Horse Hoof Care Basics
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012Understanding the basic principles of horse hoof care is one of the most important responsibilities of horse owners. As the owner, you will not just merely wait for your horse to ask to clean up and take care of his feet. You must spend some time to understand the guidelines on how to maintain your horse’s hooves in excellent shape.
Even without having their hooves inspected, still a great number of horses are placed back in the stable. Several not skilled horse owners mistakenly think that cleaning the hooves could be the obligation of the farrier. Calling the farrier to shoe your own horse will not be enough.
Having to take time to clean up your own horse’s hooves is actually the very first step to appropriate horse hoof care. Anything, may it be debris, dirt, or stones, that could have become stuck in the hoof must be eliminated.
Cleaning your own horse’s hooves using a hoof pick will probably just take you a few minutes. By performing this, the health and convenience of the horse’s hoof can be ensured. And also, one more way of inspecting for any possible injuries is simply by cleaning up the hooves on a regular basis.
Your horse can walk in comfort if you will eliminate dirt along with other caked on matter from the horse’s hoof. By cleaning up your horse’s hooves, you will be able to make the horse less vulnerable to stone bruises, out of hand cuts and thrush infections. Even the tiniest of small stones can become trapped in the grooves of the frog, leading to great discomfort for your horse. If kept unchecked, this may lead to unpleasant bruising that may cause the horse to develop a limp.
You have to clean your horse’s hooves at the very least once or twice daily if possible. Before taking him for a ride, cleaning up and inspecting the horse’s hooves is a necessity. Once you are through with the ride, you need to check out and clean the horse’s hooves once more just before putting him back in the paddock or stable. If you will not be able to practice right horse hoof care every day for whatever reason, then you need to ensure that the hooves are cleaned out and examined twice each week at the minimum to guarantee good health.
It is definitely crucial to make sure that the paddock part is drained properly and that the stable floor is kept dry and clear. Making your horse stay in wet soil or on moist floor for a very long time will just lead to damage to your horse’s feet. A regular moist environment can result in chips and cracks in the horse’s hooves.