That week I had three horses with the same weird quarter crack

Last month in the middle of a heat wave, I had three separate clients in the same county call about quarter cracks on their horse's front feet. All three were on the outside quarter, all left front, and all on horses that stand in wet paddocks overnight. I patched two with acrylic and bar shoes, but the third owner wanted to try just a pour-in pad and no shoe change. It's been six weeks now and the two with bar shoes are sound, but the one with just the pad is still off. Makes me wonder if we're too quick to jump to the full corrective package, or if that's still the gold standard. What's your go-to for a wet environment quarter crack?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathan_foster603mo agoTop Commenter

I hear you on the bar shoe and acrylic being the go-to. In my experience, that extra support from the bar is what makes the difference in a wet spot, because it stops that heel from sinking and flexing the crack open again. The pour-in pad alone just doesn't seem to lock things down the same way when the ground's that soft.

jesse_barnes371mo ago

Right there with you, I've seen this exact scenario play out more times than I can count. The bar shoe and acrylic combo is the only thing that really holds up when those horses are standing in mud and moisture half the night. That pour-in pad just floats around in there once the ground gets soft, doesn't give the wall any real chance to grow down clean. The ones I've done with just a pad almost always need to be redone with a bar shoe before they're truly sound. It's like the crack needs that rigid arm to keep the whole foot from distorting every time the horse steps.

johnfoster3mo ago

Yeah, the bar shoe and acrylic patch is still my go-to for those wet ground cracks, seems to give that heel the support it really needs.

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