allow the hoof to mend. The shoes are clearly holding the hoof at a wrong angle to make it crack like that.

Enjoy your new venture into hoof research!!! :)
 
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It's very rare I go OMG but those feet are in a shocking state and I actually think need some very quick intervention - change of farrier, diet overhaul and some vet input
 
Yes it's either a tough as nuts Saint of a horse, or in considerable discomfort on both feet with dare I say it a not very knowledgeable owner (sorry OP)
 
ihatework said:
Yes it's either a tough as nuts Saint of a horse, or in considerable discomfort on both feet with dare I say it a not very knowledgeable owner (sorry OP)
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So there is one thing wrong with my horse and suddenly I'm unknowledgeable? Thanks. He is completely 100% sound. If he appeared to be in any kind of pain or discomfort I would have had the vet out immediately. As I said in the original post, I have tried numerous ways to improve them. They were getting a lot better at one point, but have recently deteriorated again coinciding with a period of very dry weather. I am aware that they are not in a good state, hence why I'm trying to do something about it. I started this thread to get help and advice, not to be insulted and made to feel like an awful person. Thank you for commenting.
 
tallyho! said:
Goes to show each horse is different and if one has underlying metabolic issues then you're confounding the situation sadly. Ask your vet to make sure he hasn't got something going on.

Carefully consider dropping the conditioning mix and horse and pony cubes. Switch to something less sugary like unmollassed beet pulp which is still conditioning and add some good quality micronised linseed. This horse may need some time just to detoxify his system.

In time, add in a quality hoof improver powder like above but Equimins hoof mender is equally good and TEN do some good ones with no iron added.

I would still take him out of shoes for a while and use boots to allow the hoof to mend. The shoes are clearly holding the hoof at a wrong angle to make it crack like that.

Enjoy your new venture into hoof research!!! :)
Click to expand...

I'll be sure to ask my vet about any underlying issues and I'll definitely be reconsidering his diet and shoeing situation.

Thanks for all the help! :)
 
Sorry, maybe it was an ott comment on my part.
But those feet are seriously bad. They haven't gotten like that overnight.
I often think that farriers get blamed easily but just look at the shoeing and balance!!!!

My helpful and constructive advice is to get a vet pronto. Follow their advice to the letter, including a referral to a new farrier. Plan for the horse to have 6 months out of shoes, although it might need to be winter now (unless he is very stoic on his feet unshod now). Ditch your compound feeds and opt for non molassed fibre base with a very high spec vit & mineral supplement.
 
I kind of have to agree that this could well turn out be a vet isssue/metabolic problem. A good equine vet will also know of remedial farriers who are capable of dealing with this if shoeing is the way forward.
I would not place much faith in discussion with your current farrier, assuming he has not discussed them previously or sorted them. Many do not know a great deal about nutrition, so they don't give advice on it, and as others have commented, the feet have not got like that in a short time.
I would start on a new hoof oriented regime asap, see my previous post.
OP states she has tried to do something, we don't know the details, but obviously for these feet the diet is not correct and the farriery is not correct, and these are the factors which can, and should be addressed asap.
 
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I would have to disagree with everyone who has said go for a supplement straight away I'm afraid.

Catherine, whilst that is the aim here, I worry that the hooves hide something else and I wonder if mineral/vitamin overload is the issue. Sometimes the opposite is true... sometimes you can overload the liver and kidneys and this comes from a very knowledgable EP who knows a lot about nutrition and has helped many many horses in similar situations. Not me obviously!

Which is why I would ask the vet to make sure first through liver function test and urine test to ensure that there isn't high levels of proteinurea or hyperkalemia which can stop the horse absorbing the vital nutrients, just by overloading the system with others. It's an interdependant system and can be fragile.

My old boy needed mineral supplementation but my mare does best on nothing but grass!

Tread carefully thats all. I think it's great you've asked for some opinions and people are generally good at sharing here. As shocking as those hooves may seem, it will improve within the year because it constantly grows and it will grow what it gets! If you can't find a decent farrier then look for other hoofcare practitioners like EP's or UKNHCP trimmers. Depsite common perceptions, these trimmers are very highly trained.
 
The image i had in my head is nowhere near as bad as the photos. I'm sorry but i would not be working this horse until the hooves are sorted. You need a total diet overhaul and some serious remedial hoof care. It may need some bridges to stop the hoof coming apart.
 
equi said:
The image i had in my head is nowhere near as bad as the photos. I'm sorry but i would not be working this horse until the hooves are sorted. You need a total diet overhaul and some serious remedial hoof care. It may need some bridges to stop the hoof coming apart.
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It could but I doubt it.
 
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