On The Hoof

On The Hoof

 

DAILY HOOF CARE

No Hoof, No Horse!

 

I was raised in the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle area specifically, and brought up around show horse barns on the east side of Lake Washington. “Back in the day” as the kids say now, the horse shows (at least the ones we attended) were long, lavish affairs open to all breeds and types of horse. It wasn’t uncommon for my folks to have a student coming out of one ring on a five gaited saddle horse while another was about to go into a stock seat equitation class on her Quarter Horse. Specialty and breed association shows existed but hadn’t become popular yet.

 

The Washington State Open Show in Yakima, Washington for example ran for five days with three rings going constantly from 7 in the morning until midnight at least. So as you can imagine my first exposure to horseshoeing was some pretty fancy stuff!
Frankly I never considered shoeing a horse when I was young; we had a blacksmith that did that. Every Tuesday morning, rain or shine, he’d show up, set up his rig and go to work. Most of the time we had upwards of 30 head in the barn so he had a full day’s shoeing each week. Each new shoe was handmade to fit each horse, depending on the job that horse was required to do.

 

Needless to say these guys were masters of the craft. I probably could have had any number of very valuable apprentice-ships just for the asking. I however, in my own inimitable fashion, waited until I had moved 1200 miles away to begin my horseshoeing career in the “wilds” of Wyoming and had to learn things the hard way. No surprise there! I did, however, come away from those days of hanging from a lead rope, holding horses for the blacksmith, with something for which I am forever grateful and that is a deep respect for the form and function of the equine foot and leg.

 

“No Hoof No Horse.”

That adage is as old as time itself and it’s just as true today as it was back when the first cavewoman (and there’s no doubt in my mind it was a woman,) fell out of a tree, landed on the back of a horse and two weeks later founded the Spanish Riding School! My Buckskin Buster and I were a classic example of that this year at the New Mexico State shoot when an old fashioned stone bruise left us standing on the sidelines after only two stages.  Durn the luck!

 

Another good one is the saying that references a horse having five hearts. Each hoof functions as an “auxiliary pump,” driving blood back up the leg every time a horse steps down, allowing the horse’s true heart to pick the blood up again in the circulatory system. A good example of this is when a horse stands still for a long time, you’ll note that his legs will swell, or “stock up.” Once you lead him off a few steps his “extra hearts” go to work and push that blood up into the body again and the swelled appearance goes way.

 

Pretty cool system, huh?

It’s all a function of how the hoof flexes when the horse steps down. Without getting too technical about it, we can say that as the horse steps down on the supporting leg, the sole distends toward the ground and the frog pushes up, causing the two lateral cartilages at the bulbs of the heel to move outward. Then as the leg is lifted and weight is removed, the sole pops back up (like the bottom of an oil can) and the cartilages move back toward one another, pumping the blood back up the leg. Add to this a pretty remarkable set of one way “valves” in the vessels of the leg and you can see how that old five hearts saying came to be. You can also see why good regular hoof care, and daily hoof maintenance is so critical to your shooting horse.

 

Dig it Out

Get in that tack trunk or grooming kit and dig out your hoof pick. That, next to a good pocketknife is the best tool a horseman can own. Then “Clean ‘em … in and out!” That is to say- use the hoof pick as you saddle and as you unsaddle. I know it’s a pain and I’m as bad about it as the next guy, but it really is a critical part of maintaining your equine athlete. Lots of folks will tell you “Aw, I just ride him on the gravel awhile … that cleans them out.”

 

Well, maybe to some extent. But what if there’s a roofing nail up in there that is not deep enough to cause a problem, yet? Take the first step to good hoof care and knock the dirt and manure out of the feet before and after you ride.

 

Do they need to be clean enough to eat of off? No… not unless you are very weird! Just knock out the muck and be sure to run the pick down the commisures of the frog, especially if you live in a wet climate. The commisures are the “grooves” on either side of the frog and it’s important to get down in there and get those areas scraped out. Foreign objects such as nails, rocks, blank cartridges, etc., love to get up in there and cause problems. Leaving muck packed up in there can create a lovely little condition called thrush, which is something like athlete’s foot on steroids! Nasty stuff, which is mostly preventable with a hoof pick! (And a manure fork.)

 

Don’t worry- you can’t hurt your horse with a hoof pick. If he does flinch or jerk away from simply cleaning his foot, you need to have your vet or your farrier (or both) have a look right away. Otherwise get down in there and knock out the muck, before you ride and pack that stuff farther up in there. Then check the feet again before you put him up, just to make sure he didn’t pick something up on the ride. Hopefully you’ve taken Dr. MacDougal’s advice in previous issues of WSH and you’re putting some sort of leg protection on your horse going out and taking it off coming in. So since you’re down there anyway—use your hoof pick.

 

Dressing

I get asked about hoof dressing almost as much as “Doesn’t that hurt?” There are a bazillion different types of hoof dressings out there and each one most certainly has its merits. I have never really settled on one that I thought was superior, although there are a couple of application notes—as it were—that are worth mentioning. Grease or pine tar-based hoof dressings, like Grandma used to make, are fine in wet climates (like the one I grew up in). That type of dressing acts to seal moisture in to help keep the foot flexible.

 

It stands to reason that if it seals moisture in it also seals it out, so applying a grease or tar-based dressing in a dry climate can be counter-productive. For dry climates like out here in the fabled badlands of New Mexico I prefer the lanolin-based dressings that act as a natural emollient rather than a sealant. There are a bunch of them available, so the best advice if your shoer thinks you need some is to find one you like that is available locally. I know some folks that are using the same moisturizer on feet that they use on the mane and tail (hint, hint) and they put it on with their hands to get some softness there too.

 

One more note on hoof dressing.

Do not wait until 10 minutes before the farrier shows up to slather your horse’s feet with hoof dressing. One: he/she knows if you’ve been using it as recommended or not just by handling the feet. Two: there are few things worse than trying to work
on a slippery, slimy, greasy foot attached to an 1100-pound beast that would rather be eating. Besides, horseshoers smell bad enough without adding that aroma to the mix!
 

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