By: Hannu Polvi

For any horse hobbyist and anyone who is a caregiver of horses:

What I have seen here in my country, the problem of hoof cracks have been decreased among trotters, because the training and racing circumstances are better for horses nowadays. The ground is better for horses to run and by that also better for hooves.

Universally looking this problem, people who have horses as a hobby, mostly as riding horses or pets, are facing hoof crack problems more often.

I think the reason for that is just the lack of information how to take care of horsesin whole, and in what kind of ground horses can be exercised, and in what kind of ideal circumstances the horse should spend his time, in pasture, paddock and stable.

It is almost never possible to give the horse the ideal circumstances, and therefore it

is important that the owner/caretaker of the horse helps him to manage.

Some hints about that later in this article.

Common reasons for hoof crack happen when a horse is galloping or trotting on hard ground.

The hoof will get a very strong concussion when hitting the ground, much like a person who falls and hits his head. When the hoof is hitting the hard ground, there is a big possibility that the hoof will crack.

The hoof itself doesn't have a shock absorber, ok, the flexibility of sound hoof is some kind of that, but the ground should be the one for the hoof. So, soft/flexible ground is always better for the horse hoof in providing shock absorption and hard ground will not.

Weak walls of the hoof are one reason, because they can't manage the pressure and they cracks. Weak walls can be a reason of bad hoof material or thin wall.

Laminitis can cause hoof crack because of the changes in the hoof.

Very dry horn of the hoof is causing cracks because the hoof has lost its flexibility.

The list of reasons for cracked hooves is quite long: bad heels, improper shoeing, unbalanced hoof, sharp stones, these all can be reasons for hoof crack, so it is important that person who shoes the horse, knows what he is doing.

Also, if a horse has studs, and by accident steps on the coronary band making a holeto it, the hole can also start a hoof crack.

More like neglected hoof?

Weather conditions, climate, can cause hoof crack too: too dry conditions can dry the hoof too much and the hoof is losing its flexibility, and too wet can moist the hoof too and the hoof will be too soft.

Heel cracks and cracks which are close to the heel, are the difficult ones, because

there are not so much hoof wall to work with(to put a patch for example), and heel cracks are usually infected, so they need more work to get away the infection first,

if there is a possibility to patch it.

A quarter crack mostly tells you that the horse, or the hoof, is overworked and the horse need some rest. One reason for quarter crack can be when the horse is tired, in

a race for example, he can step in bad angle the hoof to the ground and by that

getting the crack. The horse can't control his movements good enough anymore.

How to avoid and treat a superficial hoof crack?

Nobody can give a 100% solution for avoid a hoof crack, but proper care of the hooves is the best way.

First, you must know what kind of hooves the horse has, dry, brittle, and also the conditions where you keep your horse.

With those facts you can make a conclusion what is best for the hooves.

Some time ago I read that a hoof should be kept as dry as possible. I am not so sure about that. I think a hoof need moist sometime.

There can be a climate reason for my opinion too.

We have here a cold winter, mostly from -10C to -20C (14F to -4F), sometimes can be close -25-30C, too, which is also hard for the hooves.

My experience about very dry hooves is not so good. They are hard and not so
easy to work with and they can start to lose chips, and of course mostly the hoof wall from nails to shoe goes away.

You don't have anymore a wall where to put the nails.

Then you have to repair, make a new wall to the hoof. That's not so good either. I am using those special products for hoof patching.


But too moist hoof is not good either, because if the hoof wall is too soft, it starts to crumble away, especially under the pressure of nails.


Lucky me I have not faced so much hoof cracks with my horses. I don't know what the reason is for that, but I just tried to use some common sense how to treat and take care of hooves.

I have trotters myself and they go a training pass on the track 2 or 3 times per week, it depends in what situation they stand based on the schedule.

Anyway, after the training I wash the horse and then hosing the legs with cold water about 15 minutes with hoses specially made for leg cooling, and then wrap ice on the legs, but that's another story.

But in the same time hooves get some moist from the running water.

When I start the hosing, I am brushing the hooves with a quite hard brush, especially the coronary brand. The brush is not extremely hard, but same kind what
is used for cleaning vegetables.

On the other days, when not training, I don't wash the hooves, only if the weather is bad and hooves are muddy, I will clean them when taking horses in for the night (if I take them in).

But, if my horse(s) have some problems with hooves, I pay attention to them every

day.

Here are 6 options to repair the hoof crack:

I had a gelding couple of years ago, who had one bad hoof, the right hind hoof. Whatever I tried to do, it did not work, the hoof was losing the wall under nails all the time, and I had to patch it.

When the hoof wall grew back, maybe one time could shoe the hoof normally and then losing the wall again. Other hooves were all the time better (not ideal) than this one.

I never could solve the problem, and when I sent him to a professional trainer, the same problem continued there, too.

He had all the time problems with the right hind leg, not only with the hoof, but the leg was the most weak of the four. All the time had to pay attention most to the right hind leg, shoeing it differently to keep the muscle balance, fetlock injected quite regular by my vet.

Maybe there is some connection between these problems?

I don't know for sure, but it is one interesting option to think about, because we never can just look in one certain part or problem of the horse but looking him like a whole package, because one thing is leading to another, so there is almost never only one reason for some problems.

Hannu Polvi is a Finnish hobbyists, trotter owner and trainer, having horses more or less about 28 years.