Thin walls , bad management or DNA?

Would enjoy a conversation about this malady? Dealing with Quarter horses , I feel they are once again breeding the feet off of them? Diet , less daylight, colder temps etc...I know glueons are the answer but I wish the breeders would kinda look at the feet of the mare and stallion before they create a mess? Opposed to TWHs who even tho their legs look like they go in 10 different directions, they have nice thick hoofwalls for the most part IMO...

cripples bred with cripples beget cripples and everybody acts surprised with the outcome, then blames bad luck.

Got a customer who had a club foot 2yr old. She was going to put it down. Instead she sold it to some lady who just loved it. She is going to make a breeding mare out of it. I just shook my head in dismay.

I see hoof wall thickness determined the day or so after Mommy and Daddy meet. Many times I'll get a horse going well with the feet shaped up and pull a shoe to be reminded that it has thin walls that never change. They can be straighter, healthier without the cracking and rot, but not thicker.

I have to agree with Brian. Bad feet are genetic. It seems like most quarter horse people around here all have the mentality that if the horse has bad feet and can't be ridden then they need to be breeding stock.

Bad as in thin walled, shelly, cracked, brittle, etc.

David the folks that raise American Quarter horses have been trying to breed the hoof off their horses for years...throw Conformation out the window, now they breed to whatever horse excels in their discipline?? And they think they can FEED the hoof? Gelatin, Biotin, Farriers Formula etc.. and then the seasons do seem to affect growth of course...shorter daylight more body hair growth...BUT the owners Still think they can make the hooves thicker????

Totally agree with you Gary. Some of the stuff I see coming over here I know I'd never buy for myself. Bad enough I got to try to shoe it.

I did a stud farm in the 80 had 200 American QH I never found a problem with them
shod them all round

if anybody has ever come across horse that is that "thin walled" they cannot nail a shoe on the horse would not be worth the effort anyway

That's why glueons are really becoming popular.. I will try to include some pictures if my puter will allow them off my phone...?

Gary we put glue ons on but they are by request because of fad advertising IMO , i have still never come across a foot that i cannot nail a shoe too

I have ran across a few that were brought out of the back pasture that their feet were so broken up that I didn't have anything to nail to. My plater friends tell me thorobreds are notoriously thin walled.

if feet are so thin walled , badly broken up , nothing to nail on too , how the hell do they get around on flippin crutches , or a wheelchair ?

Chris, I've met a few quarter horses with 000 feet and 1/8" to 5/32" wall thickness. You'll maybe get 4 1/4 slim race nails in the toe and 3 1/2 race slim in the quarters. I've gotten them nailed up, but not without a seriously high pucker factor.

Tom , you nailed shoes on though , that is what i am saying , if a horses foot is that thin and weak it couldnt /wouldnt be working anyway

I have only really come across 2QTs that have/had such thin walls any nail would quick them..to preface one, it HAD decent walls until an issue came up and while at vet clinic resident shoer there nailed on alums with sole pack..problem was diagnosed as thin soles first..so after many rounds of Vettec and the sole grew but shed out easily with a wire brush and hoof pick...foot became very run out in front and the heels grew forward terribly...I got the horse back and shod it with eventers and she set an arena record that evening but then came up lame again with a hairline fracture of the coffin wing two weeks later...went barefoot and lives in sugar sand..owner cant stand to see toe on him so she takes a rasp to his feet all the time...SO she has raped the wall so bad there is NO way to nail a shoe on because the walls are so thin. Hind feet are fine..the other horse was a few years ago and I was glad it coliced and went to heaven..

I see many today who can't walk on a soft pasture. My wife's got one requiring shoes all the time even when the horse is doing nothing. Like Tom said, there is a good pucker factor when driving nails on those.