Horse Hoof Care for the Long Run

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The best way to keep your horses' hooves in good working order is to have them regularly trimmed and shod by a professional blacksmith.
The best way to keep your horses' hooves in good working order is to have them regularly trimmed and shod by a professional blacksmith.
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The farrier may lightly rasp the hoof wall so that it rests within the outer edge of the new shoe.
The farrier may lightly rasp the hoof wall so that it rests within the outer edge of the new shoe.
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Good hoof care, which takes only about five minutes a day, is essential to preventing lameness and keeping your horse happy and healthy.
Good hoof care, which takes only about five minutes a day, is essential to preventing lameness and keeping your horse happy and healthy.
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Bone structure of the lower front leg.
Bone structure of the lower front leg.
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The farrier will first remove the old nails and shoe, and read the worn footwear to find out which part of the hoof handles the most stress.
The farrier will first remove the old nails and shoe, and read the worn footwear to find out which part of the hoof handles the most stress.
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Rounded front hoof.
Rounded front hoof.

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 horse 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 hooves 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.

Horse Hoof Anatomy and Physiology

  • Published on Jul 1, 1983
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