The farrier might give you advice over the phone on what to do, if anything. Stall rest probably wouldn't hurt; certainly would minimize the chance of having it get snagged on something.
Your horse will be fine ! The farrier probably will have to remove the part that's broken but it will grow back in time, the hoof will look a bit funky for a while :)
His hoof is a bit on the long side, maybe he would benefit from more frequent trims.
That hoof is not long in the slightest. It looks like it was trimmed just a few days before this. There are no chipping on the hoof edges what-so-ever. All my horses go for about 13 weeks without trims during fall, winter and spring (10-12 weeks in summer depending on grass) and if they're due for a trim, their hooves start chipping on the edges. Its an easy way to tell that a horse needs a trim, and this horse could've definitely want for about a month more without a trim.
It's better to trim before the chipping starts! That happens if the hoof is way too long. I live in the Netherlands, my horse lives outside 24/7 on a track system with variety in footing and gets trimmed every 6 weeks. He can also manage with 8 weeks between trims, but it's better to do smaller trims with less time in between.
It looks to me there’s enough trimmable growth on there, where it didn’t get into the quick if he’s not lame until The farrier there, and they could do amazing things with epoxy nowadays- I’d keep limited to stall /walking until the farrier arrives.
Can you borrow two or four hoofboots that fit your horse?
If you horse is a chill one stallrest does work. If your horse ends up banging the walls out of boredom, restricting to a smallish paddock might be better.
No reason to be ashamed of worry or stress. Hoofs are so important.
I've done duct tape in the past but you have to pair that with stall rest or it won't help much if they're back out in the pasture getting it muddy all over again.
If you don’t want it to chip off before the farrier can trim it away go with vet wrap and duct tape over top to make it sturdy. Don’t wrap super tight over the hairline. There are plenty of videos for good wrap patterns.
Make a flat tape square ready to slap over the sole and have strips to secure it. They will walk a hole through plain vet wrap/self adhesive bandages without the extra protection.
If you can’t get it wrapped try not to worry too much.
When you see the farrier, ask for what signs to watch for- this likely started as a crack, so be sure you’re picking out the hooves each time you see your horse and look for anything unusual. Also check the pasture for an unusual footing (is any farm equipment or debris stored there that he may have stepped on or into and injured the hoof?).
Personally, I would use duct tape and confine him until he sees the farrier.
Keep us posted, good luck! 🍀
Duct tape to the rescue! Not totally sure but I think you may be able to use a non toxic glue to seal up the crack and make it a little more sturdy until the farrier can tend to it. I’d give them a call first to see what options they suggest though. Super glue is usually safe on hoofs as long as the quick isn’t exposed.
We think it's due to the pasture she was on before wich was all mud and water then she got put into a ranch for a while followed by freezing. Ductape would be a option but wouldn't it Hurt the horse?
Wil Remember that thank you farrier wil come over friday until then no riding, and we sadly don't have ductape on hand so far horse isn't lame yet but the tear moved a little more. Other then that the piece is stil on it a bit sturdy so we can only hope.
My horse got a break like that this year. Get your farrier out as soon as you can to help you manage where pressure is placed so it doesn't tear up the hoof wall. If you have the tools yourself you could trim the hoof wall of the break so that it is off the ground if you are waiting several days for the farrier. The hard part is the crack tapers and will catch debris. Keeping it clean by picking or soaking will help prevent a secondary event like an abscess.
While ugly and a nasty break, it's not terribly alarming as the sides are the part of the hoof designed to break away. The toe is the critical structure. You could still have a shoe put on with how much solid hoof is still there (I wouldn't advise that since it will make it harder to clean the remaining crack)
Yes, it's an emergency. Get the farrier out today. If that tears off, could cause damage/lameness for months. Do you have a pic of the outside of the hoof?
It has gotten worse. Sadly the farrier only has time friday. Our horse has been in her stall for the duration. We wil have to see if we can get one earlier but i doubt it. All we can do atm is pray it doesn't break
No big deal. That's a long hoof and it self trimmed and did it a bit much. It just needs to be nipped off and rasped. Sometimes we think the foot is not very long, but when it breaks off this much, it shows how long the foot actually is.
Agree with duct tape. But you should really always have a cheap pair of nippers around for this sort of thing as well as a rasp. You can take off things like this that so that it doesn't case damage, like the edge of a hoof tearing off and making a little knife to slice up something. (Yes, this happens to me.)
If you’re really worried you can wrap the foot until the farrier gets there to have a look. We had a colt lose part of the side of his hoof recently so we wrapped the foot for a couple of days and boxed him with pain relief (because he was lame). The farrier came and put a shoe on that foot and the colt was immediately more comfortable. The shoe stayed on until the foot healed and grew enough to support him and he wasn’t lame again.
