Medial displacement followed by quarter crack

This is what I had today. Checked the horse 3 weeks ago and the crack was out of the coronary band. Looks like it is trying to come back now. The crack is still not even deep enough to get into stratum medium...even though it is cosmetic, it is bugging me. First picture shows where it is starting to come back over the top of the bulge that grew out.

Second picture shows the bulge that grew out.

Third is just an oblique for a different view.

Ken, the crack came out before the floating, so the initial cause couldn't be that. Pat has a paper that shows cracks moving medially, laterally, distally, and proximally. If this crack was all the way through the wall and this medial heel could function independently of the remainder of the capsule, I would have a different approach. As it is, it is only superficial so the stratum medium and white line are still functioning as cohesive units.

There is a published paper that disputes this.

http://www.equipodiatry.com/AspectsofFunctionalAnatomyoftheDistalLimb.html

I completely understand what you are saying, and I am not posting that article to indicate that you are "wrong", but I think there are a lot of perspectives, each having points of merit and misgivings. If everything was as definitive as we would like, every physiologic, morphologic, and pathologic condition could be rectified with a cookbook-like procedure(s). Unfortunately, it just isn't so.

It seems to me that the disparity in the angle of the horn tubules at/behind the crack and those in front of the crack are at the root of the problem. Then, add in descending weight, [upward]GRF , the inherent weakness of the existent 'fault line'. I also get the impression that the wall above the red arrow is also starting to crack. It has also been my experience that though the wall appears to be functioning as a unit, it is not. I postulate that right now there is micro-shearing occurring and over time the crack deepen and often, when it reaches the coronary level, bleed.
My approach with situations like this is to remove more of the wall(float) from a point at a distal extension of the crack, back to the heel, dremel the length of the crack out into a shallow 'U' shape, shoe with a heart bar shoe, and insert screws, offset from each other, along either side of the crack and then lace the crack diagonally. If I choose to then use acrylics over the lacing, I insert a drain under the laces.

Some of the assertions in that article are disputed by Clayton & Bach in the book "Equine locomotion," and some of the assertions are disputed by Jeff Thomason's in-vivo research.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Probably going with something similar to this approach next trip if it hasn't grown out.

Yep...all one has to do is be on the bottom stair when helping a buddy tote a sofa up a flight. Raise one end and the load shifts to the end closest to the ground...not toward the end being lifted. This article has gone back and forth in my mind like a superball shot out of a cannon...and it still hasn't come to rest.

I am probably making a mountain out of a mole hill on this one. The horse has some quasi-significant rotation on the opposite. The crack may be a compensatory weight bearing issue, it may not. There is a modicum of medial displacement on this foot which happened before the crack. There was no noticeable difference in heel wear on the shoes. Next trip...unless it resolves itself, I will probably go with a frog support pad and fill the foot with impression material. Then glue/lace it closed. If that doesn't work, I will likely change courses and do something like a heart bar with that heel floated and glued. Will post it again in 5 weeks to see what, if anything, has changed.

Sorry this has taken so long. The crack is well on its way to growing down and out now. The bulge in the coronary band also appears to have migrated to the hoof wall and it is also growing down. I did not change anything with the shoeing or trim...well, that I am aware of. This last shoeing I noticed that there is a cavity (looks like an abscess cavity) coming out in the white line and sole behind the crack. This leads me to believe that it started as some sort of infection in the coronary band and has just been moving distally with the new wall growth. It is a bit difficult to tell from these photos, but the horn tubules also started to grow down at a different angle after all this came out of the coronary band. (If you look at the picture of the bulge, you can see it a little better) If I can remember, on the next trip, I will try to get some photos of the cavity.

Lookin' good!

Looks good. Where is the superball in your mind now, Scruggs?

The super ball analogy is no longer adequate. At this point, it is closer to this.