Problems with outside lower hoof wall

I have recently brought home my 35 year old retired horse and found out that her hooves are terrible! I am looking after both of my other horses feet so I know what to do with the incredibly high heels. What I have no idea what to do with is the outsides of her walls. All around the bottom edge of all four hooves, there are what look like layers, and the top layer is much further up from the rest, it seems like the top layer of wall is splitting away. There is blackness between every layer I'm not sure if it is mud or rot. I have filed down as much as I dare but there are still those black lines. Also there are big chunks missing from the outside of her left front and back wall.
I hope I have described it well enough! Please help if you can I am really lost!
Thanks!

Hi,

In fear of stating the obvious, if you don't know what to do regarding hoof care, find someone that does! You say you 'look after your other horses so know what to do' but if that only means maintaining reasonable feet, that can be a very different ballgame to correcting problems. For eg. As a rule, regardless of how much higher her heels are to where they 'should' be, you shouldn't just cut them down to 'ideal' parameters.

Re the lower hoof walls, sounds like they're peeling & splitting & yes, there probably is rot in there as well as mud. Diet, nutrition & environment(wet footing for eg) are all likely to play a part in the cause, as well as neglected hoofcare. I'd be treating it like any other kind of 'seedy toe' & cleaning/cutting out as much as necessary & treating it with an antiseptic until it can grow out.

If you would like to send some hoof pics(see link below in my signature) and more info on her management, diet, etc, we could give you some more specific advice.

I would start by soaking them in Apple cider vinegar and water(50/50) or stonger. To make that easier soak some cloth(old socks) apply to hoof. Wrap with vetwrap or whatever will keep it on and wet/clean..

The reason why I've been doing it my self is because our local farrier would just leave her feet and say they were fine (she does have really strong feet that don't get to long) he even did that while she was at her retiring home. We (mum and I) didn't know that heels were meant to be low and frogs wide so we trusted him in doing our horses hooves properly. Then we learnt more and I decided I would have to do it myself and learn as I go. All our horses hooves are already looking much better even if their not 100% I've only been doing it myself for about half a year now and have never come across any problems, now that I have I am trying to find out and learn as much as I can about this, to help as best I can. I will upload pictures soon but I can't find the cable at the moment

No worries! That's the way a lot of us started - finding out farriers just weren't much chop & that we could, as beginners, do at least as good a job. But there are some great farriers & professional trimmers out there & I advise you find one if you can. What area are you from & maybe someone here may have a suggestion?

In the meantime, yep, hoof pics & more info on diet, management, etc will get you some more specific advice.

It's generally considered not a good idea to rasp the walls because it weakens what may be already compromised, but if you round the walls off, soak them as Appyt suggested, with some apple cider vinegar or a stronger antifungal and actibacterial, would be a good idea. Iodine soaks are good too. Putting the horse on antibiotics along with giving some probiotics may also help.

At 35, do you think your horse may need some supplements to his/her diet to strengthen the immune system and maybe a biotin supplement? There may be some nutritional extras needed at that age which could be contributing to the hoof problems too, possibly. I'm just throwing out general ideas here for your consideration to add to the practical hoof care you're giving.

I think it's great you're learning to trim your own, and I hope more horse owners are inspired to. Sometimes a person can't get a farrier when needed (or a decent one in the area which is sometimes the case) then they aren't helpless. Even if a person has a regular farrier, I think hoof care tools and knowing how to trim is a good practice.

Thanks everyone, I do know some people which I am going to a camp too and I will ask them, they should be able to help me . She's only just come home and I have started to feed her minerals now so that should help too. I think it might partially be because it's been winter and so her hooves have constantly been in the mud and water .