question for Hoof people!!

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts

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My mare has been BF for 3 weeks now, her feet have cracked, split and have disapperared at the sides ie broken off :o

I have a different farrier coming out next week was supposed to be Friday but his van broke down :o

Spoke to vet whol said it will be her feet re-establishing break over points that are natural to her as her toes are too long (previously pointed out) and once the tos have been rumped back and rolled we shouldnt have any further problems if seen to regularly.

Now I have orderd a tub of hoofmender (got samples of hoof supps to see what she would eat and that won ;) ) for her which I will be adding slowly (shes started scouring recently so treating her for that) and shes getting cornucrescine rubbed into her feet daily (my nails are growing like crazy lol) and her feet disinfected every two days for thrush (suggested on here).

So can someone explain the re-establishing of breakover and what this will mean for her feet and tendon please :) thanx xx
 
http://www.barefoothorse.com/barefoot_Breakover.html

Hi, the above is a very basic page that may explain a bit for you. You could also try looking at the hoof gallery pictures on that site as they give some examples.
What your vet means is that now the shoe has gone your horse is creating the feet that she wants and pulling the breakover back to correct the previous problem.
I obviously haven't seen your feet but I suspect that if the toes are long the hoof is "further forward" of where it should be. Once the breakover and foot comes back (after she grows a new hoof) then it will be nearer where it should be. ie very simply the feet will be back under the horse and the horse will be landing heel first as she should be doing.


http://www.hoofrehab.com/breakover.htm this one is probably harder work to get through but well worth a read as is the rest of the hoofrehab.com site.

If her shoes came off 3 weeks ago the walls will be cracking and splitting up to the old nail holes. This is normal. You can improve it by getting a sanding block (a fiver from B & Q) and rounding the edges as you would with an emery board on your own nails. This will help prevent splitting.

If you put your finger on the coronary band and run it very sllightly down the first quarter of an inch or so you will see it is much straighter down before changing angle. This new straighter part is the line of the new growth. If you can imagine this going right down to the ground (you will have to use your imagination as this line will be inside the hoof) where it hits the ground will be the front of your new foot which you will see is further back (ie breakover is back)
hope some of this makes sense :D
 
ome of the reading is a bit :eek: but you need to know it and it does get easier :D:D

looking at your thread with pics. you can see for example in your 3rd pic the heels running forward.
If you look at pic no 8 (ie white foot with black water bin in the background )
get a ruler and put it on the front wall so it is straight on the new quarter inch of growth on the top. You will see how much foot there is in front of it at the bottom of the wall.
 
Paddy555's reply says it all:)

The feet are transitioning just now. In the immortal words of Pete Ramey, "They'll look like crap. Just don't look at them."
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As long as the horse is comfortable enough to stand and move around - then it's all good.

Someone new to all this may see that the hoof is breaking up.

But a barefooter would see that it's the hoof remodeling to what it SHOULD be.

And it's an amazing thing. And it's the best thing for your horse's hooves, tendons, joints, muscles etc etc
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What you need to do is step back and let it happen. Try to help if you can (good diet and walking on as many surfaces as you can find within the horse's comfort) but DO NOT hinder.

And don't rub lotions or potions on the feet
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. They're unlikely to do any good at this point, but they are likely to do harm.
All your horse's feet would need (if anything) is water - and there's an abundance of that around at the moment anyway. Anything other than water can upset the moisture balance of the wall and it's busy enough at the moment. Don't make it work harder than it needs to.

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Horse's hooves are often considered to be weak and precious and requiring protection and 'telling what to do and where to go'. But they are amazing, dynamic structures.
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Sorry Oberon I missed out answering the actual question lol :)

She isnt getting walked much except for an hour on some hardcore twoce a day when she and her stable buddy are being mucked out :) She will be on boxrest until we get a nce hard freeze and there is no mud to be sucking at her legs (withe the damage to the SDFT this is the last thing the vet or I wants :)) then she will get limited turnout in a small space that will gradually increase over the coming winter months, however if it gets mild and soggy again she will have to come back into the hardcore and get walked out inhand once we have the go ahead for that (exciting times :eek:) from the vet :)

Ok I will stop with the cornucrescine :) She has been sore and is walking on the outside of her hoof but vet has said thats because her tooes are too long and she is walking on the front of her sole (no idea what the tech term is for that) but once the feet have sorted themselves she will apparently be walking where she should be and this will stop :)
 
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