question about the hoof

[western]

Once in awhile my horses hoofs will have a small crack and they like peel off or i will peel them off. Its kinda like a hangnail on a person. Is it because the horse isnt getting enough moisture on the hoofs? I just had his feet trimmed a couple of weeks ago. Is it normal for a horses hoof to be doing that ?

[virtuallyhorses]

Do you mean a little piece of the surface ? Or do you mean a little chip out of the hoof wall?

In either case it is probably normal wear and tear. Don't forget that a horse's hoof is under tremedous strain and is also continually growing in order to keep up with wear and tear so it is perfectly normal to have small chips and cracks and such like. The hoof is generally speaking able to look after moisture levels quite well for itself and isn't usually helped by us slapping various oils and potions on it - although it makes us feel better.

Hooves can be affected by large variations in moisture - say a heavy downpour followed by a hot dry day which alternately soaks and then bakes the hoof very quickly. They are also affected by genetics and nutrition.

If they are small chips and surface cracks don't worry too much - but do ask your farrier - he\she is the best person to ask since they can see the thing you are worried about :)

[virtuallyhorses]

This photo is an example of a hoof with chips caused by lack of trimming (wear and tear) even though it look fairly ugly even this sort of damage hasn't actually compromised the hoof (yet).

[western]

well in the picture that virtarally horses has its not that bad . Its just little cracks and they peel off.

[maverick927]

Mavy gets that too.
We feed biotin to try and minimise the damage and he also has to wear shows to protect his feet. Other than that he can't be ridden or he will go lame.

[liz--y]

socking feed in buckets of water can help, ( this is what my farrier adviested) + feed seaweed and biotin. to not feed seaweed to a skinny horse are it speads up the matabolisum