Posted by Laurie on March 07, 2003 at 01:18:00:
I have a 7 year old Quarter/Appy gelding that had great feet until about 2 years ago. We live in Maine and he has unlimited turn out. Though it is winter now and quite cold, it doesn't seem to correspond with the changing of the seasons. He developed a crack in his right front hoof. We have attempted to grow it out by regular shoeing and trimming. We almost had it grown out the last time shoes were put on. Less than a month later, it cracked vertically again, approx. 1-1.5" up from toe. When the farrier trimmed the hoof this time, we looked closely to the trimming and found that there appears to be a black "spongy" type weakness, approx. 1.2" wide, a couple layers back from the outside layer of the hoof. Any ideas what this could be and how to get rid of this condition?