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Discussion on Front Feet Toe Cracks
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New Member:
catchall
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 17, 2010 - 9:33 pm:
17yo barrel horse gelding, runs barefoot at the 1D level, sound, but has had toe cracks for over a year. His feet are tough and he can trail ride in the rocks. Just worried about the cracks getting worse, although the cracks have been about the same almost a year. At first we thought they would grow out but it seems we can't make progress on it. He generally only runs barrels a couple times a month but my daughter rides him almost every day. I'll attach photos of each front foot when I figure out how to make them small enough.
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New Member:
catchall
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 17, 2010 - 10:35 pm:
Here are the pictures.
 
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Monday, Jan 18, 2010 - 2:55 pm:
Hi Jeff, from your photos it looks like this is a crack that starts at the ground and gradually works its way up as the hoof grows out, is that right? I have a mare that has a similar crack and the only time I have been able to get rid of it is when I take her toe waaay back and put a strong roll on it to completely eliminate any torsion in the area of the crack.
I've had farriers try to notch the area in different ways (rasp, hot iron etc) and nothing has stopped the upward progression of the crack.
I've had the crack go away several times but if I don't stay really on top of it it will come back. Mine is caused I think by a fault in the way the hoof grows in that area; there is a 'dent' in the white line right where the crack is.
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Member:
catchall
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Posted on Monday, Jan 18, 2010 - 4:25 pm:
Yes, you are exactly right. It starts at the ground and works it's way up the hoof. He has gotten better and worse as we've tried to deal with it and it grows out some and then works its way back up. I've been trying to keep the toe short and it seems to help. Do you have any pictures of your mare's hoof? Is it both feet or only one foot? Is she barefoot or shod? My horse is on Daily 72 and it seems to help. It's a mineral supplement. I've just ordered Hoof Rite to try and target his feet specifically with the supplements. He has always had dry brittle feet and it was worse with shoes. He is hard to keep shoes on. I'm also using Leg Saver treatments to try and increase blood flow in his feet. We've also tried notching above the crack like you said but it just goes through the notch just as with your mare. Thanks for your reply. Any ideas and input is appreciated.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Jan 18, 2010 - 5:58 pm:
Hello Jeff,
based on these images alone I think you should roll the toe more, to decrease the stress on these points. Images of the sole might give us some further information on the why and how of these cracks.
DrO
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Monday, Jan 18, 2010 - 7:05 pm:
Jeff I don't have any pics of her hoof handy but below is an image of what her hoof looks like from the sole, there is a 'dent' in the white line area that Dr. O had suggested before indicated a defect in the way horn is produced at that point.
She has been barefoot for probably the last 3 years but was shod before that. I've had better luck keeping it gone with her barefoot because I can keep her toe rolled more. In shoes the crack just grows up as the same rate her toe grows out. She has good quality horn otherwise and has never had any lameness associated with the crack so I don't worry about it too much. She is upright in that foot, not to the point I would call a club foot but she produces heel faster than toe. I had a farrier tell me once a toe crack like that is common in upright feet.
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Monday, Jan 18, 2010 - 7:20 pm:
Shannon that's interesting that your horse has a "blob" like Hank in the WL.. where his crack originates from also. Glad to know he isn't original
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 - 11:32 am:
It is an unusual feature, I can't say I've seen it on any other horses. My mare only has the toe crack on the one foot, but a couple years ago she was starting to get a dimple on the other front foot in the same area as the 'blob' on the other foot. However that one went away and no crack ever showed up...
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Member:
catchall
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 - 12:31 pm:
Here are the pictures of the bottom of Rocket's feet. Any help is appreciated.
 
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 - 12:53 pm:
I see what you mean about his thin walls. I don't see the same kind of defect my mare has however at the start of the crack. Is the white line crumbly in that area at all?
He does look to have pretty flat feed which my mare has. Also the frogs are pretty far forward, and does he have a bit of thrush or is that just the picture?
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 - 1:33 pm:
Looks like flat feet to my eye too. I would also suggest rolling the toe more.
The trim looks o.k. except for needing more of a "mustang roll."
He don't have much wall it appears, yet you can probably safely increase the toe bevel a little bit at a time. I would touch it up every 2 weeks and watch and see how he is, and what happens at the toe; wall and sole.
See my post number 553 on this discussion to give you an idea of bevel angle:
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Member:
catchall
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 - 9:40 pm:
Shannon, No the white line is not crumbly and yes, it could be a bit of thrush at the bottom of his frogs.
Angie, We will increase the toe bevel every 2 weeks. Sounds like excellent advice and everyone seems to agree. Thanks for the link too.
Dr. O, We're anxious to see what you have to say about the how and why of his cracks after seeing images of the sole.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 - 7:25 am:
Jeff, I don't see anything that strongly changes my opinion that stress at the toe during breakover is creating the crack and rolling the toe your best option. But I think there is new information here.
The first thing I notice is how dry and crumbly the horn of the sole is resulting in large defects seen just lateral to the bars and at the point of the frog. To me this looks like a foot that has been wet for a long time and all of a sudden hit very dry conditions. You being in AZ however argues against this. Can you account for the stressed appearance of the horn of the sole?
I do see a few more things about the crack: going back to the first set of images the "hair growth pattern" at the coronet makes it appear there may be a dimple at the coronet of the toe just above the cracks. Is this real or have you parted the hair there. What got be looking is the appearance the defect of the crack may be deeper than the normal back margin of the white line on the sole suggesting some defect in the sensitive tissue farther up. However the image of the defect at the sole is not quite detailed enough to be sure.
DrO
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Member:
catchall
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 - 8:52 am:
Dr. O, I think the hair may be parted because we took his bell boots off right before the picture, but I will examine the area closely today to be sure. I can also try to get sole pictures with more detail. It's been raining and its hard to get his sole really clean. When it dries up, we'll ride him in the sand or rocks to get his feet real polished and do another picture to show more detail. His cracks do look very deep to me and that's our concern. If he needs attention from the vet we would rather do it sooner than later. But we would like to repair his feet naturally through correct trimming if that's possible. I can't really account for the stressed appearance of the horn of the sole, I thought maybe he was compensating for the flat feet and trying to shed sole. He has been in Arizona for a long time and living in the same conditions. His feet/soles are very hard and difficult to trim out. Once in a while we get rain and it's wet for a few days and then back to the normal dry climate, this could be causing the stress.
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