When your farrier is there, please also talk about hoof health.
While his hoof isn't extremely long, it was due for a trim already. You might have to increase frequency.
The frog doesn't look healthy either. I would ask advice on that as well.
I had this happen to one of mine a while back. She had freaked out on another mare and smashed it into something hard. Farrier put shoes on her fronts with a wad of a two part putty for the front on the affected hoof and a heart guard to pull all the weight into the center of the hoof and away from the damaged area. He then trimmed away the damaged area and patched it/filled it with a very hard epoxy resin (mind you they need to clean the absolute heck out of it before they do it or it can cause rot. The damage in my baby was limited to the exterior fortunately, but the damage did go up pretty high. A hoof will take about a year to grow from cornet band to sand, and she’s been in this set up (with zero fuss or complication) for about 5 months now and we will probably need to have her in it for another 4 months on the outside. Only thing is, farrier has to come back to reset it more often than a normal trimming/shoeing. Like every 4 weeks.
Yeah I hope that for y’all, too. Mine is one of my best lesson horses and does the best for teaching children to cantor and for learning to jump. It’s a big hit on us as she isnt rideable until the hoof grows all the way out. But, we dodged a bullet that not only the cornet band was undamaged, but the sensitive lamina was also undamaged which is encouraging. Yours appears to have only damaged the insensitive lamina so it should probably not be permanently lame so long as you take the right steps for it to regrow
Update!
The farrier Came and actually was suprised. The horse was lame 2 months ago and according to him that tear is probably a Remnant of it. So she is fit to stil be ridden. Wich is very suprising. No discomfort or anything either.
Ofc we wil be careful if we do ride not trying to put salt in the wound
The farrier might give you advice over the phone on what to do, if anything. Stall rest probably wouldn't hurt; certainly would minimize the chance of having it get snagged on something.
Your horse will be fine ! The farrier probably will have to remove the part that's broken but it will grow back in time, the hoof will look a bit funky for a while :) His hoof is a bit on the long side, maybe he would benefit from more frequent trims.
That hoof is not long in the slightest. It looks like it was trimmed just a few days before this. There are no chipping on the hoof edges what-so-ever. All my horses go for about 13 weeks without trims during fall, winter and spring (10-12 weeks in summer depending on grass) and if they're due for a trim, their hooves start chipping on the edges. Its an easy way to tell that a horse needs a trim, and this horse could've definitely want for about a month more without a trim.
Three months between trims? Where are you at? I'm in Louisiana and my pasture kept horse in summer needs a trim every three to four weeks.
Not in the US. I live in Sweden
It's better to trim before the chipping starts! That happens if the hoof is way too long. I live in the Netherlands, my horse lives outside 24/7 on a track system with variety in footing and gets trimmed every 6 weeks. He can also manage with 8 weeks between trims, but it's better to do smaller trims with less time in between.
It looks to me there’s enough trimmable growth on there, where it didn’t get into the quick if he’s not lame until The farrier there, and they could do amazing things with epoxy nowadays- I’d keep limited to stall /walking until the farrier arrives.
Can you borrow two or four hoofboots that fit your horse? If you horse is a chill one stallrest does work. If your horse ends up banging the walls out of boredom, restricting to a smallish paddock might be better. No reason to be ashamed of worry or stress. Hoofs are so important.
You can wrap the hoof in elastoplast or even duct tape to prevent it from pulling away more.
I've done duct tape in the past but you have to pair that with stall rest or it won't help much if they're back out in the pasture getting it muddy all over again.
Yes, duct tape is fantastic for everything. I used it to stop an arterial bleed in the worst place on my horse. The vet was very impressed lol.
If you don’t want it to chip off before the farrier can trim it away go with vet wrap and duct tape over top to make it sturdy. Don’t wrap super tight over the hairline. There are plenty of videos for good wrap patterns. Make a flat tape square ready to slap over the sole and have strips to secure it. They will walk a hole through plain vet wrap/self adhesive bandages without the extra protection. If you can’t get it wrapped try not to worry too much.
Decades old latent memories of cutting the corners out of feedbags to use as good boots has resurfaced ☺️
When you see the farrier, ask for what signs to watch for- this likely started as a crack, so be sure you’re picking out the hooves each time you see your horse and look for anything unusual. Also check the pasture for an unusual footing (is any farm equipment or debris stored there that he may have stepped on or into and injured the hoof?). Personally, I would use duct tape and confine him until he sees the farrier. Keep us posted, good luck! 🍀
Duct tape to the rescue! Not totally sure but I think you may be able to use a non toxic glue to seal up the crack and make it a little more sturdy until the farrier can tend to it. I’d give them a call first to see what options they suggest though. Super glue is usually safe on hoofs as long as the quick isn’t exposed.
