New here and needing advice

[Taz's Mom]

I bought a beautiful Skewbald Gelding and he has a crack in his hoof. I was told it was just from it drying out. He is still under warranty.

This crack turns into quite a wide gap, running from the coronary band right to the bottom. My farrier came out and re-shod him and thinks he can still have a hacking future, however my vet thinks it's much more serious than that and he will be a walking vet bill. He suggested nerve block tests if I keep him. Both agree he has had serious trauma to the hoof, and that in that area the horn will never grow.

I have already fallen in love with this boy and he rides like a dream.. my question is.. is there any hope for him? I don't want to give up on him as he is only 4, and I know he's worthless once I decide to keep him.

The poor boy also appears to have a small sarcoid to the face.. but we won't be sure until a biopsy is done.

I can take pictures tomorrow so you can see the damage.

Many thanks

[wonkeywoody]

Did you get him vetted before purchase?
Wont make assumptions til seen at least a picture but have seen my farrier (lectures at Oatridge training college) put a 'brace' across the outside of a hoof to stop a split from continually spreading up the wall to the coronary band allowing it to grow out eventually. Maybe a 2nd opinion is in order.....

[noodles]

Hi Taz's mom, I've just registered so that I can answer your post as I really wanted to give you some reassurance. My 18 year old mare also has a crack/split in one of her hooves,it runs from her coronet right down to the bottom and she has had it for years after suffering a blow to the coronet at some time in the past (I've only had her a few months). However it does not bother at all she is and always had been sound on it and although the farrier has said it won't grow out she regularly has it cut into a V shape and has a staple in her hoof to keep the two sides together. She's in normal shoes and only gets done at the normal intervals, the only thing I am now doing, after advice from the blacksmith, is to regularly spray it with Bactiban to prevent infection and am also using Kevin Bacon. The only downside is that I have had to tell the insurance company and they have put an endorsement on the policy so that I can't claim for any problems with the crack, but there again(touch wood) I haven't had any. Obviously it may not be exactly the same situation as your gelding but I just wanted to let you know that it's not all doom and gloom. Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps:).

[Roofio]

it depends on how deep the crack is and whats causing it... feet are a minefield, i wouldnt touch another with dodgy feet after all the heartache ive been through with my lad... but as noodles said it doesnt mean that its all over :)

[Lucyad]

Eek, my horse has a crack on one fore hoof, you can feel it through the coronet band, so my farrier has confirmed that it will never grow out (had him for a year aned half and it is always the same). He thinks it was probably from when he was young and his feet not trimed, that they just split as they grew out into soup plates:mad:. However my farrier has also confirmed that loads of owners would KILL for my horses feet - they are otherwise great! So I am little confused that it is an issue? However it may be more serious than mine - I would always take vets and farrier's advice.

Funnily enough my horse also has a sarcoid over one eye. He has scarring that looks as if it has been removed in the past, but the new nodular growth (under the skin - just a bumb) isnt bothering him or me, so we will leave it to see what happens - we are trying a newly avaialble cream as soon as my vet has received it though.

[Taz's Mom]

What do you think?

[KAB]

Hi and Welcome to NR! He looks a lovely chap :)

I cant help you out on the hoof problem but my boy Taz (same name, but he is a piebald) !! has sarcoids - quite a few around his groin. They havent caused any problem over the last twelve months (thats how long i`ve had him) and they havent grown in size. I did put some herb treatment someone reccommended to me on a couple of the smaller ones and they dropped off and healed great.

How long have you got left on the warranty? Would it be worth speaking with the trader you purchased him from to raise your concerns sooner rather than later.

Good luck!

[Denbenj]

Wow thats one big crack he has there. I would maybe ask for an extension on the warrenty, if you have further tests to do... to make sure he has a future or not.
I would be absolutley sure before you say the final ' yes'

Good luck, apart from the crack hes lovely bless him x

[Wally]

I'd have moved the toe clip over so it wasn't on the widest part of the crack.

