My father has a thoroughbred horse that has been having issues every time he races, He has been cutting his hind legs right above his hove, Does anyone know of how we can prevent this from happening. Is there a wrap that is more durable than vet wrap that he can race in or something that can be put around his hove to lessen the impact ?> thank you
Pictures speak a 1000 words. Hard to visualize what you are describing, talking about. The type, location that a picture will show would go a long way toward giving some sound advise. I assume the horse is not “running down”?
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You definitely need to get creative. I had a horse win a race at 99-1 when I padded her up with patches I cut from the insoles of my daughter’s old nikes. I have also made patches out of thinline pads and lined them with sheepskin. Most of the time you can get by with the regular patches you can buy at any racing supply shop. It’s very important to start with a good farrier and a balanced trim.
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Sounds like this horse is grabbing his quarters (race track lingo for over-reach injuries) – mostly caused by the toe grab on racing plates. If it’s happening on hinds, that’s caused by another horse galloping close behind and striking with a front hoof. Up front quarter grabs can also be caused by another horse if the grab is located more to the outside of the hoof.
Also bad shoeing – long toes – can cause grabs. The front hooves are breaking over slower than the hinds. But 90% of the time grabs occur when a horse stumbles out of the gate and over reaches trying to right themselves and get going.
Nasty injury. Needs to heal before racing again. Can’t race in boots of any kind.
edited to add: As luvmyhackney said, you need to watch the replays of horse’s races and see where during the race the grabs are happening – then you’ll be able to determine WHY and can take steps to prevent.
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Edited to add: copied this from same thread in Horse Care
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I doubt the horse is getting stepped on by another horse behind every race. Some horses just have wonky hind ends and hit themselves when going racing speed.
Since OP said he cuts himself in every race (I missed that part of OP’s explanation) “…but only on the turns. And he cuts one hind leg with the other hind leg. That is what the jockey is stating.” …a wonky hind end is probably right.
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It’s called speedy cutting and it happens when the front feet are coming off the ground and the the hind legs are coming forward under the body - the front feet hit the inside of the hind legs. The blacksmith should be able to help somewhat, and you need to put patches on the affected area for races.
If the injuries are fetlock and above – then yes speedy cutting = felt patches = conformation problem, tiring horse or…
I was under the impression that ‘right above his hoof’ meant coronary band area or heel bulbs. I guess we need to ‘be there’ to see for ourselves. 
Grabs or speedy? Dunno!
She said he is cutting his hind legs right above his hoof, so it’s some sort of interference.
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Sadly some shoers at the track are not what many of us as sport horse owners would tolerate. They are capable or trimming a hoof and nailing a shoe on. Balancing is beyond their capability, and I will say that there are some out the there that will never have the eye for balancing, they just can’t see it.
The OP’s horse, no matter how wonky it’s hind end would benefit from a change in shoers. How the OP will find one that will serve his horse’s needs will be a challenge. Sometimes if you are close to a veterinary school with a resident farrier you can all there for a recommendation.