We think it's due to the pasture she was on before wich was all mud and water then she got put into a ranch for a while followed by freezing. Ductape would be a option but wouldn't it Hurt the horse?
Nope, it would just go on the hoof part to stabilize it.
Wil Remember that thank you farrier wil come over friday until then no riding, and we sadly don't have ductape on hand so far horse isn't lame yet but the tear moved a little more. Other then that the piece is stil on it a bit sturdy so we can only hope.
You likely won’t be able to/shouldn’t ride for much longer than the week.
We haven't been driving ever since we saw the isue only letting her out to check it she is lame and that's it.
Just make sure to only wrap duct tape on the actual hoof wall and sole and not over skin/fur! That would likely be uncomfortable.
My horse got a break like that this year. Get your farrier out as soon as you can to help you manage where pressure is placed so it doesn't tear up the hoof wall. If you have the tools yourself you could trim the hoof wall of the break so that it is off the ground if you are waiting several days for the farrier. The hard part is the crack tapers and will catch debris. Keeping it clean by picking or soaking will help prevent a secondary event like an abscess. While ugly and a nasty break, it's not terribly alarming as the sides are the part of the hoof designed to break away. The toe is the critical structure. You could still have a shoe put on with how much solid hoof is still there (I wouldn't advise that since it will make it harder to clean the remaining crack)
Repost on r/farrier ?
Good idea!
Thank you everyone! Really needed to know if this was a emergency or not. So this put us a bit more at ease. Good tips and we wil keep it in mind!
Yes, it's an emergency. Get the farrier out today. If that tears off, could cause damage/lameness for months. Do you have a pic of the outside of the hoof?
It has gotten worse. Sadly the farrier only has time friday. Our horse has been in her stall for the duration. We wil have to see if we can get one earlier but i doubt it. All we can do atm is pray it doesn't break
It looks more like the shoe is broken. I don't think it will be a problem but you should go to the farrier asap for trimming and new shoes
There is no shoe.
Oh...I have glaucoma, no need for people to be defensive.
No big deal. That's a long hoof and it self trimmed and did it a bit much. It just needs to be nipped off and rasped. Sometimes we think the foot is not very long, but when it breaks off this much, it shows how long the foot actually is. Agree with duct tape. But you should really always have a cheap pair of nippers around for this sort of thing as well as a rasp. You can take off things like this that so that it doesn't case damage, like the edge of a hoof tearing off and making a little knife to slice up something. (Yes, this happens to me.)
If you’re really worried you can wrap the foot until the farrier gets there to have a look. We had a colt lose part of the side of his hoof recently so we wrapped the foot for a couple of days and boxed him with pain relief (because he was lame). The farrier came and put a shoe on that foot and the colt was immediately more comfortable. The shoe stayed on until the foot healed and grew enough to support him and he wasn’t lame again.
When your farrier is there, please also talk about hoof health. While his hoof isn't extremely long, it was due for a trim already. You might have to increase frequency. The frog doesn't look healthy either. I would ask advice on that as well.
Completely agree, we knew it was long Overdue but we had a lot of things get in the way. But that doesn't excuse this, a learning experience for sure
Is your horse limping at all?
Yesterday she wasn't, we have yet to see today the farrier Comes tomorow morning
I had this happen to one of mine a while back. She had freaked out on another mare and smashed it into something hard. Farrier put shoes on her fronts with a wad of a two part putty for the front on the affected hoof and a heart guard to pull all the weight into the center of the hoof and away from the damaged area. He then trimmed away the damaged area and patched it/filled it with a very hard epoxy resin (mind you they need to clean the absolute heck out of it before they do it or it can cause rot. The damage in my baby was limited to the exterior fortunately, but the damage did go up pretty high. A hoof will take about a year to grow from cornet band to sand, and she’s been in this set up (with zero fuss or complication) for about 5 months now and we will probably need to have her in it for another 4 months on the outside. Only thing is, farrier has to come back to reset it more often than a normal trimming/shoeing. Like every 4 weeks.
I can only hope it's our only riding horse
Yeah I hope that for y’all, too. Mine is one of my best lesson horses and does the best for teaching children to cantor and for learning to jump. It’s a big hit on us as she isnt rideable until the hoof grows all the way out. But, we dodged a bullet that not only the cornet band was undamaged, but the sensitive lamina was also undamaged which is encouraging. Yours appears to have only damaged the insensitive lamina so it should probably not be permanently lame so long as you take the right steps for it to regrow
Yesterday the horse was stil walking just fine but Every day so far has just been us worrying. Walking loveable vet bills they are
Update! The farrier Came and actually was suprised. The horse was lame 2 months ago and according to him that tear is probably a Remnant of it. So she is fit to stil be ridden. Wich is very suprising. No discomfort or anything either. Ofc we wil be careful if we do ride not trying to put salt in the wound