You can let tiny staples to hammer into the wall of the hoof to stabilise the crack.

Is he sound did you say?

Okay, the area of horn may never grow, but it's not necessrily the end of the hoof.

It's so hard to say without seeing the hoof in the flesh, so to speak. Under the sole as well as on the wall.

If your farrier is confident that the hoof will be okay then I'd take his advice, but I don't understand why the vet wants to do nerve blocks.

Ask him if it would be a good idea to put another clip each side of the crack to support it, or use a little staple.

Even a pair of hind glue ons might be the answer in the short term. as they support the whole wall, just until it grows and you can assess it.

[Taz's Mom]

I thought he was lame and had the vet look at him, who told me he actually looked fine. I have witnessed him sometimes looking lame in walk but being fine in trot and he galavants around his field well enough!.. so I'm not sure if it's ever true lameness. May just be me being paranoid.

The vet advised me to see how he goes over the next 2 weeks.. to see if he can cope with being ridden without any lameness. He mentioned nerve blocks to see exactly where any lameness was.. if he ever does go truly lame.

I know he has been ridden for the past 12 months and had even done a little riding school work just before I bought him.

The vet mentioned him maybe needing some paste treatment for the sarcoid in 12 months time.. it's quite small at the moment.

As far as his future.. who knows best the farrier or the vet? Does anyone know of a good specialist farrier in Shropshire?

Where the widest part of the crack is.. won't that eventually grow out leaving just the thinner crack?

Many thanks :)

[noodles]

It's very similar to my horses crack in her hoof. In my case, unfortunately, as the hoof grows it splits so there is always the wider crack at the bottom, that why her hoof is cut into an upside down V shape at the bottom of the crack to keep it neat, and hopefully stop infection, and she has a staple just above the the top of the V to stop the crack from opening up at the top.

eta
My toe clip in the middle away from the crack so it's widest part is covered by the normal shoe.

[Taz's Mom]

Thanks noodles.. it's nice to know someone else with the same problem.. do you ride your horse as normal too? Is your horses crack on a back or front hoof?

Would be nice to stay in touch :)

[Wally]

The crack will only grow out with good shoeing, placing a clip in the middle of the crack won't help close it. The farrier might need to adjust the clips on the shoe.

It's a 5 minute job to grind one clip off and draw out another where you need it.

It will also depend on what areas of the hoof are affected. how deep the crack goes.

If he's a good horse in every other respect he might be worth the risk. get on to the farriers registry and maybe get a second opinion from a farrier in your area. I woudl tend to beleive a farrier rather than a vet when it comes to feet, but then some vets really know their stuff!

[mogadoga]

Alex has one hoof like this, the side clip is moved to support it, and he is sound and fine and dandy, i wouldnt let that put you off.

Also the sarcoid, they are treatable, i successfully used global herbs sarc x cream. Otheers have had to go to the vet which is more costly, but some are fine left alone and others are definatly treatable, but get it checked out.

Best of luck!

[MelanieD]

I've seen far worse grow out without a day's lameness and never cause a problem again. The crack is narrow at the top and I can't see anything going into the coronet band so don't think its anything to panic too much over. Even if there was a small bit of coronet band damage if the crack is only that bad now then I think its a totally manageable crack.

The bottom seems to be wider partly because the foot is flaring about halfway down, the growth at the top is at a different angle to growth at ground level. That'll keep pressure on the crack and stop is closing up at the top. I've seen plenty of cracks not get too much worse or even improve a bit while shod.. but that's not the best way I've seen for getting rid of cracks, probably going to get a slapped wrist for posting this in the shod bit but can't resist :D

If you take the shoes off and get a good trim then inner wall should be able to thicken up and stabilise the crack pretty quickly, and IME that does a much better job of supporting cracks and persuading them to grow out than any fancy farriery with shoes and staples across cracks etc.

