Posts Tagged ‘hoof’

Hoof maintenance is a crucial part of looking after your horses health. You should look at your horses hooves every day, and minimum twice per week.  You should become familiar with what is usual and what is not, and be able to to spot any issues that might be starting. 

Reading this simple guide will hopefully help you in your daily grooming practices.

1. Approaching your horse ensure the symmetry is close, however they don’t have to be exactly equal, but very close to the same size and shape. 

2. Look carefully for defects in the wall and coronary band.  Lift up the hoof, run your hand over the exterior of the wall to feel for impairments.  You can use the exact technique for the coronary band and then press it softly. Applying these two procedures will also highlight tender areas and moisture holding areas.

3. Examine the sole. Examine the colouring in each hoof. If correct they should be identical in colouration.  A well defined dark spot indicates bruising or damage.

4. Examine and compare the frogs.  The front hooves should be the sae size and shape, the same applies to the rear hooves. Try and lightly press each frog using your hoof pick, mostly, excluding the desert areas, they should be slightly spongy.

5. If already shod, hold the horseshoe and see if it wiggles. Look for missing clinches, if the shoe is loose you may choose to remove the shoe before your horse loses it on its own and perhaps removes a chunk of hoof as well.

If you keep a good close eye on each hoof, you can avoid a great deal of problems by noticing the problem before it gets severe.

We recomend you work into your daily hoof cleaning some simple steps. Use a pick from heel to toe.  If packed solid you may need to loosen it up a touch before it can be taken off. Once the material has been taken out, check all the parts of the hoof and be positive that there is not a bad odour as this is usually a obvious sign of thrush.  Be certain there are no pebbles or gravel lodged anywhere, even under the shoe.

Your horses hooves should exhibit a natural sheen on the hoof wall. 

If you see a smooth uniform surface with no cracks, circles, dishes, flares and a concave sole that touches the shoe, then you can be pretty sure that your horses hooves are in good health.

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