Fly in the ointment

Just when you thought it was safe to start talking about the Triple Crown as if it might actually, possibly, maybe (please?) be happening this year, you get news like this. Big Brown, has been diagnosed with a small quarter crack in his left front foot (which for horse trivia nuts, may also be referred to as the 'near fore' hoof). So, what does this mean? Is he out of the game? No probably not, but it is a concern.

A quarter crack, also known a bit more archaically as a 'sandcrack', is basically a split in the hoof wall. Horses hooves are the functional equivalents of the human figernail and although they seem to be made of pretty tough stuff to us (especially when we're getting stepped on or kicked) they really are a piece of soft tissue. In other words, they can split and tear, just like when you break one of your own fingernails. It's not an uncommon injury for a horse, especially given the temendous pressure a thoroughbred racehorse puts on its hooves.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I break a nail I usually just file the rough edges off, and often that is soemthing you can do when a horse gets a little split in its hoof. However, you really can't do that with a quarter crack, because they begin at the coronet of the hoof. That's the name for band of semi-hoof running around the top of a hoof where it meets meets the horse's leg. It's essentially where the hoof is formed, and as I sort of implied above, it's not entirely hoof itself. You could compare it to the 'quick' of your fingernails. So, yes, with a quarter crack the hoof is essentially cut to the quick.

Quarter cracks can vary in severity, and their severity may be measured by both their length and depth. Length as measured by how long the crack appears from looking at it on the outside of the hoof (in Mr. Big's case, about 5/8 of a inch). Depth because there's pretty much no way to tell how deep into the hoof wall a crack goes just by looking at it. It's possible for a crack to split all the way down to where the hoof stops and flesh and bone begins, in which case there is a significant chance of infection. Here's some photos of quarter cracks with a range of severities from Big Brown's personal hoofcare guru (thanks for the link Left at the Gate!).

So, is this life threatening? No. Career threatening? No. Is it painful? Usually not (Big Brown is reportedly fine). Does it hurt his chance of going to the Belmont? Well, his trainer seems to think he's okay to go in now...but these things can change rapidly. Will it hurt his chances in the Belmont? Who can say? This horse has run on cruddy hooves all his life, this shouldn't make for much of a change. He's missing training, and that's never a good thing. His trainer stated in an interview that he may need to blow out the horse on raceday. I think someone must have heard him wrong, because who ever blows out a horse on race day anymore? Regardless, the point is, it's messing with his intensive training schedule, and that, just like with human atheletes, will throw him off his game. Just how much remains to be seen. Rick Dutrow is confident, but then Rick Dutrow's got a nametag that says 'Hello, my name is Arrogant Ass', so that's no big surprise. We'll just have to wait as see if the treament regimen thye've put him on actually works. Only two weeks time will tell.