max_torres44•16d agoProlific Poster

My neighbor said to always use a rasp before the finish file on a quarter crack

He told me this about two years ago when I was working on a draft horse with a bad crack near the heel. I followed his advice and spent extra time with the rasp, but it just seemed to make the area too thin and weak. The next shoeing cycle, the crack had actually spread wider. I switched back to my old method of just careful filing and the hoof wall held up much better. Has anyone else found that too much rasping on a quarter crack can do more harm than good?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor77916d agoTop Commenter

Yeah, you can definitely overdo it with the rasp.

emmahayes16d ago

Wait, what rasp are we talking about? Like in someone's voice?

markh8516d ago

Man, I feel you on that. I mean, a rasp can take off a lot of material real fast, and if you're not super careful, you just weaken the whole area. I've seen it happen where you try to smooth out the crack but you end up taking off the good wall that's trying to hold everything together. Sometimes a lighter touch with the file is way better, just to clean it up without digging in. It's easy to overdo it when you're trying to fix something.