cracked hoofs

[herondell]

my new mare has got a long crack up her back hoof im going to get the farrier out to give her a trim because i dont think she has had one for a while,what is the best thing to put on her hoof to help her hoofs so it grows out and not keep cracking ,she is infoal so dont know if i can put anything in her feed,the split is long,has anyone had this problem and what did you do or is there anything the farrier can do.

[baybabe]

my mare feet were terrible when she was pregnant as she all the goodness was going to baby they were very soft and brittle.my farrier suggested kertex as she was already getting biotin in her feed i would use it sparingly though.

[herondell]

thanks baybabe it is a nasty one

[Yann]

Is the foot flared? That's the usual cause of cracks at the toe. Get the farrier to address that and relieve the area of hoof wall where the crack meets the ground, that should stop it getting worse. If it's deep some disinfection might be in order too, bugs can get into the weakness and make it semi permanent.

[Bay Mare]

If she hasn't been trimmed for a while (what do you call a while?) then that's probably what's caused the crack. Either from imbalance, the outer wall hitting the ground and being pushed back, flare, heels too high or a combination of things!

To get on top of it she needs regular trims (4-6 weeks) with control of any flare and rolling the toes so that the outer wall isn't hitting the ground will help plus get on top of any infection. Hopefully a correctly balanced foot is a given ... though that isn't necessarily the case unfortunately!

Personally I don't really like putting lotions and potions on feet unless it's for control of infection.

[Wally]

A good trimming, and as Bay Mare says, lotions and potions on feet are never a good idea, unless under vet or farrier's advice and for infection control.

Bleach and water is about the best treatment for most common hoof infections anyway! Cheaper than hoof dressing!

[coss]

your farrier may put a notch in the hoof to prevent the crack going further up.
i know of a horse who's crack went up onto the coronary band :eek: and the farrier had to use wire to "sew" the hoof back together. haven't heard about the horse for a while but last i heard he was fine.
i use hoof moist to make hooves more "plyable" (probably the wrong word but can't think of a good one :rolleyes: ) during the summer and my mare's hooves haven't cracked as much.
as said by others, a good trim will help a lot.

[Wally]

You can buy little hoof staples for bad cracks. They look like a sort of "U" shaped fishing hook with sharp points and you just hammer it over the crack. and let it grow out.

[MelanieD]

Borax is pretty good as something to soak with occasionally to make sure there isn't infection in the crack. Infection can keep cracks open even if there isn't any obvious minging stuff. Otherwise just a good balanced trim should eventually persuade it to grow out.

One of mine had three cracks, two of them into the coronet band, one of them more missing chunk than crack and it wobbled it was so unstable. Getting rid of any infection and good trimming sorted them out and the worst one is now a barely visible mark in the surface of the hoof wall. First farrier had attempted to rasp across the cracks which did absolutley nothing to help. Next farrier was considering resection and patching the crack but never got around to it before I decided pony was going barefoot. Both farriers thought shoeing to support the cracks was necessary but it never seemed to do any good and I'm pretty sure actually made things worse.

[herondell]

melanie where would i buy borax or is there anything thats just as good i can buy in the feed shops

[Wally]

Borax is available at chemists. Bleach is as good as anything, especially Oxy bleach as most hoof infecting bacterea are anaerobic and don;t like oxygen. Exposure to air and oxygen kills them off.

[MelanieD]

Borax can be bought at some chemists or there's a website that sells it, called something like greenshop, can't remember exactly. Virkon or diluted milton (think its about 30%) work as well if you can't get borax.