Hoof help please! *pic*

MeganMx said:
my farrier said its just the way the weather and ground is so left it for a bit, he then filled them in and stapled themabout 2 months ago and they were looking fab but its only been the past month that theyve started to become like this .. past 2 weeks in a row.

any help would be seriously appreciated!
Click to expand...


rubbish then how come non of mine look like this????

feed him http://www.equimins-online.com/cgi-...Supplement_Pellets_232.html#a1_21P65#a1_21P65
money back guarantee


cant believe the weather did this when no 1 else horses feet look like this j
 
MeganMx said:
Hey evryone,
i am the owner of this lil guy :). his feet have not always been like this, started off about 4-6 months ago and my farrier said its just the way the weather and ground is so left it for a bit, he then filled them in and stapled themabout 2 months ago and they were looking fab but its only been the past month that theyve started to become like this .. past 2 weeks in a row ive showed my farrier his feet and hes said there fine .. they'll 'grow out'. Starting to really panic now :(. He doesnt get fed anything as grass at my yard is so rich and long. Dont have a clue what to do or who to go to as this is the only farrier at my yard and have used him for about 10years now.

p.s he doesnt stamp his feet at all.

any help would be seriously appreciated!
Click to expand...

How long has the coronary band been affected? At the start, or did the cracks move up the wall to the coronary band? It might be worth getting the shoes off him, because the more weight on the wall via the shoe, is only going to weaken the wall further and cause more seperation. We had a horse with feet similar to these, could never hold a shoe, and barefoot worked for him. Im just wondering what the farrier is going to nail to next time, as the walls are deteriating so much.
 
he has always had really gd feet its just a thing in the past 2 months .. it started from the band downwards at first .. just going to get a 2nd opinion first then take it from there .. anyone have any recomendations? i stay in renfrewshire area tho or even any websites which will give me gd farriers?
x
 
If possible, get a AWCF or an FWCF farrier to come, rather than a DipWCF. If you look in the link given by GingerCat, there is a section that explains what these different qualifications mean. Essentially though, I think that you need someone with more than just a basic qualification.
 
MeganMx said:
he has always had really gd feet its just a thing in the past 2 months .. it started from the band downwards at first .. just going to get a 2nd opinion first then take it from there .. anyone have any recomendations? i stay in renfrewshire area tho or even any websites which will give me gd farriers?
x
Click to expand...

If it has started at the coronary band, then its quite likely that they have been injured, weakended and split, or has popped absesses. With the coronary band injured, its likely that you will always have a crack in the feet. This is because with the band injured, it cannot produce a healthy wall in that area. Like ive said before, it can be managed, but you have to find out what caused the coronary bands to go that way.

The hooves appear to have quite bad white line disease, so milton or clean trax would be usefull, and taking off the shoes to do this. Infortunately, by repeatedly putting nails into the wall, is only going to further weaken it. If shoes must be worn, perhaps try clue ons, to preserve the walls. Plus, with the wall bearing the weight of the horse, is only going to act to seperate the walls more. Perhaps talk to a farrier of trimmer about having the shoes off for a while.
 
Magnesium also helps with hoof health and is often deficient in horses grazing rich pasture, especially if it has been fertilised previously. Lots of horses have shown improvement in hoof quality and reducing hoof sensitivity when fed it, it has an effect on the whole metabolism and when it is deficient some horses may become spooky, which is why it is sold as a calmer, but it only works if your horse is deficient in it in the first place.

Magnesium oxide is apparently the most easy to absorb for the horse:- "The easiest form of magnesium as a supplement for horses to absorb is magnesium oxide, however other forms are available - including Magnesium Glutamate, Magnesium Aspartate, Calcium Magnesium (dolomite) often referred to as CalMag and magnesium sulphate more commonly known as Epsom salts." From Equi-therapy.net
 
Last edited:
Whenever any of mine have had cracks starting in their feet,[although nothing like your horses] my farrier recommended using a small amount of eucalyptus oil in the cracks .This seems to act as a hardener and also stops further infection.
Combined with correct nutrition, I have found Farriers formula to improve growth .Good luck and hope you can start to get some where.
 
My horses feet are a similar type, although I must say they do not look like that! My farrier has shod Murphy for all of his life, and his feet are just crap in dry weather, however, they are much better with a simple thing that I do all year round. 1 tspn of gelatine in his feed! Just from the supermarket, nothing special.

