PROPER HOOF CARE (FOR THE LONG RUN!)

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Don't let your healthy mount turn into a lame liability. Keep it sound and happy with...

Horses have always had the most uncanny knack for thoroughly delighting their owners one minute . . . and then turning around and totally perplexing them the next. And small wonder! These highly versatile animals are strong enough to pull a plow through rocky terrain, daring enough to leap over treacherously high fences, and agile enough to lope sure-footedly along a rugged hillside . . . but are also fragile enough to "break down" when you least expect it. Keeping a horse healthy can be a tiresome and costly avocation.

Yet-believe it or not-you can do a lot to prevent many of the common maladies that threaten a horse's soundness, simply by practicing proper hoof care on a daily basis. There are a lot of all-too-sad reasons why the old adage "No foot . . . no horse" is so often heard among horse owners. But you can use preventive health care to turn that gloomy saying into "Sound hoofs make a mighty mount"! The key is this: Don't wait until the last minute-the day you plan to start plowing, enter a show, or set out on a family pack trip to begin catering to the needs of your critter's "toes". By then, it may be too late. No sir, if you've got a palfrey or workhorse around your farm that you care about, then you'd better start getting its feet in shape today.

But whoa . . . hold onto your hoof pick a minute! Before you can take proper care of an equine foot, you've first got to understand a few things about what a hoof is and how it works. Then you have to know what's involved in shoeing and trimming this foot so you can hire a good farrier to work with you. And finally, you should be able to recognize (and deal with) common hoof problems. To help you out, we've done our best to compile and condense this information. So ride on (oops! . . . we meant read on) and then start practicing the art of toe-tending.

EFFICIENCY OF DESIGN

A horse's hoof is packed with some of the finest shock-absorbing equipment that nature has to offer, and-when all of its parts are in working order-is truly an amazing structure. For example, a single hoof under the stress of a gallop can bear 5,000 pounds (or more) of pressure without once disturbing the delicate ligaments, muscles, and bones of the leg.

To get a better idea of the physiology of the hoof, take a look at Fig. 1, which shows the internal makeup of a lower front leg and foot (like parts of the hind leg are similar). As you can see, the long and short pastern bones of the leg move up and down into the foundation of the hoof, or coffin bone. Just behind the lower pastern and the coffin is the extremely fragile navicular bone, which is shielded from impact on hitting the ground by a fibrous fatty mass known as the plantar cushion. The natural line between the two pastern bones and the foundation of the hoof must be maintained, since any disturbance to it (as a result of accident . . . neglect . . . or poor trimming and/or shoeing) can cause varying degrees of injury to the horse.

If you look closely at this drawing, you'll see that there's a narrow band surrounding the coffin bone. This is the white line, which is made up of tiny laminae-both sensitive and insensitive that help "glue" the interior (live) part of the hoof to the exterior (dead) protective wall . . . also called the horn.

Fig. 2 is a view of the bottom of a front hoof (the back feet are similar but more oval in shape). As you can see, the wall circles and guards the slightly concave sole. The bars, which defend the all-important shock-absorbing frog, are merely a continuation of the wall.

A horse's hoof, then, is a delicate union of dead outer matter with living inner bone and tissue . . . all of which work together to form what may be nature's ultimate "running shoe". When a healthy steed touches its hoof down as it takes a step, the frog and wall expand and accept the weight of impact. Then the frog aided by the plantar cushion-acts as a spring to push the foot back into the air for another stride.

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