Page 75 - August 2017

A serious crack will sometimes require the farrier to work with a veterinarian, including taking
an x-ray to help guide with the repair.
“Another cause of cracking is a blow to the coronary band,” he explains. “This causes a bruise and some damage to those tissues.” If there is enough damage to compromise the horn-growing cells at the coronary band, there may be some weakness in the horn at that area, which can turn into a quarter crack.
“If there’s not enough blood supply in the damaged area that took the blow, this can cause a quarter crack,” says Boudreau. “If the horse overreaches and hits the coronary band, it is usually somewhere in the area between the region of the heel nail and the buttress—the back part of the foot.”
If the coronary band is compromised, he suggests applying a good hoof dressing like Corona ointment to keep the coronary band as supple as possible to help with cracking. “When horses come from the dry desert, I try to keep plenty of hoof dressing on the coronary band, applying it twice a week to get those cracks (that originate at the coronary band) to grow out,”
he says.
“Once you put the hoof dressing on the
coronary band, you also want to make sure the feet are in balance, landing level,” he explains. “You don’t want any extra pressure on any one part of the hoof wall. When the hoof is out of balance it creates too much pressure on one side of the capsule. This will push into the coro- nary band and cause it to jam up. All the extra pressure in one spot on that side of the foot can make it break out and crack.
“Too much pressure on one part of the coro- nary band can also lead to lack of blood supply in that spot, which leads to a less healthy foot in that area,” Boudreau continues. “Treatment for these problems is to always make sure the foot is in bal- ance and to keep the coronary band supple.
A heart bar shoe, which has a tongue that rests against the frog, can relieve pressure and support a good portion of the weight that would normally be on the heels.
“On many of these that have developed a problem, I often consider using a heart bar shoe that has a tongue which rests against the frog to help take the pressure and weight. It supports a good portion of the weight that would normally be on the heels.”
Boudreau goes on to explain how he pre- pares the hoof for the shoe. “Before I tack on the shoe, I make a notch, or trim off a little bit of the hoof wall in that area so it doesn’t touch the shoe, from the quarter crack back to the heel of the shoe. I don’t want the hoof wall in that area to be taking any weight, so there won’t be any pressure at all on that part of the wall.”
Boudreau suggests that this proven method gives the quarter crack a better chance to heal and grow by taking away the pressure.
“We can take that treatment a step further. Once we apply the heart bar shoe and have trimmed/notched out the heel so there is no pressure, we can also consider (in severe cases) putting a patch on the wall by lacing the quarter crack together with a small stainless steel wire. We can then put acrylic over the top of that
to stabilize the crack. Then, there will be no movement and it won’t get worse and can grow out,” he says.
Boudreau goes on to explain where he would place the wire patch and the potential outcome. “When I apply a patch, I run it up within a
half inch of the coronary band,” he says. “If
you apply the patch properly, as the foot grows down you can keep trimming the patch just like the hoof wall. If everything works the way it is supposed to, it will just grow right on off and then you’ll have a strong, healthy foot again.”
Boudreau uses pour-in pad material on some of these types of feet. “I use the kind that has copper sulfate in it, and it ends up a turquoise
The hoof wall can be patched and stabilized
by lacing a quarter crack together with a small stainless steel wire. Acrylic can then be put over the top to secure the crack so there is no movement and so the hoof can grow out.
color when you put it in the foot,” he says. “A lot of times, a horse with a quarter crack can be shod with the heart bar shoe.”
Boudreau then creates a barrier so the mate- rial he pours will only adhere to a specific area. “I use duct tape to block off the area where I’ve trimmed out the hoof wall so the pour-in mate- rial can’t get under the shoe (between the shoe and the wall),” he says. “Then, I fill the sole
up with the pour-in pad material. This gives the foot and sole more support and stability so there’s no pressure on the quarter crack and it can grow on out.”
Another type of hoof crack that is common is a sand crack in the toe area. This crack can be in any part of the toe, between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock on the front part of the wall. “Some of these must be taken seriously,” says Boudreau. “If you trim the foot and look at the white line right where the crack is, there will be a little
Tommy Boudreau, a certified farrier in Texas,
says good hoof maintenance and routine hoof care at appropriate intervals is important.
SPEEDHORSE, August 2017 73
equine health