horizontal crack

Hey, question for you guys....

Willy has a horizontal crack just beneath his coronary band that runs most of the length of his hoof and continues under the bulbs of his heel. He has no pain, is not lame, and has no other issues with his hooves.

He recently has moved onto pasture for the spring/summer, so he is getting more grass than usual, and I had him on a selenium supplement for a month on and off. My farrier is boggled by it, and the vet says not to worry. Just curious - have any of you experienced this? They both say not to worry, and just keep an eye on it. But of course, I'm worrying...

I haven't been on in ages, and I hope everyone's well-- any thoughts are appreciated.

Could be a cut, could be an abscess blowout (but they usually aren't that large). Also, if you aren't careful, excess selenium can actually cause a horse to slough off his hooves, so don't supplement without a real need for it, as it's easy to reach toxic doses. Some areas have plenty of it in the soil and grass, making supplementing selenium a dangerous practice.
Try to keep the area clean and dry, if possible ("yeah, right", I'm sure you're saying. ) It shoudl heal okay. I saw a horse that did this last summer and it went into the heel bulb on a hind foot, and the frog and one bar sloughed off,but the sole thickend to compensate and the bar is growing back.Never had any sign of infection. I was off on maternity leave when it happened, so I didnt' se the actual wound, I'm just dealing with the after affects. It was a cut on that particular horse.

Thanks...I live in northern California, just south of the OR border, and the selenium levels are pretty much non-existent. The local vet makes a mineral mix to compensate...I only had Willy on it for about a month, but I'm still suspicious. He is completely fine in all other areas...I'll be talking to the vet again today....thanks for your input.

Thats exactly what my horses front hooves did at first. He had no pain at all so I didnt really worry about it. Once it got about half way down he started to limp and it jsut got worse and worse from there. He had corronitis. If you could post some pics it would help alot and ill tell you if it looks the same as to what my horses hooves did. I hope for you and your horse that its not, pics would really help!

Sorry if I scared you, I could easily be wrong! Lol!

Also we don't know what caused it for chucky but the vets said that alot of green grass could cause it, and you said he is getting more grass than usual!

Barefoot and happygoose- thanks for your input.

I will post pics tomorrow-ones today didn't come out well...I've decided to take pics everyday to document changes.

When I went out to see him this morning his coronary bands were rubbery on all four because the pasture was wet. He has always gotten "pruney" bands during wet weather and I haven't worried about it since they immediately dry up afterward. Is this normal? Now I'm second guessing.

The coronary band on the hoof in questions does not look different at all- no scabbing, peeling, inflamation...nothing. But, like happygoose said, her horse had the same experience. I'll go ahead and post pics tomorrow. Thanks again for the input.

The worry with selenium is still there even if you are using a "vet mixed" supplement because you may have more selenium from other sources---concentrate or grain-based feeds, hay depending on where it is from, etc.

I would get some blood drawn and sent off to check his selenium levels just to be sure.

Thanks for the advice, Ryle. Here are pics from today:

First and second pics are the hoof in question, the others are for comparison...he was out in pasture all day and it rained quite a bit- when his hooves get wet, his coronary bands swell a lot and become really soft. Anyway, I brought him in to dry them out, and I think I'll keep him in until I find out what is going on. Is it possible he is acclimating to the weather change (rainy as hell here in NorCal, and very dry other days due to season change) and being out on more grass? Do you think this is grass related? Is he in danger of founder (yikes!)?? Any advice is gladly taken---

Its hard to tell if it was the same or not. It looks pretty similar. Just be very carefull. There isnt anything you can do about it but chucks were kinda like that and as they grew down, the weight caused the hoof under the crack to separate casue nothing was holding it on. This sent his EXTREMELY lame!!! Once the bottom part of the hoof was cut off (after it died) he wasnt sore anymore so he was only sore casue of the pressure (like a fingernail that has ripped off I guess). Just keep the crack very clean (maybe even keep it wrapped and keep him out of the rain) so no stuff gets in there and damages the inside or gives him seedy toe or something, keep him out of dams and don't put him in a paddock with lots of grass. I would also take out any carbohydrates out of his diet. This is jsut what I would do until you find out what is wrong. Just incase it is the same, better to be safe than sorry! To me, it doesnt look like nothing to worry about!!! But I could be extra parinoid casue of what happend to chucky. I would get a few differnt vets to look at him. I had 4 vets in total look at chucky! Only 1 of them said he had a chance!!!! Chucky is getting better now but it has been about 6 months and he still has a few months of recovery to go I think. So yea, just keep it very clean is the main thing! And start calling some vets!! Good luck with everything!!!

I havent got any photos of chuckys feet when they just happend but here is a photo of his foot about 3 months after it happend, just for you reference. It wasnt always that separted, his wieght was pushing it out more and more as it grew out. Its not a very good pic sorry.

Thanks for your picture (ouch!) and thoughts...

I'm going to a hoof lecture tonight by Gene Ovinick - I'll be showing him pictures of Willy's situation and see what he says. In any case, I checked on him today- still perky and happy, no pain or sensitivity. Vets will be out in a couple days for vaccines; I'll have them look at him again then. For now, he seems fine...

Any other thoughts?