I rode my horse lightly today w/t in the ring and then went for a walk around the property. At some point during our ride he managed to crack his hoof. I’m going to try to attach the pictures. It’s a good flap and it seems pretty thick. I’ve emailed the barn owner (he’s boarded) with the pics and asked if their farrier could check him out. Is there any way to tell from the pics how serious this is? I mean he seems fine and I had no clue until I untacked him and went to pick his feet out. But I’ve never had a horse crack a hoof that deep before, and he’s never had so much as a surface crack as long as I’ve owned him. Can someone reassure me he’s fine 
Can we see the sole?. My guess is he’s just trying to self trim because his walls are long.
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That does not look like a “just now” crack. It may have expanded after riding him but that’s been going on for some time.
He needs a farrier. He does NOT need to be ridden until that gets under control — however long that takes:)
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Can’t tell from the photo, but he might have some white line disease in that hoof. The photo sort of looks like the hoof beside the crack has pulled away from the underlying structure a little. A farrier could tell you for sure, and if that’s what it is, it can be fixed.
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The quarter crack happened because the walls in quarters are left too long. Hoof shape on rears should be shaped like a spade, not round like this hoof.
It is a form of self trimming because the farrier doesn’t know what shape he should trim to.
Trimming 101.
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Trick my shoer showed me:
If you can get a rasp (or at a hardware store: bastard file) file a groove horizontally at the top to prevent the crack going further.
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It’s not a quarter crack though - it’s a toe quarter, not a heel quarter, and they usually start at the coronet band, not ground level
Without a solar view you can’t tell the overall shape of this foot. It’s true that hinds are generally less round than fronts, but many hinds are quite “round”, especially when viewed off-center.
To me, this look like the foot hit something hard at just the right angle with just the right momentum. It might have started as a mild crack that wasn’t very noticable, but especially if the footing (and therefore the feet) had been wet for a while, hitting something hard doesn’t have to take much to make a crack, especially if the feet were due for a trim.
I can tell you my mare went racing up the hill one day, hit a little rock juuuust right that had worked its way up, and tore off a large enough chunk of wall that she was bleeding and pretty immediately lame. She healed just fine, and that was way worse than this crack 
he will be fine
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Thanks all! I think he’s going to pull through 
it is a LOT more mild than I originally thought- it’s still a decent chunk of hoof wall but there is still seeming to be a thin layer of hoof wall remaining. I flushed it out with a betadine solution in the hopes of getting any crud way up there out. I let it dry for a bit, put some thrush meds up there just in case of moisture/remaining debris, and wrapped it. The farrier will be there to check it out/clean it up on Tuesday. So it’s a wrapped hoof and no turnout or riding until then. I’ll hand walk him in the indoor as much as I can to keep him moving a little. Thanks for reassuring me and reading my helicopter mom panicking!
As a side note, I am planning on switching farriers. For a while before this I haven’t been super happy with the work being done on his feet for various reasons. I contacted a farrier today who came highly recommended by my old farrier who has retired. Hoping it works out well! 
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His hinds are definitely not round- bad pic angle! I will get proper pics of his feet and then we can check them out- hooves are NOT my area of expertise!
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Oh yes, he will be fine. Even big chunks will heal; it’s just a matter of time and sometimes careful trimming is needed so they don’t continue to travel up the hoof.
Good luck with the new farrier. But it doesn’t mean that the old farrier was the cause of this particular incident; sometimes things just happen, especially when the horse is due for a trim. It’s also a difficult time of year at least in my neck of the woods. We are alternating between frozen ground, slush, and mud. 
Oh absolutely! Not looking for a new farrier based on this incident- it happens. New farrier has been in my mind for several months now.
