Question by Tiffany Rozumniak
I have a gelding who has had a toe crack for probably the last 5 years or so. I have had numerous Farriers shoe him and say that is the only way to fix it. However even though the shoes would make it look like it was gone and healing, there would always still be a hairline crack right from the top. My most recent farrier shod him and he kept losing shoes and his feet seemed to be crumbling so I had him take the shoes off. He told me there would be no way to fix this crack. I have attached a picture below and was just wondering if a stitch could be used to fix this crack?
I believe that a stitch would fix this crack. The problem with just shoeing the horse is the foot will expand with the horse's weight. If you just put a shoe on it, it is going to stop it from expanding at the bottom, but it will continue to expand at the top. This will prevent the crack from healing completely. If it is stitched just above the crack, you will stop it from expanding at the top. When you were having trouble with the feet crumbling, it is just from using too small of shoes and rasping off too much hoof wall.