Researching Horse Hoof Care
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The first part of grooming my horse will be to pick
out the feet, using a hoof pick, to remove dirt or other
foreign objects, such as pebbles, rocks, etc. Horse hoof
care is extremely important and should be done at the
beginning of a work day and at the end of the work day.
The outside of the hoof is hard, horny. Where the
flesh of the leg changes to the horn of the hoof, it’s
called a coronet. The wedge-shaped pad of elastic tissue
in the sole of the horse’s hoof is called the frog,
which sort of serves as a shock absorber. The frog has
several parts: the central groove, the ridge, the
lateral groove and the apex. It’s inside these various
grooves and ridges where things can get stuck, causing
sores and even causing the horse to go lame. So cleaning
these areas is an integral part of the horse’s hoof
care.
To care for the hooves, pick up each hoof in turn and
remove whatever may be caught in it with the point of
the hoof pick, working downward from heel to toe. Just
as humans have ticklish spots, horses do as well. One
that’s near when caring for the hooves is the side
behind the horse’s elbow. If you touch this spot the
horse can’t say “stop!”. So he might nip or kick to stop
the annoyance. A sure sign he’s mad or unhappy is when
his ears lay way back on his head. So watching his body
language is important during all phases of grooming.
To protect the hooves from splitting or wearing down,
a steel horseshoe is nailed to its edges. This isn’t a
painful process, but is normal practice in horse hoof
care. The outside of the hoof has no more feeling than a
fingernail.
To make the shoe fit, it’s heated with fire in a
forge and hammered into shape on an anvil. These shoes
have to be removed and the new growth trimmed every five
or six weeks. Then the shoes are said to be “pulled” and
“reset”. The horse is shod by a farrier or blacksmith.
The workshop he uses is a smithy.
For proper hoof care, it’s good to have a hoof brush
and hoof oil. The brush is dipped into the pail of oil
and used for polishing the hooves. It also prevents
brittleness, especially in light colored horses.
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