Quarter Crack Why Pull A Quarter Crack Together?

Since you don't have "before" pictures you could photoshop your "after" pictures to show what it looked like when you first started . . .

I could but it's not that important to me. I'll wait till I come across another horse that I can get better before and after pics of

OK, I'll bite. Pulling the crack together is one method of creating stability of the crack. If the two sides are being pulled together they are less likely to move independently of each other. I am not saying this is the most effective method of achieving stabilization, but I do think it can work.

I would ask why did the crack appear in the first place? If there is pressure pushing the tubules apart, why pull them together?

I have seen pulling them together work and not work just like most things Farriery.

i'd have said that the reason it's done is simple and obvious: it's to prevent further damage whilst the hoof is compromised.
Why it's ever done with wood screws and bits of old metal as I've sometimes seen photographed is beyond me though. Patching it without addressing root cause if that's balance seems rather illogical.

There are a lot of reasons for cracks to appear, but if the hoof on either side of the crack keeps moving I can't envision it healing. How do you keep the hoof from moving? floating the heel might help, incorporating frog/sole support might help. Stabilization of the hoof capsule with screws, wires, fabric with adhesive, or a piece of aluminum glued on all seem to provide some form of stability. What works best? I have opinions and anecdotes, but I don't think anyone really knows.

I see lots of horses with "balance" issues without 1/4 cracks, so I think there might be more to the story. Do you think you could trim a horse in a manner to guarantee causing a crack?

I cracks, I have to deal with, are new clients and most often there is an underlying lameness elsewhere that has caused the overloading of that medial heel. I lace, plate or patch, after it's done bleeding and dried out but to successfully grow it out the "other" issue or issues must be addressed.

I don't think it's possible to intentionally produce a true quarter crack with inapproriate trimming.

Very interesting question, Pat. BTW, It pleases me a lot to see you here, but then, I'm easy to please, though not cheap.

In my opinion, very strict conditions and constraints must be working in concert to cause a quarter crack.

1. Conformation - long pasterns, acute natural angle, sheared heel, very thin wall in the quarters compared to the wall thickness in the pillars.
2. History - poor hoof management where the hoof has been allowed to run forward and the heels left long and continuously short shod with the heel butress of the shoe and the heels trimmed to end in a plumb line dropped from mid quarter accompanied by chronic and extreme (> .5") proximal displacement of the coronary band in the quarters
3. Use - Horse is worked hard and regular (daily) in a high performance discipline - racing and show jumping would be first choices.

That's my recipe of "common ground consensus" based on empirical data I've gathered from multiple sources (mostly farriers and vets who've seen and dealt with a bunch of quarter cracks.) I've not had a true full blown quarter crack to deal with in my practice, so somebody send me one and I'll show you how to fix it.

Does anyone disagree with this list? Are there other predisposing factors?

i'd add things like absessing, abnormal loading which might be such as a horse working on hard uneven ground and trauma which might be such as overreaching. i'm thinking though that repair to stabilise is often going to be necessary even if and when the hoof is being correctly trimmed otherwise further damage could possibly result to such as coronary band, laminae or coffin bone

Thomas,

Lets make a distinction between acute trauma/injury related cracks in the quarters and "quarter cracks" which originate at the coronary band in the quarters and split down to the ground. No? I think this was already covered in another thread which spawned this thread, but I think it is worth repeating.

erm ok then....... not that i saw the other thread. if it was on the other forum, then i've not been going there.

Here it is Thomas. Another great discussion which kicked of this one.

http://farriersforum.com/threads/quarter-crack-and-screws-on-the-hoofwall.92/

Apologies for not inviting you here sooner.

So, another case of "It Depends"

I agree...

Guarantee? No. However, as seems to ever be true, "It Depends".

you might not be able to but i'm coming to the view some are more successful At least I keep seeing photos on forums where each and every horse has cracks.

For all of the arguing in the horse world about the term "balance", and all of the different interpretations applied in trimming and shoeing, there seem to be relatively few quarter cracks. I have seen some grossly neglected hooves without cracks. I am not saying that the trim is not an important role to be considered, but there does not seem to be an epidemic of quarter cracks relative to the number of "imbalanced hooves" reported by some farriers.

As Thomas pointed out, other factors might be important in the etiology of a crack- environment, use or pathology (abscess, bruising wall separations).

Pat, I believe the question was "why pull a quarter crack together".

Was the hoof capsule wrong in the first place for splitting open and need to be taught a lesson and closed back up?

Does the force which was causing the wall to split need to be alleviated and then the wall pulled shut?

Yes, I think hoof capsules function better when they are in one piece without cracks. If pulling it together results in more stability then I support the idea.

Do you leave flares in place, or did the force causing the flare alleviate an opposing force? If a coffin bone is trying to sink, should we try to prevent it with a bar shoe or sole support? I think it is safe to conclude that crack are better when healed than accepted as strain relief.

Cracks don't heel and flares don't heal. Everything grows down from the top.

In the case of a crack, if the force causing it is reduced and the capsule stabilized the new growth will not crack. So it comes down to does the capsule at the point of the crack want to be wider in the first place? If people are pulling the crack closed they they are suggesting the wall near the coronet is like it should be.

I don't get many cracks in my fingers but those who do, do they stitch them closed or do they throw some crazy glue on them?

Ok Pat, I'm going to ask for your opinion on an option. Since this thread was spawned by a different thread where a crack was pulled together using screws, one alternative, IMO, would be to mechanically stabilize the crack without pulling it together. For example a plate with screws and/or a composite package to bond the wall on both sides of the crack - applied with the foot unloaded and not putting any strain in an attempt to close the gap. So the difference would be no strain on the wall until it is loaded, vs. possible strain on the wall due to forcing the crack closed with screws or wire or whatever. I would like to hear your thoughts regarding this alternative and perhaps share some experiences as I'm sure you see a lot more cracks than the average farrier working in a clinical environment.

Thanks for sharing. It's appreciated.

It depends.