He's been on all sorts of hoof formulas and whatever else, but this deffo works the best. The only other thing I do Is apply a hoof moisturizer every day :)

Good luck with getting his feet back to how they were, but honestly, if my farrier showed me that and said it was fine, I'd have a fit!
 
omg that looks bad:eek: last year our tb had feet that were brittle & cracking(not as bad as this though ) in the dry weather & seemed to have more filler than foot at times!
however i feed biotin as a supplement & apply kevin bacon foot preparation once every day & so far this year his feet are looking great & holding shoes for 6 wks no problems:D my farrier is amazed at the difference in him.
have tried farriers formular for another horse with good results too but abit pricey for me
 
Hi
One of my horses had horrendous seedy toes and lost alot of his hoof wall. It looks like this horse has some seedy toe going on as well.
Id def recommend a remedial farrier, ask them about treating the posible seedi toe. Also ask their advice if the feet are dry. When my horses feet need moisture, i rub aqueous cream into them.
Id also be feeding this horse as if he was laminitic with a calcium and biotin supplement.
Kx
 
No matter how well he looks above the fetlocks, I would suggest this horse has serious nutritional deficiencies, and needs a really good supplement to start - look at www.thunderbrook.co.uk, if at all possible get him off the grass (the sort of lush grass you mention is probably highly fertilised and only suitable for high yield dairy cows)and feed soaked hay, NO molasses or sugar - and have a look at http://www.redhorseproducts.com/ for external hoof care.
Horses were never meant to wear shoes 24/7, he needs a few months rest from them and careful trimming, think hoof boots and helping the feet remodel gently over a period of time. Otherwise you're going to have an irrepairably lame horse in a short time.
 
She does look as though she has seedy toe as well as the crack with damage to the coronary band it may be a tough job to fix.

I'd start with treating the coronary band with Cornucrescene on a daily - but preferably twice daily basis.

With the dry weather it is ideal to oil the hoof daily to help keep moisture in the foot. The horse needs a quality foot supplement to encourage good growth from within.

If mine I would be having the farrier in every four weeks to reduce the spread at the ground surface - this then reduces the stress on the crack.

To be honest if the horse could go unshod it would be better - at least until the crack grows out.

If the horses are being troubled by flies then they may benifit by being kept in during daylight hours or use a good fly repellent.
 
touchstone said:
Cornucrescine is supposed to work by acting as a mild blister so stimulating the circulation to the area, there is a theory though that it may encourage faster growth to the outside layers of the hoof, but not internally so the wall produced is actually weaker if that makes sense?
Click to expand...

I agree, cornucrescine will encourage growth but not improve the quality of the growth which could prove counter-productive.
 
I suggest you join this group. It has great diet advice which is applicable to all horses with problems in white line etc.. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/EquineCushings/

Also have a look on LucyPriory's blog, another fab resource. http://www.barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/ Hopefully she will see your post.

I imagine you will need to have the shoes removed and plan for a rehab period tbh, this will not be fixed overnight. It will be well worth it in the end. :) Low sugar high fibre diet. With this damage I'd be tempted to go to a diet with forage of free choice soaked hay, magesium oxide, salt, micronised linseed and possibly vitamin E.
A high zinc with biotin supplement without mollasses or too much other stuff may be something to consider but tbh minerals need really to be given according to dietry analysis. Copper is another mineral often low. I have recently started activated charcoal after reading LucyPriory's posts and would also feed yea sacc for gut suppport. Give additives in un mollassed beet and no compound hard feeds.

Tbh, and I will get shouted down, I'd find a good and experienced barefoot Trimmer to help you with this horse. Hoof soaks etc. may well be another helpful tack.

Ps. I wouldn't bother with anything on the outside of the hoof except possibly soaks. This has to be resolved with diet and good management so save your money.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Forgive me - I have scanned the posts and ended up a bit confused. So apologies for any misunderstanding of the information presented.

The photos show hooves with hefty, multiple event lines and very recent ones too. There will have been event lines further down, but these have been rasped out - weakening the hoof wall.

Patching and nailing a crack like that is rather King Canute. Cause needs to be addressed.

Not 'feeding' because there is a lot of grass will contribute to the problem.

