Posted by Indy on May 17, 2003 at 22:37:39:
Hi
I have a 9 yr old Paint/arab mare. Her hooves grow very slowly, and with the amount of riding I do, get worn down before they even get a chance to grow. This is one of the reason's I get her shod. Another reason is on both front feet, she has a vertical crack, right in the front (middle). I don't know if they started at the bottom and went up, or if they started at the coronet band and grew down. They run the whole length of the hoof, and were like that when I bought her 3 yrs ago. Now she's had shoes on for two years, the cracks have not grown out, and she wears out shoes faster than her hooves grow. She is on supplements to help hoof growth, but they don't seem to do much. And I have tried lots of different hoof dressing to try and help, none of which seem to help either.
I was just wondering, what could have caused the cracks, (an inbalance in the way the hoof is being trimmed??) and how to get rid of the cracks and help her hooves grow faster.
Thanks
Chelsea
PS- just thought I'd add, her hooves are hard, the last time my farrier was out, his nails were bending when he was trying to put the shoes on