Horizontal crack - Help!

[Professor Plum]

My friend's horse has an odd crack - does anyone know what this could be?

"About an inch from the coronet band on the outside quarter of his near fore is a horizontal crack - about an inch long.. I have never seen a horizontal crack on a horses' foot before apart from seedy toe (at the bottom)..
I have spoken to my farriers about it but they have been very blase about it.. glancing at it for 5 secs then muttering that they had seen worse and it was nothing to worry about..no explaination regarding what it is and how it got there and how it may/may not affect the horse or how to deal with it..
What is this crack ? Has anyone had one before ?
PS - for varied reasons (including the blase attitude) I am changing farrier this week.. "

[calshoer]

The farrier is correct to be blase about it .
These little horiziontal cracks are extremely common and usually pose absolutely no problem to the hoof.
They can arise from one of several things
Sometimes there was a mystery blow to the hoofwall that cracked it.
More often there was a little abscess that travelled up under the hoofwall and emerged at the coronary band there creating a seperation, and now it is growing down. These abscesses can be so small the horse never exibits lameness, or if he did it was just a day or so and went unnoticed.
So really, Don't worry about it. The worst that happens is that as it grows down the hoof and nears the bottom, the section of hoofwall below it will have to come off leaving a little square patch missing. But in the quarter area it poses no problem and even if this is a show horse it can easily be patched at that time.
Patty .

[caballus]

Just trimmed a horse today who has a small, horizontal crack about 1 inch down from the hairline. This horse is boarded here on my farm. I see him daily. I inspect him daily. I saw no abscess nor lameness but obviously, he had an abscess about a month ago or so. Seems about right for the severe mud season. Probably stepped on a rock the wrong way, bruised himself and it evolved into a small abscess that traveled out his coronary. No biggie ... will keep an eye on the crack and make sure the hooves are kept well to avoid any further development of the crack. I'm sure when it gets down to about an inch or less from the ground, the hoof will chip off. Not a big deal.

Last year QH blew a HUGE abscess in the coronary. Took a good 3" or more ... and 10 months to grow down whereupon he chipped up his hoof pretty badly. And just where did the chip end? EXACTLY (and yes, just for curiosity sake I measured it) 3" from the hairline. Exactly where a "natural" hoof generally keeps itself trimmed. This guy was lamer than a duck to begin with but as the abscess grew down he was fine. Chip caused no problem, either. He was a happy camper after having his hooves trimmed up to 3" walls!

:) --Gwen

[Richard K]

Just trimmed a horse today who has a small, horizontal crack about 1 inch down from the hairline. This horse is boarded here on my farm. I see him daily. I inspect him daily. I saw no abscess nor lameness but obviously, he had an abscess about a month ago or so.


:) --Gwen

I've seen the "aftermath" of abcesses...on lots of horses. I guess I was assuming if I was around the horse at the right time I'd see the abcess come out. Not true though...?

[Goodhart]

I am having a similar problem with my mare- though I worry that hers is much worse than a normal 1" crack- hers is about 5-7" across and seems to be sinking into the lower part of her hoof. She also recently looks like the front of her hindleg has a small bow. She is not lame, but struggles with her right lead (this is in her right hindlimb) and it does seem to make a different sound when she lands on it. She is getting a trim this week- I have struggled to find literature on either of these things in her hindleg and am looking for some peace of mind.

Pictures of her foot and leg are here:

http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j312/PetuniaP/

[Tom Stovall, CJF]

Professor Plum in gray, deletia

My friend's horse has an odd crack - does anyone know what this could be?

"About an inch from the coronet band on the outside quarter of his near fore is a horizontal crack - about an inch long.. I have never seen a horizontal crack on a horses' foot before apart from seedy toe (at the bottom).

If the horse has normal growth above and below the horizontal crack, the crack is the result of reduced blood flow at the coronary corium, resulting in aberrant (weakened, poor quality) growth of the wall. Horizontal cracks are usually due to an abscess, blow, or tread.

They're no big deal.