My horse has crumbly hooves!?

Question

The hooves are also a bit smelly. What is wrong and what should I do about it?

Answer 1

Get a vet to look at it!

Answer 2

hey.
As soon as you notice something unusual with your horses hooves you should contact your ferrier imediately. If you can not get the ferrier out, contact your vet.
The horses hooves are extreamly important, they are what they walk on and what carries you over jumps etc.!!!

It might be laminitis, lameness in the foot or even thrush. Those are my two guesses of what it could be (considering the short amount of info given). But contact your vet/ferrier for full info and the correct answer.

If you have any questions:
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Answer 3

Clean the feet daily! Try to keep your horse in dry bedding and out of mud for some time. Get a vet in, they may have a good suggestion or two. Also get a ferrier to check the feet and perhaps give you some ideas as well. If I remember my parents used to use hoof oil on the outter walls and on the bottom (but not on the frog). Use a brush to brush after you pick the feet out to ensure oyou get everything.

Answer 4

Kopertox, or white vinegar. If you continue to put your horse back in the conditions it is staying in, there is a good chance of permanant lameness. By conditions I mean wet, muddy or just plain dirty to improve it obviously that means new fluffy, clean bedding, not turning out in a overly muddy pasture, and good hoof care/ farrier every 4-6 weeks.

Answer 5

Usually dark hooves are stronger than white or light hooves.I have a paint with light hooves if I don't keep shoes on her they will chip,she can't go baref eet at all.

Answer 6

it sounds like your horse has thrush. Thrush is caused when the horse is existing in wet, muddy areas. if they are only slightly crumbly & smelly, you can get ThrushBuster & apply it yourself. Give your horse a couple days off, & make sure his/her stall is clean & dry. (VERY important).

if they are really bad, contact your vet.

Answer 7

If your horses feet smell then it has thrush.Get a farrier out to look at the feet.They also probabaly need to be cut down.I have horses I think I have the horse with the worst feet ever.

Answer 8

I have a horse with the same problem.some evil person who owned her before locked her up in a corn cellar and she ate too much corn and now her feet are crumbly and as for the smell it might have steeped in poo.

Answer 9

Sounds like it could be the beginning of laminitis.... Equine Laminitis is a painful condition of the feet. The actual word means ‘inflammation of the sensitive laminae’. These laminae are the membranes that hold the bone of the foot (pedal bone) in place inside the foot. So when they get inflamed it is as if your horse has to stand on a very badly bruised fingernail. The pain must be similar to when we shut our fingers in the car door but it is worse for the horse because he or she has to stand with all his or her weight on those bruised areas.

The cause of almost all equine laminitis is poor digestion. When food is not broken down properly in the hindgut of a horse, acids and toxins are produced which leak into the body and damage blood vessels throughout the body. When blood vessels that supply the feet are affected in this way the amount of blood flowing down to the sensitive laminae is reduced and they become swollen. This swelling or inflammation means that they cannot do their job of holding the pedal bone in place properly and this results in a lot of pain. As the situation gets worse and if the flow of toxins is not reduced then the laminae can be so damaged that the foot bone sinks right through the sole of the foot and the horse will have to be euthanased. When the foot bone sinks a little the pedal bone is said to have ‘rotated’.

The sort of food that causes equine aminitis is rich young spring grass with high levels of fructans. However rich grass can cause the problem at any time of year and even frosty grass in the winter can damage the digestion in the gut so much that the wrong sort of bacteria start to multiply and release toxins. Another cause of equine laminitis is the sudden ingestion of large amounts of cereal or concentrate feed. Large amounts of such rich food in the gut cause a lot of acid production and again encourage the growth of the wrong sort of bacteria.

Food is not the only cause of equine laminitis however. An increasingly common cause of the disease is a hormonal imbalance called Cushings Disease (see separate notes). In addition any infection in the body might produce enough toxins to damage the blood vessels and thus cause equine laminitis. Womb infections after foaling are a particularly well-known example of this cause of equine laminitis. In addition pounding of the feet can cause sufficient damage to the laminae to cause equine laminitis. This form of the problem is called concussion laminitis. Stress can also make horses more likely to get equine laminitis (and any other disease).

Medical treatment of digestive equine laminitis by your vet most commonly involves the use of painkillers or anti-inflammatories and diet adjustment. There are also antibiotic preparations on the market which although not absorbed into the rest of the body act on the bacteria in the guts, reducing the number of harmful ones that cause the acid build up. If you are using control on the intake of food to manage equine laminitis remember that reducing food intake means that your horse may not be getting all the best nutrients he or she needs for proper recovery of the sensitive laminae. This is why equine laminitis supplements are very important not only for ensuring that your horse recovers but also to make sure that he or she does not become nutritionally deficient.

OR

Thrush.....

If you smell a foul odor while picking your horse's feet, chances are he has contracted thrush, a frog-eating, anaerobic bacterium.
Thrush is a primary concern, whether your horse lives mainly at pasture or in a stable, especially in wet weather. Since this
bacterial disease is anaerobic, it survives without the presence of oxygen. In fact, oxygen will actually kill it. In many minor cases, just a hoof picking a day will be enough to keep thrush away.

Conditions that accelerate thrush are conceptually (but not
literally) relative to those that accelerate tooth decay within
our teeth. It sounds absurd to hear that someone died of tooth
decay. Unfortunately, I have heard of horses being put down due to advanced cases of thrush and I think how absurd, because thrush (frog decay) and cavities (tooth decay) are both hygiene-related and both easily prevented.

Generally speaking, thrush is not deadly. Most studies suggest that minor cases have a three-day window to arrive and a three-day window to disappear, provided that appropriate measures are taken.

Thrush problems for horses are essentially fostered by poor
hygiene. It's difficult to comprehend the seriousness of
something that appears so subtle, but due to the horse's hoof
construction, it can be deadly if not dealt with properly.

The frog has two distinct layers--the external skin is called
horn tissue and the corresponding vascular layer of tissue is
called the sensitive corium. Beneath the inner sensitive layer
lies a pad-like shock absorber that reduces concussion for the horse's hoof and his entire limb, called the deep digital
cushion.

The signs of thrush will be noticeable at the deep crevices of
the frog (sulci) when a black, puss-like discharge accompanied by a foul odor is present.

Thrush is likely to take over a hoof that is left in unsanitary
conditions. A wet environment that primarily consists of urine
and acidity from manure is a breeding ground for the anaerobic bacterium that are attracted to any necrotic (decayed) tissue that exists on the horse's frog. Not stopping at that, the bacteria will form deep-seated pockets and literally drill into the frog, eating away at the remaining healthy tissue.

One way to prevent thrush is by a thorough, daily hoof picking.
It's not necessarily true that horses at pasture won't get
thrush. They can, in certain seasonal situations. Horses left in
muddy areas, particularly in the northeastern part of the U.S.,
may have to cope with wetter climates most months of the year,increasing the odds of contracting thrush. Horses that spend time in unsanitary conditions are also more susceptible to the
bacteria.

In serious cases, the thrush bacteria invades the sensitive
layers of the frog. It is common in these cases to see bleeding of the frog as well. If this happens, you should move your horse into a clean, dry area and use an antiseptic foot wash with Betadine solution or a foot soak with warm Epsom salt water. If bleeding still persists, apply a temporary bandage.

Remember, it's always a good idea to confer with your vet, who will probably suggest your horse receive a tetanus shot. Once the healing of the frog begins, it would be wise to maintain a "cleanliness-first" policy for your horse's feet.

Answer 10

is their something on the ground that is not good for the horse the like poo or dirt that has stuff in it that the horse dosn`t like? look wats on the groud or in the food