Barefoothooves...or other natural hoof trimmers...look at this crack please...

I've been dealing with these little chips and cracks in the front hooves for a few months. The weather keeps changing from super wet (Hurricane Ike) to super dry (no rain in over 2 weeks after Ike). I've been soaking them once a week in ACV because he has some white line fungus type stuff in there. Also you can see the rings from the acute laminitis scare back in March growing out. Could the weather changes be causing the cracks? Stretched laminae growing out near bottom surface causing cracks?

And then this big chip is in his hind foot. We've been dealing with this one for several years. It seems like it just gets down to ground level and then chips off again! Frustrating! His hoof looks like it is at a weird angle in the picture...but its just from me digging the dirt out from around it for the picture.

Any tips on how I should adjust the trim to help solve these issues?

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I'm having similar issues. Just keep the horses trimmed short and do your mustang roll a bit more "severe". I've been keeping mine on a 2-3 week trim schedule, basically just touching up the mustang roll. This has helped them grow out and reduce the cracking.

Keep the toes cut/rasped to the level of the sole at the front, and keep the fronts rounded. In your first two photos, you can see a bit of a "square" toe developing. If you can round that off on the sides of the toe a little, that will help prevent the crack from spreading.

On the side, the quarters chipped out. That might be your horse's way of telling you that he needs those trimmed shorter than you were.

Don't put any topicals on his feet and try to give him a dry spot to stand if you can.

Anyhow, that's my non-professional opinion anyway . I've been trimming my two for 2 years now and my mare goes through bouts of chipping and cracking during really wet weather. The above has worked for us!

Dont know if this will make a differenc for you, but my older horse had to be placed on a feed supplement. We keep all our horses barefoot, trimming to copy the way the mustangs wear their hooves down. Anyway, my older gelding (he is 24) starting having a lot of cracking and splitting. Sounds like you live in Texas (me too) so I understand the rain, the weeks of dry. We put cream on their feet 2-3 times a week but it was not helping him. I starting feeding him a supplement high in biotin. The higher the better. After about 4 weeks I could see the new hoof growing, and with keeping his feet trimmed a little more (2-3 weeks instead of 4) his feet started improving.

Just what worked for me

I don't know about the dry spot to stand in. Keep in mind that in Ontario we don't get the dry heat that you must get there, but what we find here is that in the summer when it is hot and dry, people here seem to have more trouble with cracking and chipping. That tells me that you should keep a wet spot somewhere that he has to stand in at least once a day -- a lot of people put it in front of the water trough.

I agree with going more rounded. This will help with the side chipping and also helps to reduce the amount of "spread pressure" on the toe. It does look like you could do more on the toe, and maybe, as suggested, increasing the roll will be enough.

Hopefully, Barefoothooves will pop in and give you a "professional opinion" on this but I am having similar issues with my 2 horses. (I'm in Arkansas, You're in Texas...we get your weather "left overs" ) We have had the wettest year on record here. It was SOOO wet the first part of the year, we had a tough time with those tiny moisture cracks. Even when it wasn't raining that day we had so much humidity that the grass didn't dry out until about Noon each day. Now after Ike, we haven't had ANY rainfall...Everything is getting extremely dry. I just had my barefoot trimmer out Friday and she rolled the toes a little more than she usually does and recommended that I make a wet spot for them to walk through. (over run the water trough) I have noticed that since it has gotten so dry that the cracks and chips are worse than they have ever been. I'd not put anything topical on the hooves and just try to get them some wet to walk in.

All of this was basically already said in earlier posts. I just wanted to reinforce what was said. The quarter chipping is something that Twister keeps doing too. I'm on a 6wk trimming schedule, Twister isn't chipping as bad as your horse is. I asked if we should trim more often and my trimmer didn't think it was necessary. She'll be back in 6wks and then we'll spread the trimmings back to 8wks over the winter. You're horse may be growing hooves faster than mine and the schedule may need to be bumped up to sooner.

OK... That's my 2 cents. Hope it helped.

Thanks for the input everybody. I've only been trimming my own horse for about a year...and still learning. Unfortunately I can't find any natural trimmers in my area (competent ones that I trust anyway) so I am having to learn as I go along. Will try the greater mustang roll. Thanks! Where is Barefoothooves??

Dumas...our weather has been erratic so much! We have actually given up trying to grow decent grass in my small paddocks because it is either washed away from flooding or withers up and dies in the heat. After a $90 water bill trying to keep the grass alive we have decided just to go buy square bales. Crazy southen' weather!

Oh I had another question I almost forgot...when you do the ACV mix...do you need to refresh it for each hoof? By the time I get to the 4th hoof it is kinda of dirty water.

You know how it goes.....lol.....babies and family and REAL LIFE....LOL... I don't know if she got the memo that clearly states all HF members are not allowed to have real lives!!!!!!

Redhotdun, where are you located in Texas? I am in Alvin, Texas and know A LOT of barefoot farriers. They have actually saved my horses' life. They truly can work miracles. Let me know if I am close enough to you to help!

Im in Lufkin.

they look okay to me, just a little dry maybe. Id use a good cream like rain maker or something. little cracks are normal, the big crack on the side is a bit much though so be careful. My horse goes barefoot all year round. He's got a few little cracks sometimes too though