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Originally Posted by nldiaz66 I will get pics tomorrow. They are chipping and cracking, I was told because of the dry sand. I have been putting hooflex on it.His hoofs were trimmed about 4 weeks ago, usually done every eight weeks, the farrier said because they don't grow fast. |
The pictures help a lot :)
Here are my thoughts - much of which is based on the fact that I have been trimming off and on for 49 years and took my horses hooves back full time last year because they now need to be barefoot and I was becoming unhappy with my shoer's work anyway :)
1. While his hooves don't need "nipped" all that often, my thought is that he should be rasped (filed) down once a month until your weather cools down. I know that's probably a huge expense.
2. I am so sorry to say this, but that is not a good trim job if what we are looking at is only 4 weeks old --- dry weather and sand or not. I lived in SoCal's low desert for five years. All my horses had was a one acre sand paddock to live in that entire time.
Two of my three horses were barefoot that entire five years and their hooves never looked like that even after six weeks.
2.1 The toe crack is from the ground UP and needs immediate attention before it gets worse. It could be from a poor trim job and fungus could be compounding the healing issue.
What can be done until the farrier gets back out is to treat that toe track with a fungacide. There are many things on the market.
Since I now have four horses to care for, I use what works the best and is the cheapest for any sort of fungal-looking issues on the soles or hoof walls:
3 parts water
1 part white vinegar
1 part clorox
I keep it in a spray bottle at the barn. I use empty (well-washed) 409 or Fantastic bottles because they are made for chemicals and will hold up much longer than those cute spray bottles one buys in the tack shop or in WalMart.
As to topical hoof treatment in your sandy environment:
When I lived in SoCal and the temps could get up over 100 in late summer and early-to-mid-fall, regular hoof dressings rolled off their hooves like water.
The only thing that worked was Mollimentum. It is a hoof grease and I used a cheap 2" paint brush from WalMart to put it on.
http://www.tuttles.com/
Tuttles has been in the horse care business since the late 1800's and I can say the Mollimentum works.
Last year my area of Middle Tennessee was beyond the "exceptional drought" status. My pasture was threadbare. I dug out the Mollimentum and used it 2-3 times per week, depending which horse.
While a good trim and good diet are essential, when you live in the dry and sandy conditions you live in, a little topical help is needed this time of year. But from what I can see, your horse's hooves don't look all that dried out
Those are just my thoughts on how I would proceed. Others may have different and better ideas :)
Again, I am so sorry to say this, but the main flaw I see is the farrier because those hooves should not be in that condition if those hooves were trimmed only four weeks ago :(
if the trim is not right nothing you do will STOP the crack and/or chipping 
