No Hoof No Horse

A healthy horse has healthy hooves. For the sake of your horse – and keeping him sound - it’s important to pinpoint problems early so you can seek professional diagnosis and treatment. But how do you know what to look for? 

Here’s our top four tips to identifying hoof issues so you can stop lameness issues in their tracks:

1. Observation – Spend a day observing your horse’s daily routine and behaviour so you know what ‘normal’ looks like. Take note of how he stands and moves. Use your phone to take slow-motion video of walking and trotting in a straight line; then walking, trotting and cantering in a circle on a lunge rope (both clockwise and anti-clockwise). Once you know what is ‘normal’ in your horse, any sudden changes that indicate lameness and pain should be easy to spot. 

2. Assessment – Pick up your horse’s hooves and examine them carefully. Palpate, feeling for heat and swelling. Run your hands down his legs to feel the tendons and lateral cartilages. Squeeze the heel bulbs and digital cushion. Palpate along the coronary band. Your horse should not react to this unless you find something sore and out of the ordinary. 

3. Digital Pulse – There are several sites to locate a digital pulse, but the rear bulge of the fetlock can be easiest to find. Place your index finger on the outside bulge of the fetlock joint and search for a bundle of cord-like structures towards the back of the joint. Press your finger firmly for 5-10 seconds (but not too firmly, or you’ll restrict blood flow and not detect the pulse.) A strong, bounding digital pulse is a good indication of inflammation and pain. The most common cause of this are abscess, infection, stone bruising and laminitis so, if this is the case, it’s time to give us a call. 

4. Smell – Issues like thrush, seedy toe, abscess and infection tend to have a foul smell. 

Now that you know what to look for, please contact us for an examination if you have any concerns at all. Same goes if your horse is showing signs of lameness, or intermittent lameness. The sooner the right treatment plan is put in place, the better the outcome will be.