This horse is a 15yr. old gelding working at the Pistol Creek hunting camp in the Frank Church Wilderness. The hunting camp manager found this horse three legged lame with this deep quarter crack running to just below the hairline and bloody, the hoof wall from the crack to the heel was tearing away from the Sensitive Lamina taking part of the sole with it, the hooves were long overdue for trimming, how he injured the hoof is unknown. On discovering the injury the hunting camp manager left the horse in the valley with my Client to recover. These pictures begin in June 2012 when I was called to provide his treatment.
Treatment for hoof cracks like this one can be very successful; one of the most important factors is regular hoof care. After my first appointment I scheduled the next appointment for five weeks with appointments following that at six weeks. My client was prepared to do whatever was necessary to help this horse. You can see by the photos this solid 1100lbs Quarter Horse has a good frog to help support his weight, another factor in my favor. For my first trim I removed a lot of hoof (as I stated earlier he was overdue, no fault of my client) and left as much healthy frog as I could. I removed as much damaged hoof wall around the crack as I felt I could without trimming into the sensitive hoof. I didn’t want him bearing weight on or around the crack. Pictures 1 and 2
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Pictures 3, 4, 5 shows my Bar shoe with a quarter clip on the medial branch, a clip just forward of the heel on the lateral branch and a Rockered toe.
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Picture 6 is the shoe set for the second time, note how far the crack has moved down in just five weeks with no damage apparent at the coronary band.
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Pictures 7, 8, 9 are the third trim and reset. Note in picture #7 the hoof wall improvement from the crack to the heel since picture #1. In picture 8 and 9 you can see I have moved the two lateral nails ahead of the clip. The hoof being very flexible from approximately the widest part of the hoof back must be allowed to flex for best hoof health. We had to interfere with the expansion and contraction of the hoof for a period of time to stop the crack from flexing.
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The last trim (not pictured) I pulled the shoe trimmed all feet and left him Barefoot. As stated earlier it’s unknown how the injury happened or when. I began treatment in June 21,2012 and four months later the crack has almost grown out. If the horse had been left to recover without intervention the affected hoof wall may have torn clear off (very painful) but the hoof may have in time recovered. I’ve seen injuries like that, recovery is at least one year, sometimes more. Worst case, the crack breaks clear to the hairline producing what is usually a permanent weak spot with poor growth that lasts the life of the horse.