Pasture in the UK is almost universally short of copper, zinc and magnesium, all vital nutrients for horse/hoof health. So by only contributing grass fed calories the horse may develop a chronic shortage of these minerals.

A better, albeit less convenient approach is to restrict the grass intake, maybe entirely to start with, replace with low sugar hay (or soaked hay) and to feed a good quality vit/min mix. Something like D&H Surelimb or NAF Pink Powder.

There is no perfect supplement, they all have their failings, but some are better than others. For a horse in this level of distress I am not keen on seaweed based supplements because the levels of magnesium, copper and zinc are low. They do work for some horses in some parts of the country but I have yet to find them work for my most poorly clients.

The gold standard is to forage test and then mineral balance against this.

You won't fix the crack until you fix the cause.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
I would be getting a vet out as my first priority. It looks to me like your horse is severly deficient in certain minerals. I would get a blood test done and the vet's opinion on the feet and take it from there.

There are things to help the hoof externally such as Keratex hood moisturiser and Keratex hoof hardener, but the longterm help is the diet.

The feet don't look out of balance, but your vet and farrier should be advising you on diet. Does your horse remain sound?

You can see from the new growth ridges on the hoof that there has been a change in diet in the last coulple of months. Your horse will probably need to remain shod to hold the foot together (I know someone suggested taking the shoes off).
 
Hi guys, thanks for all the replies :)

My friend text me last night and her first port of call is to take the horse to the vet when the remidial farrier is there so that they can both take a look.

Question from me though re the over fertilised grass....... It does get fertilised each year, is that bad? Just asking because last summer I had problems with my horse's feet and he got white line disease and I struggled to keep shoes on him. For whatever reason they seem better this year although not as good as winter time? I had pretty much attributed that to the hard ground and the heat of late :confused:

I don't really feed my horse either, just some dengie hi fi light with apples as a token thankyou!
 
Foxhunter49 said:
I had a mare many years ago that had sand cracks far worse than this - she looked as if she was cloven footed they were so deep and bad - she was unshod at the time and I bought her off the knackers wagon.

My farrier shod her and plated the cracks, the worse foot then abscessed so the plate had to come off and he then stapled it when the abscess had healed.
The only thing he did do was to brand across the top of the crack.

It was then a matter of getting her feet to grow down so I would rub her coronary bands for five minutes each foot with Cornucrescine. I did this religiously every day and sometimes twice a day and her feet had grown out in 6-7 months.
Click to expand...

^^^^
A horse came to me last November with a hideously wide open sand crack that had been left unattended. The shoes had been on for several months and the foot looked like a cow's, crossed over at the toe and the hoof capsule had burst.

Our farrier is brilliant with remedial work. He put front double-clipped shoes on, did not plate or fill the crack, re-shod every 6 weeks. The crack held together from the coronary band immediately and has continued to grow out very successfully. This horse has very slow hoof growth and there is about 1'' still to grow until it has gone forever.

I use Cornucreine daily, add seaweed, calcined magnesite and sunflower oil to some Happy Hoof.
 
Poor poor horse and poor you. It is so difficult knowing what to do in a situation like this.

I think the main thing to take away from your horse's hooves, is that is is not just his hooves that are in a bad way - his hooves are attached to his legs, and legs attached to his body - those hooves are an indication that there is something very wrong with his diet and i would be suspicious of anyone who treats the hooves in isolation. Think about it - if your nails starting splitting and weakening, the first thing you would do is look at your diet? Right??

I would get a good dose of protexin pre/probiotic down him - this will help balance the gut and help his gut on the way to recovery. I would also, as lots of people have suggested get him on a vitamin and mineral supplement - I'm not sure it matter which - I just think this horse is in dire need of some good nutrition! I would also take him off that rich sugary grass....is there anywhere you can turn out that you can just feed hay but still keep him moving??? Difficult on a livery yard I know, maybe a school? Or a bit of the car park??

Lastly, and slightly controversial, but I would certainly look at getting those shoes off - allow the hooves to breathe and to move normally as they are supposed to do! I know someone has said that his 'feet will fall off', well not really true. Allowing his feet to flex and the blood to circulate, coupled with better nutrition will help his hoof wall grow faster and those nasty cracks grow out.

Whatever you decide re shoes - you certainly need to address his diet, quickly and drastically!

