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Weird cracks?

3K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  loosie 
#1 ·
I have a gelding who has been puzzling me for some time now. He's a 17 yr old B/S Paint who is in overall good health. His feet are giving me a fit though. He's barefooted, has always been. We've had him since he was 3 and he's never needed them, as he is only ever on dirt or grass. So here's the odd part. On 3 of his 4 feet (both fronts and one hind) he has V-shaped cracks across the front of the hoof, about halfway down, each is about 3 or 4 inches across. They look semi deep, but they don't bother him in the least. If it were one hoof, I'd think that at some point, he'd injured his coronary band and it left an injury to the wall as it grew out, but in three, I don't know. He has not been lame at all, or had heat in any of his feet. Ever. He has had one abscess in the last year and that is all. No diet changes, no new pastures. Since it doesn't bother him, it's more an enigma than anything threatening, but I AM worried when they grow out a bit more he might have some problems with his hoof splitting. Has anyone else ever seen something like this? And to make it worse, my last farrier was clueless to what it was as well. I have a new one coming out in a couple weeks, (our old one was too far away to be regular,) but she's new so I'm not sure she'll have any ideas either. Sorry for the novel!
 
#2 ·
I'd like to see some pics. My horse has a "crack" on the back right hoof. Been there for a long time. Most "cracks" are stress related. Stamping their feet or real dry ground. One thing my farrier did for me when my mare had a split was trim and rasp right above the split a groove to prevent the split from going any further. It worked and that was about a month ago. Does your horse get any sort of Biotin or hoof dressing for being dry? Are his hooves dry? I hope you find a farrier that knows what they are doing. Good luck
 
#3 ·
Well, here it is a month later and I have just realized that even though I TOOK pictures, I never posted them. :oops: Still no sign of lameness or sensitivity in this guy, the cracks don't appear to have any effect on him AT ALL. But the are still puzzling me, so here is a picture. The cracks are the same on all three feet, and are all the same distance down the hoof. Any ideas?
 

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#4 ·
They are always there? As in don't ever grow out? Very strange indeed... I would try a biotin supplement and see if it makes a difference. You also have to be careful with hoof "moisturizers," as many of them cause more harm than they fix. You want something that will keep the natural moisture in, and the rest of the world out. And remember, water is the enemy of moisture!
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#6 ·
I have been puzzling over this as well ever since you posted. The only thing I could come up with was a health issue about 6 months ago that may have caused him to slough off his hooves, but it would have had to be severe and your history doesn't indicate anything like that. So we may never know what it was. Now you have to deal with the cracks as they progress downward and, as you say, could cause problems then.

If you have a good farrier there shouldn't be too much of an issue. He will likely have funny looking hooves for a couple of months because (s)he will have to trim the walls back quite a bit to prevent wall separation. I'd like to see a pic of the sole and a side view as well if you have a chance.

Odd. Never seen anything like this before.
 
#7 ·
It almost looks like he may have caught or shoved something 'into' the hoof enough to cause such an indentation...is it the same exact shape on all three? My bet is on something in his pasture that he has banged it on. It doesn't appear to go beyond the hoof wall, so that is probably why he doesn't have any pain along with it.
 
#8 ·
could it have been a burst abscess? Doesn't look swollen or anything and you said no paid or lameness or anything but that's the only thing I can think of that would make a crack somewhere other than where a normal crack would be?
 
#9 ·
mom2pride, I'll double check the pasture and make sure, but the fact that it's on three feet make me skeptical that he banged into something to cause it. He has two other pasture mates as well, neither of which has them.

drafts, I thought it might be abscesses as well, but this horse is handled almost daily and I only KNOW of him having one at all in the past year or so, and it actually came out through his sole. I'm not saying it's not, I would just be really surprised that he had no pain in any of the three if that's what was going on. My other thought was that somehow he ended up lacking something in his diet for a while, just because I didn't change his food doesn't mean the feed company didn't play with the recipe sometime. It's all I can think of that might have changed. I suppose that will be the tentative theory unless we come up with something better.

Anyone else have any ideas?
 
#11 ·
I just remembered that about a year ago both of my horses ended up with the same cut on the same hoof at the same place about a month apart. I never did find out what caused it, but I've always figured there was something in the field that they walked over. The two cuts were just too identical to be coincidental. However, for this to be on three hooves... well, definitely possible, but again that was months ago. You can look, but you may never find anything. I know I never did and I was able to look within a day of the cuts occurring.

Did you ever have any kind of boots on him? Or maybe something in a trailer? If you take him off-site can you recall anything unusual on a trip/show?
 
#12 · (Edited)
I showed my trainer the picture and she said she's had horses withthe same crack. Theirs was caused by pawing or kicking something hard and it just fractured the hoof wall and with biotin supplements it should heel in about 3-4 shoeings or 3 months?. She said it's common for her horses when they were in a rockier pasture.
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#13 ·
Thanks drafts. We don't have the softest of pastures. It's not overly rocky, though there are several nice sized ones, but it is hard clay (or horrible slick mud) because that's what our soil around here is like. Several people have suggested biotin. I'll try to add some to his feed schedule the next trip to the feed store. Thanks everyone. I'll keep you posted if anything changes with them or if it shows up on any of the others. Hopefully they will heal or grow out without incident.
 
#14 ·
Hi,

I also think they're a bit strange, being v shaped and in 3 out of 4 feet, and only at the toe section. Seen lots similar, but not quite like that. Be interested to see some other angles of hoof & sole.

My first thought is a metabolic upset ~ sickness, toxins or diet related. I know you've said no diet change, but perhaps there was a flush of new growth at the time, or certain plants growing in the pasture back then. The frequent 'growth rings' look to be(assuming the pic's accurate) not insubstantial, but by no means major, indicating that he's probably had ongoing but mild lami.

Short term undue stress on the walls from such as pawing, kicked something, etc, of itself(ie without other factors) doesn't usually cause a problem in healthy hooves, and rarely complete 'blowouts' like this, especially being v-shaped, so not just one level of growth, and pretty identical on 3 feet. But if the walls were already weakened from a current lami 'attack' and the hooves took a pounding on asphalt or such, especially if they were also not well trimmed at the time, this could lead to a breakdown. Perhaps the one undamaged hoof was better or differently trimmed at the time... All speculation tho.

I agree with NM that if you keep the hooves well trimmed, toes well rolled, ensuring they aren't allowed to overgrow, you should be able to minimise/avoid any big probs as they grow down further. I would expect that as they get near ground level, they will probably break off there, but if his hooves are otherwise in good order, that shouldn't be bad. I would be spraying ACV or such into the cracks daily too, to discourage any infection that may be lurking.

Re biotin, it is indeed one of many necessary nutrients that may be lacking in the diet. However, if the horse is getting adequate green forage - eg grass, lucerne - he may be getting well enough of this vitamin. Apparently true biotin deficiency is very rare, so it's supplementation is generally a waste. At least it is one of those nutrients that an OD does no harm & is just excreted. But many of the other nutrients are commonly deficient, including magnesium, zinc, iodine, copper, etc. Therefore I suggest doing at least a basic diet analysis, to get an idea of what may be missing(also as many nutrients can be harmful in excess), before choosing a more complete sort of supp rather than just one single ingredient. I'm no nutritionist myself, having studied the subject only basically, but I personally subscribe to a fantastic service called FeedXL.com, which has nutritionist's brains to pick along with it's other services/program.
 
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