Horizontal cracks on back of hoof/horn - what causes this?

[LouLou3]

Hi everyone,

I've been posting updates on my horses lameness - finally after about 8/10 weeks of on off lameness he developed an abcess - its a week in and it looks as though its healing nicely (fingers crossed).

In the beginning the farrier and vet found a crack in his lame hoof and thought he needed remedial shoeing as he has overrun heels, long toes etc - that worked and he came sound for about 2 weeks and then he got the abcess - am so pleased that it has finally come out and he can recover...BUT, I've now noticed two cracks in the same place on his other foreleg and one back leg.

I've been in touch with the vet who has suggested the following daily routine to manage them - flush with water, scrubbing diluted iodine solution into the cracks and then rub cornucrescine into them. I've been doing that for 3 days now but I'm petrified these cracks will go the same way as his last one.

The farrier is coming out tomorrow to look at his abcess so I'm going to ask him what we can do about the other cracks but I wondered what you guys all thought?

Oh, I've also started to give him biotin too.

Any thoughts re: what causes them and how to deal with them would be gratefully received

 

[mrdarcy]

Can you post some photos?

Do you mean underrun heels rather than overrun? If he has underrun heels and long toes the back of his foot will be weak and the digital cushion underdeveloped - these could be contributing to these cracks but without a clear photo it's hard to say for sure. You might also want to ask your farrier (assuming this is one you've been using for a while) why he's let your horse's feet get underrun and the toes long - these are all things that are very preventable.

 

[LouLou3]

Hi - I've only had the horse about 6 months and had a real job trying to find a local "good" farrier - I HOPE I've finally found one, he's recommended by vets and everyone locally - this will be the 2nd visit from our new farrier so hopefully he will now be able to sort him out but we did have a bad one I'm afraid - people tell me that he has been the cause of this trouble but I'm not sure. He has low heels and long toes - don't have any pics - the crack seems to be at the back of the quarter - running round the outer wall into the inside - pretty much a cm above the shoe. Sorry if this isn't a good description but its the best I can do..!!

 

[Naggy]

Horizontal cracks are 99% of the time down to abscesses as they blow out of the coronary band and then grow down, so it sounds very much like it is down to old abscesses growing out. Basically when left to their own devices and they are not dug out the sole, abscesses will mostly erupt out of the coronary band / heel bulbs which is perfectly normal and the only thing you have to worry about is when they get right to the floor and crack off, but again to be honest, the corium of the hoof will most definately have sealed up a long time ago and therefore I wouldn't be worried about infection or anything. Once the abscess has burst the hoof capsule will have sealed itself off within a couple of days at most in most cases. What I would be concerned about is why the horse is suffering from so many abscesses, but as you say it has poor feet then you may find it just takes time to get them better with good hoof care. You may find that more of these horizontal cracks appear for a while yet, particularly as you say there has been a recent abscess. I would highly recommend that they are left well alone as all they need to do is grow out.