Has anyone's horse ever had their foot plated for a crack?

[EquestrianFairy]

Randomest title ever but hopefully it should make sense?

My horse is going in to have a crack in her hoof flushed out, cleaned and then new horn put in and it plated over with a metal plate to basically encourage the crack to heal as its causing lameness.

Anyone else ever had this?

Thanks

 

[Suechoccy]

I had a epoxy resin bridge put over a vertical sandcrack that went from toe to coronet band thanks to poor farriery (long toes getting longer, underrun heels, broken axis). Change of farrier. New farrier dug the crack out, epoxy resined over it while new hoof grew down. Feet are now a lovely shape and no crack. Scrubbed and sprayed crack with iodine to keep reinfection to a minimum. (Horse lives out and it was winter).

 

[EquestrianFairy]

I had a epoxy resin bridge put over a vertical sandcrack that went from toe to coronet band thanks to poor farriery (long toes getting longer, underrun heels, broken axis). Change of farrier. New farrier dug the crack out, epoxy resined over it while new hoof grew down. Feet are now a lovely shape and no crack. Scrubbed and sprayed crack with iodine to keep reinfection to a minimum. (Horse lives out and it was winter).

Thats it! You worded it much better than me

Was your horse lame initially and how long was recovery to soundness and most importantly- how was the hoof recovery.

Ive been told i will have to keep her in for a while to stop any mud/water getting into resin and causing it to re-split but this isnt a major problem as i can work around that if need be.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

*bump*

 

[Suechoccy]

Horse was lame with the sandcrack and underlying infection. Once it had been cleared out and epoxy-plated with a small "tunnel" left underneath, top to bottom, to pour disinfectant down, he was sound.

He then went lame a few weeks later with more/new infection under the epoxy which was due to living out in midwinter in a muddy field. The farrier was able to dig that out without compromising the epoxy and this time left a larger "tunnel" under the epoxy so I could give it a proper scrub and disinfect.

Problem-free from then on. If it had been done in midsummer, it would have been problem-free from when the epoxy was first put on too. Keeping him out of mud would have made life easier. If you keep in a box, keep the bedding dry for same reason.

As new hoof grew down, the rasping every 6wks at toe level gradually rasped the epoxy awy as it reached the ground surface. Took around 10 months I think to grow out completely.

Got spanking brilliant feet on the neddy now!

 

[cptrayes]

Yes. It didn't work. The crack never resolved and the horse died with it of other issues.

Nowadays I would get the diet spot on, low sugar, high fibre, mineral balanced and take off the shoes. Another horse I treated this way resolved an unstable crack straight away.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

Taking off her shoes ATM isn't possible but I have already overhauled her diet and she is being done by a remedial farrier.

Fingers x the plate works!

 

[EquestrianFairy]

As an aside- what did you feed both?

 

[cptrayes]

Taking off her shoes ATM isn't possible

Can I ask why?

 

[cptrayes]

As an aside- what did you feed both?

I added brewers yeast and magnesium oxide to the diet of the one that resolved. I subsequently discovered that because my grazing is high in iron and manganese I also need to supplement copper. And I find that they do much better if they are not grazing during the day when the grass sugars are highest, so they go out at night instead.

On that diet, with no shoes, a serious crack problem resolved, and it was floor to coronet and unstable too. My neighbour and friend, on the same regime, cured serious sandcrack in one mare and minor sandcrack in the son. I have another friend in Devon whose mare was badly unsound with cracks which came right with the same regime again.

There is someone posting updates on HHO showing pix of a major crack healing with a barefoot approach, can't remember the name, sorry.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

Can I ask why?

She is very flat flooted and it wasnt a suggested stratergy straight away, if the plating doesnt work its a route i guess will go down as a last resort.
Its a very long story as she is a complex mare with other issues, its not as simple as it sounds, believe me.

Shes currently being fed the same as you have suggested so least im doing something right.

 

[cptrayes]

If she is flat footed, then I would also add copper to her diet. It does sound as if she has something going on with foot quality and very often that's turning out to be copper deficiency, either from low copper or from high iron/manganese. If so, that could account for the flat soles. I appreciate that you didn't ask for nutritional advice, but I hope it might help. Perhaps look at one of the supplements that barefooters are finding so effective, which contain additional copper but no additional iron/manganese? I forget what they are but if you PM user Oberon she will tell you.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

If she is flat footed, then I would also add copper to her diet. It does sound as if she has something going on with foot quality and very often that's turning out to be copper deficiency, either from low copper or from high iron/manganese. If so, that could account for the flat soles. I appreciate that you didn't ask for nutritional advice, but I hope it might help. Perhaps look at one of the supplements that barefooters are finding so effective, which contain additional copper but no additional iron/manganese? I forget what they are but if you PM user Oberon she will tell you.

Shes been on mag ox (pure) for about a year but i have never thought about adding copper to her diet so will look into that. Many people rave about ProHoof but its expensive for a horse of her size, if i can find a similar one for cheaper i would happily try it.
Another issue of mine is that she has major Gut issues (think: Past Ulcers) so i need to make sure she is being fed something that keeps her guts all in good order as i really dont want another £2k vet bill for more Ulcers if i can help it.

 

[Oberon]

Pro Balance + is a cheaper version of Pro Hoof.

 

[Suechoccy]

I've added a picture of the epoxy resin bridge which Choccy had some six years ago. I think you have to click on Suechoccy and then it should be visible?

