{"id":10503,"date":"2022-02-24T01:24:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T05:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equestrianbootsandbridles.com\/horse-hoof-care-essentials\/"},"modified":"2022-03-19T13:25:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-19T17:25:13","slug":"horse-hoof-care-essentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equestrianbootsandbridles.com\/horse-hoof-care-essentials\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Horse Hoof Care Essentials You Need To Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hoof care is easy to take for granted until you’re having an issue with your horse’s hooves and you realize how important they are! In this post, I cover the essentials to ensure your horse’s hooves stay healthy and sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a popular understanding that horses have what’s known as a “delicate constitution,” which basically means they get sick easily. While I think that’s somewhat exaggerated, I do care a lot about keeping my horses healthy… and I’m sure you do, too! Horse hoof care is one of the most important aspects of horse health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horses spend so much time on their feet. <\/strong>Their hooves are exposed to lots of impact, especially when you’re riding them. They’ll also cover lots of different surfaces, which means they can end up with various types of material stuck in their hooves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although your horse’s hooves might seem pretty robust, they’re actually susceptible to a lot of issues. So today, we’ll talk about a couple of common hoof care issues, and then discuss what you can do to alleviate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Potential Problems with Your Horse’s Hooves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before we talk about the hoof care itself, let’s talk about two of the main drivers for what could be negatively affecting your horse’s hooves (or could in the future!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Term Exposure to Unsuitable Conditions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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As a general rule, your horse’s feet will be healthier when they’re drier. (Just like yours!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If their hooves are left wet for too long\u2014particularly if they are in unsanitary conditions\u2014you could be exposing them to risks. These include the risk of cracking or developing bacterial infections like thrush or white line disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the spring in Ontario, Canada (where I live) is super rainy and not that warm. This means the fields can get really muddy and not dry properly for weeks at a time. It’s really easy for hooves to develop thrush in these conditions. In fact, one of my horse’s best friends in the field developed thrush the other week as I’m updating this post because of this exact reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s somewhat surprising though is that repeated exposure to moisture, with intermittent drying, is often the culprit in cracked hooves. This is common over summer, when their hooves get wet by morning dew and then dry during the day. But it can also be caused by over-washing of your horse. So be careful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Thrush?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Thrush is basically a bacterial or fungal infection in a horse\u2019s frog (which is the triangular part of the hoof’s underside). It can be painful and requires treatment.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inappropriate Use of Dressings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve ridden or owned a horse for a while, you’ll probably be aware of the controversy around hoof dressings: solutions applied to the hoof, allegedly to make it healthier. If you’re interested in knowing more about that controversy, I actually have a whole post on the reasons why you might not want to use dressings on your horse’s hooves<\/a>. So I recommend reading that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in short, a lot of the dressings available on the market contain harmful chemicals, which actually damage your horse’s hoof, instead of helping it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They can also expose your horse to that wet hoof issue: by adding too much moisture to the hoof, the hoof wall could soften and then crack. Which is not what you want!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having said that, I want to be clear: dressings are different from polish. Dressings penetrate the hoof, while polish sits as a coating on top. Polish is much safer to use on your horse’s hooves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoof Health Care: Fixing Those Problems!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now with some possible causes covered, let’s jump right into my five favorite solutions to improving your horse’s hoof health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solution #1: Regular Hoof Picking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first thing that I always recommend doing (whether you’re having problems with your horse’s hooves or not) is regularly picking your horse’s hooves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should be a standard part of your post-ride grooming regimen<\/strong> and is essential to long-term hoof quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re not familiar with how to pick your horse’s hooves, I actually have a guide you can read here<\/a>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picking helps you get mud and other debris out of your horse’s hoof after a ride. This is critical to help dislodge rocks from horse hooves, which can cause irritation and even abscesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spending time picking will also familiarise you with your horse’s hoof – and little things like changes in temperature or the strength of the pulse in your horse’s hoof can be indicators of issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we’re talking about grooming, let’s also quickly side-track to washing. Like I said above, sometimes horses that are washed frequently experience issues with wet hooves. So if you are washing your horse more than once a month, maybe ease off and see if that makes a difference. Here is some more guidance on how to wash your horse properly.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How to Wash a Horse (Step by Step!)<\/a><\/blockquote>