You can probably wait to have the farrier out. Use common sense in treating the wound; try to keep it fairly clean, at least out of deep manure and mud. Apply an antibacterial salve and leave it exposed to air if possible and still keep it clean. At this point, rounding the toe may just upset the balance of the foot, so I wouldn't do anything, unless the hoof seems to have founder issues from the wound (sometimes in an effort to deal with wounds elsewhere, the foot on that leg will suffer some

Thatwindow, I'm not attacking,but I certainly disagree that farriers are just trying to pad their wallets! IF they are good, they can get plenty of business from MORE people, rather than coming back over and over. Another thing, since I obviously don't pay for mine, I actually do it MORE often . One, I want them always to look awesome, and 2, if you wait until they are splitting or have an inch of growth, then you waited too long and things are out of balance, setting your horse for soreness

In my experience, you can't always guess what a hoof injury will bring until it's had a chance to grow some. May not have a crack at all. Depending on where the injury is, it may still be a weak spot, and have a "fissure" that doesn't actually separate,but if you lapse on regular trims, it will be the first place to split. As a note of encouragement, I trim 2 different horses that have old injuries that don't even allow ANY hard hoof wall to grow on the entire quarter of

Sounds more like he just needs some pasture rest. Allowed to romp at his own will, but have the forced work minimized or eliminated for a while, that's usually what's best if there's soft tissue damage. If he's on the high side of 5 years old, not much you can do to fix his toeing in without risking making him more sore, unless the hoof is telling your farrier that it really wants to be straight, but only he could tell that. Would hate to see an otherwise good horse be wasted, but

I wonder if it's not indicative of a kidney/liver chemical imbalance. Much like diabetic person will have "sweet" smelling breath. Not saying it's a need for panic or anything. Some people/animals just smell worse than others, but your odor is a result of all the things you eat and your own personal chemistry. If one of your organs is not working perfectly, it can affect your chemistry and produce a different odor. Same concept as why some people think garlic or apple cider vinegar

heh, I remember a guy having a cattle guard and the horses would mosey up to it, sniff it and flat footed just jump over it and go on. THey'd come back for food..just hop over it. So a gate was a must.

I forgot to add that you can order the bungee for Epics, just order replacement attatchment sytems. They interchange either way. The bares are more expensive than epics, by a little bit, but so are custom ordered boots.

The Epics have a little hole on the toe lever to run a pin in for that very purpose to keep it from flipping up. I thinky ou can even order them from the easycare site. The bares,..I like the sole tread, but personally I dislike the bungee system. Some people love it, I hate it. but you can order them with the epic cable system, put a pin in the lever and have the bare tread. Other than that, they are the same boot anyways.

Not personally, but I have clients that do and really like it and have good results in their performance horses. And since knees and ankles ARE stifles and hocks..it certainly applies.

Hmm, well, it's one of those things I think that will or won't happen again. Having the eye out isn't that big of a deal if your horse is pretty laid back to begin with. I have a well-adjusted one eyed horse that I ride on trails and such and you would be hard pressed to guess he's missing an eye without being close enough to see that.