Cracked Hooves in Gelding..Update Pg. 2

[rodriguezpoultry]

The farrier said that light riding is ok. He didn't dig that deep in the hoof wall, but I'm definitely going to take it easy on him.

We'll be working on halter and showmanship for the most part. I won't lope with him in this condition, so only walking and trotting for a few minutes at a time. Learning to stop on "whoa" is still a thing we're working on with body language.

The cavities aren't on the underside of the hoof, only in the hoof wall. He said he was surprised it wasn't underneath the hoof but was very happy that it wasn't (as am I!).

Man...his feet are all green...some sort of staining power there!

I was able to get Thrush-XX which is an off-brand of the Kopertox? Looks the same as the Kopertox and has the same active ingredient.

 

[w c]

If my old eyes aren't totally gone, those cracks look like they started at the bottom of the hoof.

There are a number of causes of these so-called 'grass cracks'. One of the big ones is poor farriery work, incorrect uneven trims, etc.

But an even more common cause is not trimming the foot and resetting the shoes often enough. Perhaps the folks that had your horse didn't have his feet reshod frequently.

They can occur due to inflammation and other causes.

Your horse's feet look basically sound and the crack does not look deep. I think that if you get your horse's shoes removed, his feet trimmed and shoes reset every 6-8 weeks the crack will gradually grow out and not come back.