advice needed

["Wolgram" <bkwranch@cmn.net>]

I hope I can get some advice from anyone who may have experienced this problem because I have two contradicting vet opinions and am really in a quandary over this.  About twelve days ago my Arab mare got a horizontal cut, very clean slice, right above, actually almost on,  her coronary band on the outside of her right front foot and was dead lame for about three days.  The slice didn't bleed and was very hard to find.

My husband was working graveyards and I work days, so we couldn't get her to the vet (50 miles away) until four days later and she was very improved but still off a little bit.  The vet looked at it and gave me some Ichthammol 20% ointment to put on it.  The ointment has done a good job of keeping the cut clean and soft.  He told me to go ahead and ride her, said it would be better to ride her than to just let her stand around.  He also felt she would be fine to compete her in a month maximum and that it would not cause a problem with the hoof.  I rode her last Saturday (the next day) for about two hours just walking and she was fine, just a little off step every once in a while.  She has been improving this week but is still not 100%, not really lame anymore, just seems questionable the way she puts the foot down every so often.

Meanwhile, our local mobile vet came out today to draw Coggins on three of our horses and he looked at it and his opinion was that he wouldn't ride her or compete her (I have a CTR in about five weeks that I was going to take her to) until it grows out because he feels like it is going to grow down and crack the hoof wall.  He also said to put her on a biotin supplement.  He said when it grows down into the hard part of the hoof, it can be sealed with beeswax or epoxy and probably would not give any trouble then until maybe when it grows nearer the bottom of the hoof.

Now I don't know what to do.  Both these vets are good and both know that I compete my horse in about 15 CTR's a year. One was very positive with the prognosis and one was very negative, yikes!

Have any of you experienced cuts of this nature right above the coronary band...did it cause any problem with growing down into the hoof.  And would you advise riding/competing or not?

I am going to try to call the first vet tomorrow and tell him what the other one said and see what he has to say, but I would appreciate any feedback you guys can give me.

Thanks...

Betty in Colorado