I've got a collection of cracked footed horses. Roxy had 3 including one that was so bad it wobbled and looked like 2 feet stuck together. She now only has one tiny surface crack, that one is unlikely to ever go away because there is a tiny mark in the coronet band but its not a problem at all. (Her worst crack is second one down on www.unshod.co.uk results page, and the before pic doesn't show it at anywhere near its worst) Mia has one crack from a coronet band injury, thin line in the wall that hasn't caused her any problems. Her other coronet band injury is too spectacular to be called a crack but that also doesn't cause any problems. She's barefoot and totally sound and the cracks are no problem to her. Jay has a collection of them because her feet had been neglected and would have been amazing if they didn't crack with the shape they were in. Some of them were big wide ones with chunks missing, most of them are starting to grow out now her feet are in better shape. She was lame when I got her but sound now even though the cracks are still there, lameness was due to other foot cr*ppiness and not the cracks.

[Lucyad]

Had a look at the photos - my horse's crack is further round one side, but is plit right through the coronet band (you can feel a pronounced 'dip', but he has been 100% sound since I got him and his feet are great (8 weeks at least between shoes, never lame if he throws one (and very rarely does) etc..). I would agree re. taking farrier's advice though - might be wrse that it looks in the pics in real life, so to speak.

[gypsygold]

The crack certainly isnt just from drying out - hoping its the only untruth you have been told. There has been som definite trauma to the foot and the crack I would think is very unlikely to ever grow out.

If you havent already done so I would have your horse vetted by a good 'equine' vet as you certainly seem a bit unsure of your present one. Ask other horse owners who they recomend or even in your local tack shop. I have seen horses which have been lame on trot up pass vettings with non-equine vets (many moons ago now though).

Did your vet recomend a biopsy of the sarcoid - as far as I was aware anything suspiciously like a saroid shouldnt be biopsied as it can make sarcoids respond by becoming much worse than previously.

If you really like him I would pay the extra for a vetting to be sure.

[noodles]

Hi I ride every day (with one day off) and it doesn't bother her at all, I don't need to restrict my riding and go out hacking in the countryside and the beach and also schooling in a sand paddock. Her crack is on the near fore and other than using the products shown above it doesn't get any special treatment. I think she has had it for so long that it is very stable.

[Dizzy]

Both mine are shod with natural balance shoes, which don't have any toe clips. I'm not very good at explaining things, so here's the website.

www.hopeforsoundness.com

My girls aren't due to be shod for about 4 weeks, but I'll print off your thread and photos and show them to my blacksmith and let you know what he says.

[rusk]

I wish now I had kept photos of my horse's crack as it was a beauty. Apparently the horn was growing twisted in the foot once the shoe was put on closing the crack. It was also right up the middle of his hoof. He was operated on to fix the problem and then a copper plate was screwed on over the crack. My farrier was a bag of nerves ( he only admits that now that we can't remember which foot was damaged!) and spent ages finding the right screw and plate. Everyone was fascinated by the plate which was about 2 inches square and screwed in at each corner. After a few months the plate was removed and the crack was growing out. Back shoes were put on the front at first but after 6 months the foot was absolutely fine!
So, no, don't let it worry you, it can be fixed. Always use a foot strengthener supplement and hopefully you will conquer the problem! GOOD LUCK!

[Remmy]

My take on your situation is that if you want to stay with the farriery side (shoes) then have a chat with your farrier about the plastic shoes. As long as he trims off the flare and there isn't damage to the coronet then the horn should grow down intact. It's the flare in the hoof wall which keeps stretching the crack and keeps it open. Otherwise, try a barefoot trimmer. I bet you'd be amazed at the difference in 6 months. You could always go back to metal shoes later on anyway once the crack has healed :)

There's an excellent barefoot forum here (http://aepauk.proboards56.com/) where you could find a trimmer if you decided to try this route - oh, and a load of very helpful and knowledgeable people there too :)