Damaged hoof, help needed

[living12]

My dear old Quarterhorse mare of 26 hurt her hoof about 6 weeks ago. We gave her antbiotics for 2 weeks and prevented infection and the hoof is beginning to grow out, but has a horizontal crack just below the coronet. She was on phenylbutazone for a few days but no longer seems to need it.

Photo on http://community.webshots.com/album/229361323ZVcgvn (if my upload does not work!)

At present I am bandaging it and using iodine ointment and she is able to go out and graze in a restricted area if it is dry enough. She takes full weight on it and will trot and canter if I'm not careful!

We tried a Hoof Eeze boot, http://neotech-ltd.com/thestockboot.htm which tends to keep the hoof damp and chafes the skin on her heel and coronet. I am using an elastic bandage and topping it off with cohesive to keep it all in place.

We have been barefoot trimming the feet for about 2 years now, and for the first time in her life she is not sensitive to every pebble on the road, so we are wary of going back to shoes. He soles have toughened up wonderfully well and I was riding her on gravel roads quite comfortably until the injury.

What I'd like to be able to do is stabilise the cracked part until it grows down enough to not be at risk of getting hooked on something and ripping the whole hoof off.

We have great difficulty in getting farriers to visit on our country area, especially if it's 'just a trim', so it may be that we'd have to DIY, as we've been doing under our veterinariian's supervision so far.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks on behalf of Chequer (the mare).

[Red Amor]

Put a egg bar or a straight bar shoe in it to stabilise it adding extra side clips
and or cut away the damaged area let it dry up and rebuild it supporting it with a shoe
If you cant get a Farrier to come bite the bullet and tak your DEAR OLD MATE to a competant Farrier

Im not saying shoe it forever, just wake up

[living12]

Im not saying shoe it forever, just wake up

I did not come here to get flamed, and I don't have an issue with doing the best for our mare. This would include getting an competent farrier to her. Sadly our experience in this area has not been good. Perhaps you should be a bit kinder and more guarded in your judgements of people.

[TE Couch]

that's quite a yank - since the horse is not lame on this and you already have new hoof coming down past the periople, It seems to me that the only thing to worry about is if the hoof gets caught on something - it will grow out just like a huge abcess would, the crack will just grow out - you can carefully snip off the unattached part, careful not to put leverage on the hoof, use a boot or vet wrap to prevent the old hoof getting hung up - thats about it. The new growth will reach the ground at the heel soon
TE

[living12]

Thanks for the useful suggestion. It's pretty much what we're doing, but we were a bit nervous about snipping the loose part. I bandage it quite firmly in a figure 8 (not around the pastern). This is mainly for support and protection of the cracked area. I would be quite happy to shoe her in order to get things back to normal, but I'm concerned that the extent of the damage may make it difficult to nail a shoe securely.

We have had some awful experiences with unqualified people posing as farriers, which has made us wary. Please forgive me if I seem anxious, I'm really trying my best for the old lady. Today I will phone our nearest equine veterinarian and ask if there's a reliable farrier capable of the****utic (corrective) work who will call on us.

We could take the horse to him, but we have an overdue baby coming anytime, our daughter's wedding next weekend and Christmas looming large. Not excuses, but life is hectic so we're in a holding pattern.

[Red Amor]

DEAR LIVEING 12

Indeed you are quite right
My most humble appoigies

[living12]

DEAR LIVEING 12

Indeed you are quite right
My most humble appoigies


Most graciously accepted and all forgiven. We all have bad days. :)

[Rick Burten]

- since the horse is not lame on this and you already have new hoof coming down past the periople, It seems to me that the only thing to worry about is if the hoof gets caught on something - it will grow out just like a huge abcess would, the crack will just grow out - you can carefully snip off the unattached part, careful not to put leverage on the hoof, use a boot or vet wrap to prevent the old hoof getting hung up - thats about it. The new growth will reach the ground at the heel soon
TE

I agree.

Think of that loose part as a hang nail. you can nip it back and then using the fine side of your rasp, blend it . It is as likely that she will rip it loose because it extends to the ground at the heel, as she will catch it on something.

Until it is fully grown out, you will continue to have some "issues" with the remaining detached hoof wall. Just keep nipping it back and blending it as it grows down.

Rick

[Red Amor]

thank you ;)

[living12]

Thanks Rick, duly noted.

We are using vet wrap to protect it at present, but obviously cannot continue like that forever and, knowing what a walking disaster area she can be, we need to prevent her catching it on something. I like the idea of blending it after snipping, that should work. Will be trying to get it cut this weekend.

[Ronald Aalders]

Hi all,

Ok let me be blunt here. I got no problem with that.

There is no way I would leave that loose part of hoofwall dangling like it does and just wait for it to grow out "naturally".

Take the horse to a competent shoer, get rid of all the loose stuff and shoe the horse until it grows out.

I added some pictures on a similar but acute case and the fix. This was on a horse show and the horse entered the finals three days later. It did not win but did ok.

Any barefooter got an idea how this should have been fixed? Of course this attempt is no good at all. This horse did not only loose 0 (as in zero) shows, but also lost 0 (as in zero) training days. I bet that's not good enough! The barefoot approach probably would have worked so much better right?

O, I also added an after picture..........



Ronald Aalders

[Red Amor]

Thats a great result Ron ay mate
thanks for showing us that
A picture realy does speek volumes yeah

[TE Couch]

Gee - I am one of those dreaded non shoers! And dear Rick agrees with me, happens a bit huh Rick? Anyhow, you case was not the same, I would still have left the foot bare though and would not have figured on keeping the horse usable under saddle. The hoof pictured is pretty deformed as it is.
TE

[Rick Burten]

Risa

Why would I not agree with you on this? As you well know, I keep a lot of horses barefoot and often choose to treat without shoes. Each case is evaluated independent of all others and is handled accordingly.

Rick