how does everyone manage cracks in hooves?tell me all!

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amandaco2

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my 5yo tbx has just had her shoes off too (well 3-4months ago)
basically when i got her, she had fronts on and her front feet had awful cracks and her heels were very under-run, toes long, frogs were tiny, bad flares and had medo-lateral imbalances-she could have been reshod every 3 weeks- even if only because the shoes were so loose after this short time, but she grows very little foot in that time.

i had her reshod every 4-5 weeks for the balance issues but the feet werent improving much at all over those 5 months and the cracks were getting worse so placing the nails was impossible without putting them alongside or in a crack!

so i took the shoes off, she had a holiday and is now back in work.

she had very very flat feet and thin walls and soles.

now the feet look lots better and her soles no longer flex to my finger pressure, her walls look alot tighter, heels and frog more developed and she strides out much more!the farrier himself says they look the best they ever had!(he has known her since a weanling)
the cracks are generally improving on all her feet(the backs are vasty better than the fronts, as they were to start with.they had never had shoes on)
she is fine working in the school everyday and hacks on smooth roads comfortably, although i do put hoof boots on her as i cant want her footsore. she marches over the gravel area in the yard no probs so maybe i shoudl do short hacks without boots..?

BUT i am worried about one crack that could become a problem-
its quite deep and the farrier dug a big chunk of the wall out (while the cracked area was halfway down the hoof wall)this chunk is now almost at the floor-am worried it may split up the hoof wall and make her lame/sore or get infected..

should i fill it with keratex putty? (after cleaning and disinfecting obviously)

i am reluctant to put her front shoes back on just for this if i can sucessfully manage her without, as being naked (at least for a while) seems to be doing her feet the world of good.

(i know she may need them in the summer if the ground is hard and if she needs them she can have them back on.)

none of my other horses have had such cracked feet so i am at a slight loss how to deal with it best!
 
i can't quite picture how it is, but can your farrier cut a V (other way up) in it so that it cannot spread out more, i.e. so that bit of wall is not in contact with the ground. that's what mine did with one of my youngsters, who has had terrible cracks which are finally improving (almost grown out now) due to the rather drastic Vs he did below the cracks.
hope that makes sense!
 
Try rubbing Pedacine or Cornucresine (excuse spellling) into the hoof. Feeding Hoof and Hide is a good supplement by NAF that I have found works on TB types.

You could fill the gaps with Keratax Hoof Putty. That has antiseptic in it.
 
I would actually think what the farrier has done will mean it won't crack as what I am visualising is a chunk that looks like the door of an iglu... so it should grow down fine, as pressure will be spread accross the chunk rather than in one small existing crack.

But if you are worried I would say speak to the farrier about him filling it as I would think a farriers filler would probably last longer than putty, my thoughts are though that a filler or putty without a shoe on would just fall out, though but he might have a really good one!

We took shoes off my boy as his feet were awful, although heel was fine everything else you describe is what his were like.. unfortunately though he didn't take to barefoot and ended up crippled in pain so we had to put shoes back on but 1 year down the line and many tubs of Formula 4 feet and his feet are transformed, and looking the best they ever have, also his shoes are lasting 6 weeks which is a hell of a lot easier on the pocket than 3-4 weeks!!
 
yes it looks abit like a doorway.
it already has a small crack extending up from the dome part at the top
frown.gif

will ask the farrier if he can fill it
smile.gif

shes fed hay and topspec comprehensive.
 
You could ask your farrier to burn or cut a notch above the crack, this should prevent it moving upwards.
 
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