Dealing with quarter cracks going up into coronet band

BeepaStar

BeepaStar

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Hi, I just wondered if anyone had any experience of the above, how your farrier dealt with it, what method was used to stabilise the hoof to stop it moving and how long it took your horse to recover from any lameness? Also, what method your farrier used to prevent the crack going into the coronet band in the first place.
Many thanks in advance.
 
I had this problem. My warmblood has quite upright boxy feet and they are not set on totally centrally to the bottom of the leg (if that makes sense).

My farrier tried loads of different things, bar shoes, "floating" the area where the crack was. Nothing worked, it got worse.

In the end I went to remedial farrier Hadyn Price - he sorted it in a couple of shoeings. Fundamentally it was a foot balancing problem, which he managed to resolve.

I had one really bad crack - if you're in the same situation I'd suggest you ask your vet for a referral to a really good remedial farrier.

You may need to go down the bar shoeing route for a short while in order to stabilize the hoof and stop it moving.

Hope that helps.
 
Tbh I'm not sure. In september last year he had a tiny 1/2 inch crack on the outside quarter of his off fore about half way up the hoof. Now it's almost grown down to the bottom of the hoof & is going up into coronet band. Have been asking farrier to do something for the last 4 visits and had initially spoken to him about it when it first appeared and then asked about it at every visit thereafter. 2 visits ago he cut some of the crack out & put a side clip shoe on to stop any movement. 2 visits on and it's getting worse and there is movement. I want to prevent any possible future lameness. Farrier is going to think about how to treat the problem and advise me next week.
Any experiences of over coming the same problem & method used by other farriers would be most useful. Thanks
 
boxcarhorse said:
I had this problem. My warmblood has quite upright boxy feet and they are not set on totally centrally to the bottom of the leg (if that makes sense).

My farrier tried loads of different things, bar shoes, "floating" the area where the crack was. Nothing worked, it got worse.

In the end I went to remedial farrier Hadyn Price - he sorted it in a couple of shoeings. Fundamentally it was a foot balancing problem, which he managed to resolve.

I had one really bad crack - if you're in the same situation I'd suggest you ask your vet for a referral to a really good remedial farrier.

You may need to go down the bar shoeing route for a short while in order to stabilize the hoof and stop it moving.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

It does, thanks. I was thinking of involving vet & seeking out a remedial farrier. I'm really worried as I want the problem resolved before my horse potentially goes lame. I have consistently been asking about the crack since it first appeared, but without much feedback.
Thanks
 
Well, my youngster (turning 3 this year) managed to crack his hind foot a couple of weeks ago. The crack looks to have occurred due to trauma to his coronet we believe. I was quite concerned as it runs right from his coronet on the outside of his hoof to the floor - I should take a picture really, I will try to.

Anyway, I called the farrier (horse not lame or bothered about it at all). He has out a staple across the crack to keep it together and has said it'll probably take about a year now to grow out. There was no infection in the coronet and we are not sure how he's dobe it at all as he has very hard feet (first attempt to get the staple in, it bent!).

looks pretty secure now and the staple is still in. I guess if it did get worse we may have to consider a shoe but I am reluctant to do that as I intend not to shoe him if at all possible.
 
This is my mares crack after an over zealous trimmer over rasped a long way up the hoof wall - this grew out with no lameness or other issues over about 8 months

IMG_0483.jpg


These ghastly looking feet are now barefoot, totally sound but still fully of cracks and holes from years of bad farriery.

IMG_0530.jpg


IMG_0531.jpg
 
I took the shoes off this one and let the horse have the quarters not touching the floor, which was what he wanted. It was gone in 4 months.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LiHmDr5IsNM/TeaaQAPp6rI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/W5I_kJJJBWY/s320/17SEP010.JPG


Trimming the wall too thin may explain the appearance of the crack but it does not explain why there were forces in the foot that made it want to crack there. Sometimes it is, like above, because the heel is weak and not supporting the foot and the horn tubules in the heel are at a different angle from the ones further forward. The foot sheers at the point of most strain.

Can you give us a side-on shot with the camera on the floor, level with the foot, and we can see what the line of the heel is?

Does his frog touch the floor when stood on a hard flat surface?
 
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Hi, this is a photo I took yesterday, not sure if it's good enough for what you need or for you to see the crack just going up into coronet band. He's due to be shod next week, he's shod every five weeks.

Off fore:


Crack which has also developed since September on inside of near fore:

http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/gg555/vabell2/b51cb006.jpg

I should also mention there was no sign of a crack on the near fore in september. I bought my horse in September after a trial period & being vetted. The yard farrier started shoeing him from September to date, but continued to shoe in the same style of shoe used by previous farrier.
 
Would you be at all interested in taking the horse barefoot?

If youve got a hoof that compromised driving nails into it is only going to encourage it to split and crumble more.

Whats he eating?
 
Tbh I haven't considered going barefoot.

Currently he's being fed per feed am & pm (supplements pm feed only)

1 scoop of dengie healthy hooves
1/4 scoop cool mix
1/2 scoop baileys top line
Recommended scoop of formula 4 feet
Recommended scoop of Equiflex

good quality grass
Good quality haylage mixed with steamed hay

Weight is spot on

I've got my vet coming out tomorrow for annual jabs so I will ask for his recommendations too.

Hope the extra info helps.
Thanks
 
Having read the full thread (including your aditional info)

I would say, even if you dont want to take him barefoot (which I would highly recomend) there are some significant dietary changes you can make to help him grow much healthier hoof.

My suggestions would be:

Remove the cool mix (typically high in sugars and starch, despite what the name suggests!)
remove the conditioning cubes (for the same reason!)

instead try him on the healthy hooves (which I would ideally remove too but it isn't as bad as the above too so keep it for now) with the addition of speedi beet or fast fibre. either of these are good for helping them hold weight without the additional sugar ;)

Formula 4 feet is meant to be good but instead of this I'd be inclined to supplement him with some key supplements - magnesium, brewers yeast (both help with the metabolism of sugars) and biotin. I can be almost certain that it is the high sugar content in his diet that is compromising his horn quality. adress this and you will get some much healthier hoof growth. :)


While a lot of barefooters will not agree with this, and I don't use it any more, kevin bacon hoof dressing can be good for maintaining a constant hoof moisture content and thus preventing splitting worsening. I WOULD NOT use this long term but initially, along side the above it may help you get some healthier hoof growing down. ;)

ETS... it would be good to see some photos of your horse to make some more informed dietary sugestions .
 
CBfan, thanks for your feedback. I was unaware that a diet high in sugar could comprise horn growth, I'm about to start googling for more information :) I'm happy to address his diet if it will help in the long term.

I'm currently using Kevin bacons on his hooves and have been since about October last year, although I don't use it every day. I'm interested to know why it's not good to use it long term.

I'll try and take some photos tomorrow so they show how my boy is currently looking, rather than the ones of him last month when he was in need of a bit of spring grass.
Many thanks
 
vabell said:
I'm currently using Kevin bacons on his hooves and have been since about October last year, although I don't use it every day. I'm interested to know why it's not good to use it long term.
Click to expand...

It's not that it's particularly bad, it is just completely unnecessary once you have adressed the diet ;) and got good healthy horn growing down. I havent used it in over a year and my boy's feet look better than ever :)
 
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