Cracked lines round hoof wall

B

barker0tp

Member
Joined
20 February 2009
Messages
19
Visit site
My 7yr old tb gelding has some bad cracks in his hoof wall. They started off looking like growth rings growing down from the coronet band, but like the rings that might develop from a change in diet or something. He has them on all 4 feet. The rings turned into cracks were superficial to begin with but the front ones got worse and turned into cracks that have gone right through the hoof wall. My farrier said he's never seen anything like it. Loads of people have said the same. He put glue on his front feet to hold the cracks together but this has gradually come off (possibly beacuse of the changable weather) Last night a chunk of the glue came off his front foot and took a piece of hoof wall with it. The cracks on the back feet have also got worse now and look like they now go right through the wall. My farrier hasn't been able to get out to look at them yet.

I'm going to try and post some photos if I can work out how! I don't think it's white line disease, however, I'm not a vet! The cracks have now grown nearly level with the nail line. Now surely it is going to cause problems with the shoes and nails....
 
Doesn't look like white line disease to me either (but i'm neither a vet or farrier). I'd call the vet to have a look if your farrier doesn't know what to do. if it's still a mystery get another farrier to come and have a look. Treat this as urgent though. don't just leave it to see what happens. If it is white like disease you need to clear it up quickly - copper sulphate and milton are 2 things i've used before with success, however I have no idea how that would work now everything has been glued together.
 
I know it is a bit worrying. My farrier is good too, he's the farrier for the british endurance team, so for him to be baffled by it worries me even more! I nearly called the vet this morning and then decided not to. My farrier didn't seem too worried when I rang him this today but I'm not convinced. Obviously I'm worried about my horse knocking the hoof and more bits falling off. I've stabled him for now with some over reach boots on.
 
Best of luck in solving the problem and hopefully someone else will see these photo's in a minute and have a better idea of what's happening. I think a call to the vet can't hurt, better than lost sleep!
 
I got him is december last year, so about 8months ago. Then noticed the rings starting to grow down which turned into cracks. New diet and new grass etc was all introduced slowly though, nothing that should cause such cracks like that. Some simple growth rings from a change in diet I could maybe understand but not cracks like as these. He was in really poor condition when I got him though and wondered if he'd maybe been quite poorly before I got him which could have caused something more severe like the cracks. He was a rescue case and should have gone to the meat man :(
 
Ok. And breathe :)

Can you get some better pics? (side and front view from the ground and solar view).

You mention change of diet - so what is he eating now?

Has he been checked for ulcers?

Is he sound or lame?
 
Oberon said:
Ok. And breathe :)

Can you get some better pics? (side and front view from the ground and solar view).

You mention change of diet - so what is he eating now?

Has he been checked for ulcers?

Is he sound or lame?
Click to expand...

He's perfectly sound. He's out at grass 24/7 and has 2 feeds of Alpha-A Oil and Build up cubes a day with vits and mins supplement and micronized linseed oil. He hasn't been checked for Ulcers. Could the cracks be a side effect? I'll try and get some better pics but prob won't be until tomorrow now.
 
Spook said:
Selenium poisoning/overdose?
Click to expand...

If it was Selenium poisoning would the other horses on the same grass not be affected too? Their feet are fine.

He was diagnosed with photosensitivity earlier in the summer, the vet said it was because of something he'd eaten in the field. Not sure if that is relevant/related to his feet, didn't think to mention it before.
 
There's a pic in Knottenbelt's Colour atlas of Diseases and Disorders of the Horse (page 265) which shows separation of coronary band in a horse with acute selenium poisoning, although that looks to be more of a straight horizontal crack than the ragged tearing in yours. I've only found one other pic of a selenosis hoof on the net, and that just looked like a laminitic attack.

I guess the good thing is that whatever happened to cause it must have been a good few months ago, and is now gradually growing out down the hoof. Was the crack visible at all when you bought the horse? How soon after you bought him did the crack appear? Just thinking that it can take a month or 6 weeks or so for any insult to the hoof wall to appear from under the periople, so it might be helpful in working out whether it was something that happened before he was yours (and in which case there's probably not much that you can do), or whether it happened soon after you bought him, in which case it'd be worth trying to work out what caused it so that you can make sure it doesn't happen again.

If it happened with you, then was he in a particular paddock where there might be any contaminant? Was he on any particular feed/balancer or higher levels of any mineral supplement that might have inadvertantly caused a problem?

I suppose from now on, as the crack grows nearer the ground, you are going to reach a stage where some chunks of hoof wall just break off, or maybe it'll even break off in a ring as the crack seems to go all round the hoof wall. So there'll come a time where it'll look really untidy when that happens, and I guess you'll just need to keep him comfy then and be patient for a couple of months for the good hoof wall to grow down to the ground.

Will be interested to hear if you ever find out the cause.

Sarah
 
barker0tp said:
He's perfectly sound. He's out at grass 24/7 and has 2 feeds of Alpha-A Oil and Build up cubes a day with vits and mins supplement and micronized linseed oil. He hasn't been checked for Ulcers. Could the cracks be a side effect? I'll try and get some better pics but prob won't be until tomorrow now.
Click to expand...

I don't know the sugar and starch levels of the Build Up Cubes or the ingredients?

Ulcers can cause poor digestion. Poor digestion causes poor hooves. Always worth being suspicious ;) (I am obsessed with ulcers :o)

We have had a very sweet year for grass (which affects digestion and thus the quality of the tissue the horse produces) and we've had lots of wet weather that has been causing horses to cast shoes when the damp gets into the nail holes.

Can you see how the cracks are all localised to the nails and surrounding wall?

I need better pics, but it looks like a combination of the above and the horse is trimming away excess wall (quite cleverly :p).

Horse is sound - clever horse!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top