Heard a young farrier at the clinic last Tuesday say he never checks the collateral cartilages on a front foot.

Made me think about how easy it is to skip that step when you're in a hurry, but I told him I've caught two hoof cracks starting there just this spring alone, have any of you had a problem come from ignoring those?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewgonzalez5d ago

One of my regulars had a mare last fall that I swear was fine one week and then had this weird little quarter crack forming right at the cartilage area. I mean, the farrier before me had been shoeing her for years and never mentioned it. Idk if he just never looked or what, but by the time I caught it, the crack was already deep enough to need a patch. I patched it and it held, but it was way more work than if we'd caught it a month earlier. Maybe it's just me but I think a lot of people skip that part of the exam when the foot looks clean on the outside.

hollym825d agoOG Member

Yeah "by the time I caught it" is exactly how my last abscess story ended too, went from nothing to a full blown mess in like five days.