Crumbling hooves

[Dry Rot]

The subject of disintegrating hooves has come up elsewhere. The horse owner moved about a year ago and now her horse's hooves are in bad shape. Shoes aren't staying on and the farrier's bills are adding up. Thinking about it, much the same thing happened after I bought a new horse, but they came right in another 12 months or so.

I'm curious to know if this is something that others have experienced. I am thinking that the stress of travelling and moving could create a line of poor growth in hooves leading to the above problems. That would explain why the hooves hardened up after a further delay. It is well known that stress can cause an area of poor growth in human finger nails and growing feathers in birds. It would also explain why hoof supplements "work"!

 

[JillA]

Or lack of suitable minerals in the soil/grass/forage in the new location. Or the horses gut being unable to absorb them until the bacteria adjust?

 

[Dry Rot]

There can't be anything missing in the diet as the hooves of my stallion came right on their own and have remained so. The bacteria suggestion sounds plausible.

 

[amandap]

There can't be anything missing in the diet as the hooves of my stallion came right on their own and have remained so. The bacteria suggestion sounds plausible.

There could have been something missing or not right in previous diet though, hence " came right on their own " aka poor quality hooves grew out over time...

 

[ester]

A years worth of stress?

 

[Dry Rot]

You wouldn't need to have a year's worth of stress to get a line in your nails….or a stress line in a bird's feathers, would you? In falconry, the stress marks in a bird of prey are called "hunger traces". A flight feather can break at this point but can be repaired by an ancient process called imping, often by inserting a double pointed needle or bamboo splint into the soft parts of each feather and gluing them together. Hunger or stress for a few hours can cause the damage. People's hair falls out, they get ridges in their nails, etc. Why not hooves?

Scroll down to horizontal ridging in this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15289/How-nails-reveal-health.html

Nails, hooves, feathers, etc. are all formed from what are in fact modified hairs so can all presumably show similar defects. Remove the stress and the new growth isn't affected -- but it will still take some time to be replaced by healthy tissue.

Is that not logical?

 

[maccachic]

If the coat and hooves are healthy the diet is not balanced. Hooves and Hair are the lowest on horses priority list so all resources get sent to the important places first and the hooves and hair miss out if the are unbalanced. Do a diet analysis and see where it could be improved - its not necessarily a deficiency and excess can cause just as many issues.

 

[NZJenny]

The event lines in the hooves tell all sorts of things - I used to be able to see when they competed at an endurance ride for example and my young mare was away at a different property 50 km down the road (different soil, ground, feed etc) for starting, and that shows up as an event line in her hooves as well.

But to have crumbly hooves for 12 months suggest something is seriously lacking feed or management wise.

 

[OwnedbyJoe]

Joe came up with stress/event lines in all 4 feet after the Quilty - 120km of hard ground at a decent clip must have inflamed/damaged the laminae. There is a small horizontal crack in the front of each hoof wall which is just now growing to ground level, and I am having a great time managing the resulting white line separation and weakness at each toe... It will grow out though.
I certainly think stress can show in the feet, especially if a move to a new yard includes a change of diet, a change of ground, and a group of new herdmates. Typically the event line you get as a result will grow to ground level and start to show as weakness about 9 months later, although 12 months would also be possible.

 

[amandap]

Event lines are caused by many things. Continued deterioration after an 'event' points to an on going problem in my view.

ps. Ime infection is secondary to weak hoof integrity, healthy hooves are very resistant to infection.

 

[ester]

Yes that is what I was going on, I didn't think we were talking about an event line - which I would expect to grow down and not take a year to grow out.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

CF came with crumbling feet, also a bit cheese-like in texture on the soles in Feb last year, previous farrier had obviously been having fun in trying to get shoes on as so many nail holes. Apparently thery were not like that 3 years prior when he was with his owner (been out on loan for 3 yrs before I brought him)

Within 6 months feet were in far better shape and a year on, his feet are really good & strong. Just used my usual basic feed principles and have a damned good farrier
It helps that my paddocks are mostly on sand, with only 1 descending into Surrey clay.

 

[Crazylittlemaisey]

On this subject, I could maybe ask for advice too: my gelding has crumbling hooves as well. He is grazes on sandy, hilly pasture & hay as the grazing isn't amazing, is fed on Veteran Vitality (Allen & Page), has just started Farriers Formula and I am in the first two weeks of using Keratex. He does a lot of road work and is not shod. However, his feet were crumbly in the same way when the weather was drier last year and He want ridden after April. Is there anything more I can be doing?

Thanks

 

[Crazylittlemaisey]

Anyone?

 

[amandap]

Yes that is what I was going on, I didn't think we were talking about an event line - which I would expect to grow down and not take a year to grow out.

Yes ester. I was just making a general comment really.

Crazylittlemaisey, what do you mean by crumbling hooves? Wall breaking off, sole crumby when you scratch it? Sometimes sole goes crumbly when it's trying to shed/exfoliate.

 

[Crazylittlemaisey]

It's the wall breaking up... The sole looks good but has come away from the wall a bit. Shrunk back...

 

[amandap]

You mean a stretched/wider white line? If that it is usually diet, excess sugars being a main culprit. Walls a bit too long, secondary infection, poor wall quality are possible causes.

 

[Crazylittlemaisey]

his hooves are very neat and the walls not long, so.....Perhaps it's a combination of poor wall quality and too much sugar, as my gracing is quite 'stressed'. Would you put him in a smaller paddock with hay to let the fields rest to minimise sugar intake? He's eating veteran vitality & Farriers F.

Thanks for the reply 😊

 

[amandap]

That may well help. Is he shod? If nail holes are involved a break from shoes ? in winter will give a chance to grow good wall to the ground. Your farrier should be able to advise. Many don't agree but if barefoot putting a bevel at the base of the hoof wall can help reduce chipping and breaking.
Do a search for some of the barefoot diet threads, there are tons. The main question is, is he sound.

 

[Crazylittlemaisey]

He's barefoot, trimmed with a bevel and sound. Why don't people agree with a bevel? I harden his soles with keratex and he's not footy on stones ground, etc. he's not been lame at all, just used to be a bit footy as when I got him 18 months ago he'd been a field ornament for 4 years.

Maybe it is just too much road work. I've not got much of a choice with hacking routes and I don't want to shoe him as we are trying for a baby and i won't ride, so the messing around with his feet wouldn't benefit him.

Will look at barefoot diets, great. I might have to ride a bit less too!

 

[amandap]

Some feel the bevel is unnecessary. If he's sound I wouldn't worry too much, just review diet. If he's coping with the road work I don't see a reason to reduce it, it's good for building hoof strength/structure.

 

[Crazylittlemaisey]

Will look at diet for sure. Thanks ☺️