The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Dry, Brittle, Cracking Hooves & Lost a shoe

7K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  loosie 
#1 ·
*sigh*

My new mare Rumor has horrible horrible hooves right now. Our hot, dry weather with lack of rain has made a disaster of our horses hooves this year.

Rumor was at a show approximately 1 month ago. And took a chunk out of her right front hoof. Farrier was out the next day and put front shoes on.

Well, I knew her shoes needed to be reset when I purchased her. I was hoping to wait until August 11th when our farrier is due out. The right front was cracking on the other side and starting to come loose. The shoe was slightly bent like she had stepped on it. All my other horses are barefoot, so I know next to nothing about shoes. None of my other horses have ever needed shoes. :?

I go out at feeding time tonight. And the hoof has started coming apart in a horizontal line along the nails. It's coming off. So I go to get some nippers to pull the shoe the rest of the way. I come back, and...It's gone. :shock:

Rumor is not limping. Doesn't seem to notice it's gone. I pick her foot up and check it out to see if there's anything I can do or any damage done. My inexperienced eyes can't tell a darn thing except it looks horrid.

I called my farrier to ask what I should do. Do I pull the other shoe to even her up? Is this an emergency? Stall her? He tells me that he'll be out tomorrow. Tomorrow is Sunday. (Did I mention that I love my farrier?) I tell him that I hate to ask him to come out on a Sunday. So we made an appointment for Monday afternoon whenever he can get out here.

I tell him she took off a lot of hoof and I'm not even sure if he'll be able to put a shoe back on due to lack of...surface area to place the nails. (Again, I know nothing about shoes so I'm clueless) He said he's sure that he'll be able to do something for her. :)

I love my farrier.

Anyways. What do you guys think?

I've added Biotin to her diet, but honestly, that is going to take months to take effect. I've been reading up on Grand Hoof w/ MSM that I think I'd like to try as her hoof supplement. And RainMaker seems like it would be a good addition to my tackroom. Anyone used these products? I'm very interested in the RainMaker for a more immediate effect.

I overflow my water troughs and we have been getting some rain here. But the major damage to hooves have already been done this year. :-( It's going to take multiple trimmings to correct all the chips that we've gone through. And go figure...My Spanish Mustang mix gelding, has one tiny chip in his hoof that will be trimmed away on the farrier's next visit. He's has the hardiest feet I've ever seen. My farrier says he has the healthiest feet he's ever worked on.
 

Attachments

See less See more
4
#3 ·
She was just trimmed and shod 4, at the latest 5 weeks ago. Previous owners got her feet done every 6 weeks.

At least we use the same farrier. :) So he knows whats going on with her.

I sure hope shes going to clean up nicely. I feel so bad looking at that foot.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#4 ·
the parts of her hoof that broke off, honestly do not look THAT bad. She is very long and overdo for a trim, but the parts that broke off are just trying to self trim and don't look that far past the sole plane. I bet that in a couple trims she will look good as new. :)
 
#5 ·
Yikes! That does look horrible, but doesn't look like too terrible damage wise. Hopefully she have better hooves now that she is in your care. Must see some other pics of this girl besides her feet!

I also do use rain maker hoof dressing, seems to work well on my two. I apply it every few days. Another hoof dressing I just got from SmartPak is called Farrier Fix. It's a hoof hardner and also helps maintain moisture and even has Venice turpentine and wintergreen oil to soothe any soreness your horse's hooves may have. I've used it a few times on my gelding who gets a little tender from time to time, worked like a charm! Good luck!
 
#6 ·
SaddleStrings... lots of pictures can be found here... :) http://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/meet-my-new-horse-d-132977/ im loving my new girl.

Thanks for the information on RainMaker too. As well as FarrierFix. I did search SmartPak for hoof care. But there are so many. Id like to get opinions from people here, and from my farrier on which one to choose. But for now, as least im getting Biotin and Vitamin E into her system.

I cant wait to see what my farrier can do with her feet. Ill post pictures afterwards.

She has been well taken care of be previous owners. We've just has such dry, hard conditions. Bugs are bad so stomping feet for bugs is chipping feet like crazy. This is the worst ive ever seen in my 12 years of owning horses.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#13 ·
Definitely looks overdue in those first pics, but 'tis the season for fast growing hooves! My mare's area is incredibly dry and her hooves dry right up this time of year too. So everyday when I clean her water tub I dump it all around where the water tub is, and if there's not much I let it overflow a bit - that way she has to walk through mud to get water. This helps quite a bit. If it gets real bad I'd paint on hoof oil.
Good luck!
 