Good luck x
 
Hi i have also used a superb disenfectant on my horses feet from formula for feet i think all they do is foot related stuff but with a guarantee it works look at equilfe products just google it good luck
 
I think it rather unfair for people to jump on the farrier here without his input (presume it's a guy, appolgies if not) but his version of fine might not exactly be potrayed in the same sense as people are taking it, perhaps their fine as there is nothing more he can physically do at this moment in time, their farriers not miricle workers!

They can only work on the what ever the condition the hooves are in, if the owner is wanting the horse shod and the horse is being worked, there is not a lot a farrier can do when it comes to condition of the hoof they have to work with, it's down to the owner to make a few management changes in order improve the condition of the horn along with the farriers advice.
 
LucyPriory said:
Forgive me - I have scanned the posts and ended up a bit confused. So apologies for any misunderstanding of the information presented.

The photos show hooves with hefty, multiple event lines and very recent ones too. There will have been event lines further down, but these have been rasped out - weakening the hoof wall.

Patching and nailing a crack like that is rather King Canute. Cause needs to be addressed.

Not 'feeding' because there is a lot of grass will contribute to the problem.

Pasture in the UK is almost universally short of copper, zinc and magnesium, all vital nutrients for horse/hoof health. So by only contributing grass fed calories the horse may develop a chronic shortage of these minerals.

A better, albeit less convenient approach is to restrict the grass intake, maybe entirely to start with, replace with low sugar hay (or soaked hay) and to feed a good quality vit/min mix. Something like D&H Surelimb or NAF Pink Powder.

There is no perfect supplement, they all have their failings, but some are better than others. For a horse in this level of distress I am not keen on seaweed based supplements because the levels of magnesium, copper and zinc are low. They do work for some horses in some parts of the country but I have yet to find them work for my most poorly clients.

The gold standard is to forage test and then mineral balance against this.

You won't fix the crack until you fix the cause.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Agree with all of this.

This horse doesn't have a foot problem - it has a nutritional problem and the feet are a symptom.

Have a think about it - it started to get better then went worse - does this coincide with the grass growing?

If the owner is lucky, with the current reactive treatment, the feet will remain stable and begin to improve in the next few months (when the grass start to decrease with autumn) and then get into a reasonable shape by winter.

A better option would be to become proactive and get the horse's whole health sorted and give it a fighting chance at growing a decent hoof again.

The horse needs minerals, stat:)
 
I understand your point Kenzo. We can only go on the info posted on here but the owner said...

i am the owner of this lil guy . his feet have not always been like this, started off about 4-6 months ago and my farrier said its just the way the weather and ground is so left it for a bit, he then filled them in and stapled themabout 2 months ago and they were looking fab but its only been the past month that theyve started to become like this .. past 2 weeks in a row ive showed my farrier his feet and hes said there fine .. they'll 'grow out'.
Click to expand...

I think that we can all agree that this isn't just down to the weather and the ground.
 
poor horse, 6 weeks is far to long would make it 4 weeks shorter time between trimming will encourage growth so hopefully grow the crack out quicker and put a wire patch through it, get a farrier that really knows what they are doing, those shoes are so thin in front i would say they have been on for quite a while or the horse is doing more road work than a racehorse. Also take the horse out of the sandy field and feed just natural products hay and more hay and more hay/grass no cereals, get biotin and seaweed into it pronto, good luck
 
Ditto all the nutritional advice except

DO NOT feed seaweed unless you are sure that your grazing/forage are low enough in iron, manganese and iodine. Seaweed can overload all three and cause insulin use problems and thryroid issues.

It is perfectly clear from the photo that this horse is DESPERATE to grow a different angle of foot from the one it has got. Look at the top half inch of growth, and see how much it deviates from that angle, very suddenly, at about the half inch mark. I believe that it will be the stresses of having feet at the wrong angle that will be causing these cracks, on top of a probable mineral imbalance and/or sugar tolerance problem.

I only know one surefire way to fix that imbalance and that is to get the horse barefoot. And before anyone screams - how can a horse with cracks like that go barefoot, I've seen a WORSE one, with crossover cloven-hoof effect, and lame in shoes to boot, be cured in one hoof growth cycle. Nic Barker can show you photos of Bailey if you email her from the rockleyfarm.co.uk site.

OP your farrier is off his rocker if he thinks those feet are OK, sorry :( I think you need to take quick action to prevent your horse becoming, and staying, lame.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top