crack in hoof

[Oranges]

my cob has a crack up the outside of her hoof, it goes all the way to the coronet i'm not to sure what to do with it, and i have a horrible feeling its getting wider, is therre anything we can to to stop it getting worse, erm we don't have a farrier cuz none will come out to us, though we are trying are best to find one, but we trim ourselfs and not had any problams until this, shes not shod by the way, any ideas?

[Wolf]

A friend of mine has the same problem as you, however, in her case the crack is a genetic deformity. How long ago did this happen, or have you just noticed? If the crack was not up to the coronet, I would suggest drilling a hole right at the top of the crack. This prevents the crack from continuing further up the hoof, and eventually grows out.

[Oranges]

i noticed a few months back, it went right to the top then but it was hardly noticeable, and i thought i'd give it a while to sort itself, but its gotten bigger instead.

[Flic]

try to see i you can get some stockholm tar on/into the split to help prevent infection. and try using some cornucrescine to encourage hoof growth to try to get the hoves growing more and of a better quality all round. Hopefully this will help.

[gillmcg]

I think you have to get a farrier/trimmer to have a look at this. It could be caused by a number of things - white line disease, flare, unbalanced trimming, etc.

Supplements - in feed or directly applied - don't really make much difference to cracks. And if they do, it will take months by which time untold damage could have been done to the important structures of the hoof.

[Flic]

Sorry, i didnt mean for it to seem that i wasnt including good farriery but i assumed OP would do that anyway and that my suggestions could work well alongside that.

[Ryan&Dizzy]

mine also has a crack up his hoof our farrier has looked at it and sed that only thing i can du it wait 4 it 2 grow out i wud get a farrier to look at it tho just to be safe.

y cant u get a farrier? is there not any avaliable or wont du ur horse?

[Oranges]

they are all really buisy and none will take on new customers,

i'll put the stockholm tar on in the morning

thanks for all your suggestions

[fizztally]

where about are you?

[Jem]

they can sometimes be caused from doing 2 much trotting on the roads. It could also be that they are to dry, its been very warm, mayb buy sum hoof moistener. Can i just warm u aswell, my frend has a tb mare who has the same thing. recently she went lame with an abcess is that same foot. The vet said it was caused from a small peice of dirt od grit getting inside the crack and flairing up an infection. It may be an idea to buy some iodine spay, to spray into the crack just to prevent this from happening, how cums u have no farrier? where abouts are u? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Melanie]

Most importantly make sure the trim is balanced. Roll the edge of the foot so that it's the inner wall not the outer wall that is in contact with the ground. Treat for any infection in the crack - soaking in borax seems to work pretty well.

[quishion]

Try to get a barefoot trimmer to trim the horse for you. Cracks usually grow out in barefoot feet so your's probably isn't trimmed correctly. You might need to soak for fungal infection - you can get Borax from Boots but you would need a soaking boot or you might be able to improvise with a strong plastic bag if your horse would let you. (I wouldn't use Stockholm Tar as I read it's not good.)

[rust]

I would clean trax this foot rather than borax as borax is an irritant.
Do not apply weird potions that are necrotising (common disinfectants for thrush)
Ask Justine Jenkins if you have a barefoot trimmer in your area to put you back on track
Justine can also supply clean trax & Equine elite products. Her E-mail address is [e-mail]

Stockholme tar will seal in bactiria and probably increase the re-production of anaerobic bactiria.

If you are having farrier problems the likely hood is that they will shoe you then abandon you ( not always but does happen there are fabulous farriers!) Keep the shoes off and get a hand in improving the trim you already apply