#14 · (Edited)
If the shoe is breaking off wall to where it SHOULD be which is pretty much the case here, they are WAY overdue lol...That is ALOT of growth. My bet is the farrier isnt taking her foot down enough or is leveling the foot to false sole or some such which is causing her shoes to come off prematurely. Cant say more or anything with certainty without pictures of when the foot was initially set except that these shoes needed reset two weeks ago according to what we have here.


ETA, your horse has pretty nice feet actually. You can see the flairing at the bottom where the wall was overgrown and weakening wanting to self trim the excess. The wall is self trimming pretty decently actually once the shoe was out of its way. If she needs shoes, a good farrier can get a set back on these feet, but if she isnt lame like you say, why bother? I see a pretty nice foot with a few decent trims although she might need to grow a tad bit of wall back. Appears shes growing super fast tho eh?
 
#15 ·
Sorry CLaPorte, have to agree with Trinity & others. Her hooves don't look too bad but there is(now half was) a heap of overgrowth there. Her heels & bars are overgrown, but her toes have been allowed to run forward substantially. While I hesitate to make judgements on a few pics & there are bound to be other factors(dry environment not really one of them), IF this horse has been done religiously every 6 weeks for some time by the same farrier, I'd really question the job.
 
#16 ·
Thanks everyone! I appreciate everyones answers since my hoof knowledge is limited.

Glad that you experts are saying its not big deal. Thats a relief. Im just a worrier. Lol.

The reason shoes were put on was because a big chunk broke off of her hoof and to prevent further cracking, he shod her. I may not have to put shoes back on her if he can trim her up really good, id prefer to leave her barefoot if i can.

Ill post pictures after he gets done. To me he seems very knowledgable. Hes helped 2 of our horses, Jasper and Chilly have been being trimmed wrong my previous farrier and their comfort level and range of motion has increased since this farrier took over.

Now ya'll have got me excited for her trim. :) i was dreading what hed say...
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#18 ·
The reason shoes were put on was because a big chunk broke off of her hoof and to prevent further cracking, he shod her.
Posted via Mobile Device
Ahhhhh I missed that part. Sounds like she has been allowed to go long then several times or he doesnt trim her back enough before setting a shoe. Anytime you have pieces of hoof chunking off, you likely have an overgrowth/trim issue no matter how long its been since the last trim.
 
#19 ·
I'm afraid you need to find a new farrier. The area that broke off is nothing more than what would have broken off if left natural to "self trim". That hoof wall should not have grown that long in only a 4 or 5 week period unless they were left too long in the first place.

Looking at the sole picture, if you run a line around the outside edge of the sole you will see that the broken area is almost entirely outside the material that should be taken off with a proper trim.

No problem, not even a minor worry. :)
 
#20 · (Edited)
I should have taken pictures of today before, during, and after. :-( But, Rumor was being a twit with the farrier and it was hot so I only have after pictures.

He was shocked by the condition of the hoof. She took off a lot of hoof wall.

He filed her really good. and replaced her shoes with "dirt shoes"? I asked if they were lighter and he said yes. He had to place some nails further back in her hoof because there was nothing up front that he could put the nails into.

After nailed the shoe back on, there was a lot of shoe exposed from the top. The sides of the hoof were obviously the worst. He made up a fiberglass putty and smeared it on to fill in the spots and make the hoof "whole"

While that was setting/drying, he trimmed and replaced her other front shoe. And then trimmed up her back feet. Came back to the naughty foot, and filed it smooth and voila! New hoof.

Here are pictures...
1st: Hoof with the issues
2nd: Opposite hoof
 

Attachments

#21 ·
There is at least as much dead hoof there as most horses would grow in three months or more.
So it is likely the hooves were left too long to begin with. If they get trimmed adequately this time , then all that broken stuff should be trimmed off or nearly trimmed off and it wont be bad at all. But if the farrier leaves in thick dead sole then the foot is not getting trimmed enough.
 
#22 ·
Well that's better! ;-) What's the foot with the 'issue'? Is it just that it's a bit clubby or something else? I do think this one particularly still has a fair bit of excess toe - that is, forward, not from the ground surface. It is likely flared forward more than the other because of the horse putting more pressure & therefore leverage at the toe. The quarter flares probably won't be able to improve much so long as the horse is shod &/or trimmed flat on the ground surface.
 
#23 ·
The foot with the "issue" is slightly clubbed. But thats the one that was all chipped up and has lost the shoe. It looks so much better.

He said if she looses anymore hoofwall, shes out til next year. So im praying this will hold and continue to improve. I just got her and am sending her to my trainer monday, so im keeping my fingers crossed!

Im happy with the outcome.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top