The photo was taken some weeks after the original crack (from toe up to coronet band) was cleaned out, dug out, bridge applied, and then living out/muddy field/winter, he subsequently got some infection (black gravelly tar) underneath the front of it which did make him lame. The farrier cut away to release the bad stuff, and then dug out and cut back the epoxy, creating a fairly large area of clean hoof at the toe area and ensuring it was all clean hoof up underneath the remaining resin too.

I was gobsmacked how thick the hoof is at the toe.

No more probs after this, the new hoof grew down wonderfully from the coronetband over several months as as it reached the ground, the epoxy was gradually rasped off.

Choccy has beautifully shaped feet now compared to before this work when he had become longtoed, underrun heels, broken pastern axis. We don't have sandcracks anymore either. He is shod now with sideclips rather than toeclips too, and the front shoes are set back under the toe and with the toehoof rolled slightly too. The outer sidewall doesn't break or collapse so readily either. He has always dished with his off-fore and the horn/hoof of his off-fore has always seemed to have a tougher life/broken more easily than any of his other three feet.

Hope that helps!

 

[hayinamanger]

I bought a horse a couple of years ago with a hideous sandcrack. The hoof was in two halves, with each side moving independently. The horse had very flat feet, was fed a high sugar diet and consequently was at least 100kg overweight.

Farrier trimmed hoof, put front shoes on, with double clips. I kept the crack clean and sprayed with Terramycin, used Conucresine on the coronary bands every day. Fed hay and token non-molassed chaff to add calcined magnesite.

Horse never looked back, the crack grew out completely in a year.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

I've added a picture of the epoxy resin bridge which Choccy had some six years ago. I think you have to click on Suechoccy and then it should be visible?

The photo was taken some weeks after the original crack (from toe up to coronet band) was cleaned out, dug out, bridge applied, and then living out/muddy field/winter, he subsequently got some infection (black gravelly tar) underneath the front of it which did make him lame. The farrier cut away to release the bad stuff, and then dug out and cut back the epoxy, creating a fairly large area of clean hoof at the toe area and ensuring it was all clean hoof up underneath the remaining resin too.

I was gobsmacked how thick the hoof is at the toe.

No more probs after this, the new hoof grew down wonderfully from the coronetband over several months as as it reached the ground, the epoxy was gradually rasped off.

Choccy has beautifully shaped feet now compared to before this work when he had become longtoed, underrun heels, broken pastern axis. We don't have sandcracks anymore either. He is shod now with sideclips rather than toeclips too, and the front shoes are set back under the toe and with the toehoof rolled slightly too. The outer sidewall doesn't break or collapse so readily either. He has always dished with his off-fore and the horn/hoof of his off-fore has always seemed to have a tougher life/broken more easily than any of his other three feet.

Hope that helps!

WHOAH! Thats one massive hole.. i will take a photo of mine today and load up for comparision as a 'before' photo.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

Pro Balance + is a cheaper version of Pro Hoof.

I was meaning to message you actually

Now, would i need to feed any addition to this? (such as PP?) because her guts are extremely sensitive she needs to have something for them.

 

[MissSBird]

My old tb mare slashed her coronet band open which resulted in a vertical crack straight growning down the front of her hoof.

It was ok until the gouged part of the hoof got about 1/2way down, then it began to give us problems such as infection. She had to stay in for a while (but that didn't bother her, it was winter and she preferred her stable bless her) as she ended up with a minor case of white line disease. Cleared up very quickly and my farrier plated it with a strip of...lord I can't remember now, but it was metal and then covered it in a black glue like substance that dried solid to prevent reinfection. Worked really well. She had that plate for quite a few months to keep the crack stable, and I was always careful about keeping her hoof clean and using bactakill frequently. She was out in the field as normal and ridden as normal.

Eventually the wide part of the crack grew down and she didn't need a full plate, just some staples. And then we managed to stop using anything.

She always had a residual hairline crack, but it didn't cause any structural instability so I wasn't that bothered about it!

Sadly no photos of the plate itself, just the crack when we stopped plating.

 

[cptrayes]

Shes been on mag ox (pure) for about a year but i have never thought about adding copper to her diet so will look into that. Many people rave about ProHoof but its expensive for a horse of her size, if i can find a similar one for cheaper i would happily try it.
Another issue of mine is that she has major Gut issues (think: Past Ulcers) so i need to make sure she is being fed something that keeps her guts all in good order as i really dont want another £2k vet bill for more Ulcers if i can help it.

The gut issues would explain everything EF, that's very interesting. Do you have her on yeast, it has a double anti-iflammatory effect on the gut and two of mine are footie unless they get yeast.

 

[LucyPriory]

There is someone posting updates on HHO showing pix of a major crack healing with a barefoot approach, can't remember the name, sorry.

This isn't the one - but having been unresolved for years with the conventional approach it grew out (with some hiccups) in well under a year. And largely the main issue was diet.

http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/seedy toe

 

[EquestrianFairy]

The gut issues would explain everything EF, that's very interesting. Do you have her on yeast, it has a double anti-iflammatory effect on the gut and two of mine are footie unless they get yeast.

She had been on Pink Powder which i was led to believe has yeast etc in it for her gut. She had grade 5 ulcers when i bought her which i treated and so far *touch wood* has been ulcer free for the last 6 months although the vet stated i must be very careful with her diet to stop a repeat of any problems again.

As an aside, she has now been put into full bar shoes which she is not happy about, she seems uncomfortable in them so another call to the vet... agh.