14/11/2023
This photo below is a true quarter crack caused by an imbalance medial to lateral. This healed incredibly well with no line present from where it used to be. The owner has done excellent in keeping infection away with packing with hoof clay to keep it clean. This plays a huge part in recovering the hoof wall.
It leads me on to talk about other hoof cracks below...
'True cracks' 'Not chips'
Hoof cracks appear at the toe(front), quarters (side), and heel (back).
Most commonly created by imbalances, from medial to lateral(side to side) or dorsal to palmar (front to back).
However, many other factors such as:- Overgrown hooves, improper trimming or shoeing, dry or wet environment, hoof infection, injury to the coronary band can cause cracks.
I almost never see heel cracks. Only when the horse has an abscess or overreact injury, lamness is present, and is sound within two weeks. Heels recover quickly as new growth takes less time to reach the ground, unlike the toe area. Within at least 3 trimming cycles at 5 weeks apart. I will never invade this crack at all. It is checked for infection and left to grow out.
Toe cracks are the most common in my own opinion. I find horses with low heels/long toe, white line disease, and wet environments are prone to toe cracks. what you see on the outside is more sinister on the inside, the bacteria that is eating away at all three layers of hoof wall. I find it double in height behind the hoof wall and then what you see from the crack itself. Treating these cracks takes a long time to fully heal. Anywhere from 5 to 12 months, depending on what caused the crack in the first place. I find it will look like a tiny black dot on the sole view, toe area, partnered with a small hair line crack in the dorsal wall.
I find rasping a small gap where the crack is to prevent any added pressure works best, I will also take out any black area underneath and ask the owner to be persistent with packing every couple of days with Artimud. This is to eliminate any infection present, allowing the hoof wall to grow out successfully.
However, I find that if their environment is wet or poor, the owner might pack every 2 weeks. That crack will grow up the hoof, resulting in the hoof crack being cut away leaving behind a huge chuck of hoof wall missing (not had to do this yet and hopefully won't ever have too).
please don't rasp a parallel line across the crack. This does nothing and will only damage the hoof wall further.
Quater cracks can start from the coranory band down, also known as sand cracks or grass crack that start at the bottom.
These are horrible to deal with, It can put a horse out of work for quite some time as they may become lame. I have only ever seen these associated with medial to lateral imbalances, typical already in shoes but also in barefoot heavier breeds with excessive flaring.
They come with other complications, and I can not help the crack grow out until the primary problem has completely gone away. This means it can take anywhere between 6 to 14 months to grow out. Getting the owner to address any infection immediately, keeping them in a dry environment with plenty of movement. I will float this area off the ground completely. I will leave the outer hoof wall if the crack has started from the coranory band. However, if the crack has started from the bottom (grass crack) normally from flaring, then rasping away the outer hoof wall is what I find works best.
