In the following video, I talk about cleaning hooves and some simple things to consider and think of when doing so. I think that hoof picking is an absolute integral part of horse husbandry and allows a few minutes of the day (hopefully) where you can ask your horse to trust you to take one…
Category: Hoof Health
Embedded Debris in the Hoof Wall
One thing that is commonly seen in hooves is bits of debris or necrotic tissue embedded in the hoof wall. The absolute most common place is in laid over bars, but the second is definitely the spots where there have been cracks or other penetrating injuries to the underside or topside of the hoof wall….
Case Study – Mac
Our latest case study is a registered quarter horse gelding by the name of Mac. Which happens to be short for Macaroni. That name came about through the great efforts of a 12 year old and 5 year old pair of girls that sifted through many names to come up with that. That’s not his…
Flared Quarters in Hoof Walls
The first thing to be able to do for taking care of your horse’s hooves is to just be able to recognize there is a problem. In this article we’ll be talking about and looking at what flared walls are and why they happen. Flared walls is a term used to describe the outside hoof…
Shedding Frogs in Horses
Around this time of year, as it’s Spring here in Canada, you’ll find a lot of articles written for and people talking about shedding frogs. If it’s your first time owning a horse or just paying attention to their hoof health then it may be concerning to see large chunks of frog coming off. You’ll…
Deep and Aggressive Thrush
One of our first articles here was on Stable was about Thrush. As this article won’t cover the basics, it’s recommended to read the original article first and then come back to this one. When thrush is allowed to take hold, either through lack of detection or poor maintenance, it can literally eat the frog…
False Sole in the Hoof of the Horse
Something that is quite common to see when examining and trimming hooves in the summer and cold dry winter times is a buildup of the sole that may make the hoof look flat on the bottom or just rough and cracked. When this gets further into the wet season you may find that pieces of…
Ripples and Rings in the Hoof Wall
Something to consider when examining the hooves of your horse, amongst many other things, are ripples and rings and bumps that go horizontally around the hoof. In a healthy hoof, there are none. There should be very smooth walls that are straight and have no deviations of growth from the coronet to the ground. There…
Understanding and Dealing with Cracked Chunks of the Hoof
One of the questions I have had recently is, “Are my horse’s feet bad if they have chunks missing”. The short answer is yes, but the long answer is “yes and no” and is much more involved as we need to think about why this happens and how the horse is adapting to a particular…
Cracks in the Hoof Wall of Horses
This article is going to cover the topic of cracks in the hoof walls of horses. When evaluating the health of a horse, it’s common to start at the hooves and work our way around. The hooves can tell a LOT about a horse and having cracks in them is a sign of a few…