The mysterious hoof crack

[CanteringCarrot]

After riding the other day in the indoor school (great footing) I noticed that my horse had blood on his hoof. I looked and on the inside of the hoof, on the hoof wall, was a small crack. It looked like he hit himself (wouldn't be a surprise) but I can't be sure. The odd thing about the crack is that it is in the middle of the hoof wall and vertical. So not like a quarter crack or sand crack in that it doesn't come from the coronary band or the ground. There is solid hoof above the crack and below the crack. The crack is maybe 1 in/2.5 cm, if that in length. Not wide, but apparently deep as there was some blood. Horse showed no lameness that day.

The next day I walked him a ways up a hill and back for some hand grazing to get acclimated to grass since he's been on dry lot turnout for the winter and when I returned a very small amount of blood was coming from the crack, I had to look closely to see it. No lameness, walked up and down the hill fine. Took some odd steps but it was a rocky hill.

So now I'm giving him a bit of a break this week and may snap a pic today to send to the vet and farrier. Vet and farrier have worked in combination before as this horse has battled quarter cracks. He's currently in a special bar shoe with center support and pads. He's had x-rays (which were great and had everyone puzzled), various forms of special shoeing, multiple professional opinons, and so on. His hooves and angles look really good at the moment, and his last quarter crack is growing out nicely. So, wth is this? It's too far forward to be quarter crack related methinks. It is also mid hoof wall, and the rest of the hoof and wall is healthy. No signs of abscess. I Google'd around but couldn't quite find something, aside from "grass cracks" that came close to this description.

 

[ycbm]

The description fits with a horse of mine who I saw tread on his own back foot with the end of the inside branch of the shoe on the other foot, and punch a hole clean through the hoof wall.

I would squirt peroxide into it twice daily for several days. It should harden with a sheet of keratin at some point and grow out.

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[Leo Walker]

IT sounds like an abscess exit wound to me

 

[ycbm]

Abscess exit wounds normally grow down the hoof from the top and it would be very unusual for them to bleed once they had reached half way with good horn above them.
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[CanteringCarrot]

I feel as though it is not an abscess exit wound due to it being a slim vertical crack as opposed to horizontal and originating from the top. I'll post up a pic later.

The vet and farrier will come tomorrow, and we'll see how to proceed from there.

The only thing I haven't tried is barefoot. He's not shod in the rear, but I've been hesitant to pull the supportive shoes and pads in the front as I'm not sure if it would compromise the healing of the quarter crack on the right front that is growing out due to the loss of stability that would occur when pulling the shoes (that support the hoof wall). I thought barefoot may help his heel expand as they are a bit contracted - which in my experience is somewhat typical for a PRE/Spanish horse, unfortunately. Their hoof shape tends to be more upright anyhow. But I've seen far worse hooves that don't experience cracking like his, so who knows.

Oddly enough his hoof quality isn't bad. His hooves don't chip or crumble and hold shoes well. The unshod hind hooves hold up just fine over our rocky ground. I do feed him a diet with hoof health in mind as well as laminitis - he's never had laminitis but he's a good doer so doesn't need sugars, excess calories, and so on. Really thought it was mechanical then but the x-rays said otherwise. Things were going well for quite awhile, but he felt it unusual to not have a vet visit I'll probably also have blood drawn for the sake of it since the vet is there. I had this done in fall and everything was normal. Magnesium a bit high, but not of concern. I could only wish a diet imbalance or something mechanical could be found! Then at least we'd know whats wrong.

 

[ycbm]

Do you do anything to correct mineral imbalances?

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Do you do anything to correct mineral imbalances?

I edited my last post to cover this before I saw your post

His mineral/feed is structured to compensate for the deficiencies in his forage. Previous testing has shown nothing remarkable in respect to selenium and other minerals, but as I said, I'll do another test because it is easy enough.

 

[ycbm]

I don't have a picture of it fixed but this crack was unstable in shoes and flexed. It grew out straight away when he was able to choose his own foot balance.

 

[ycbm]

I edited my last post to cover this before I saw your post

His mineral/feed is structured to compensate for the deficiencies in his forage. Previous testing has shown nothing remarkable in respect to selenium and other minerals, but as I said, I'll do another test because it is easy enough.

Excellent.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

I don't have a picture of it fixed but this crack was unstable in shoes and flexed. It grew out straight away when he was able to choose his own foot balance.


View attachment 44900

Interesting! His current set-up allowed the left front crack to grow completely out, and the right is on its way. So I feel that it works to some extent...aside from this current mystery which may or may not be shoeing related. I asked the vet about going barefoot last time, he said, "Why not, it is the one thing you haven't tried." ...as we all stood around puzzled.

Well, with COVID-19 there are not competitions at the moment, so now may be as good of a time as any.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

So. Still need to grab my phone for that pic.

But anyway the vet was out and we decided to pull his shoes. So they'll come off within the next week. I am nervous. If after a few weeks it looks like it's going to crap then we'll put on shoes ...maybe a Z-bar shoe. Would love if this works out.