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However, there is a growing movement to eliminate shoes on working horses. Advocates of barefooting point out many benefits to keeping horses barefoot and present studies showing that improper shoeing can cause or exacerbate certain hoof ailments in the horse. A hoof boot may help protect the horse's hooves during the transition period.
Poor hoof balance, due to conformational flaws or poor trimming, can cause lameness from musculoskeletal injury, [20] and poor hoof balance has been associated with increased risk of catastrophic injury in racehorses. [21] Side-to-side (mediolateral) imbalance can cause sheared heals and hoof cracks. [22]
Normal blood circulation in the lower limbs of a horse depends in part on the horse moving about. Lack of sufficient movement, alone or in combination with other factors, can cause stagnant anoxia, which in turn can cause laminitis. [10] A horse favoring an injured leg will both severely limit its movement and place greater weight on the other ...
A horse's teeth grow continuously throughout its life and can develop uneven wear patterns. Most common are sharp edges on the sides of the molars which may cause problems when eating or being ridden. For this reason a horse or pony needs to have its teeth checked by a veterinarian or qualified equine dentist at least once a year.
The clean, picked hoof allows for better inspection for injury. Hoof care is especially important when caring for the horse. Although many horses are quite healthy without daily brushing, lack of hoof care can result in various problems, which if unattended, can result in short or long-term soundness issues for the horse.
A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith 's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with some veterinarian 's skills (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb ...
Nail pricking leads to the horse going lame at once. A close nail leads to the horse going lame after some days. Placing the thongs on the head of the nail is a way to identify which nail is the cause. If the faulty nail are taken out at once the horse will have few symptoms of pain (whether or not there is blood from the hole).
The sand can cause colic signs similar to other impactions of the large colon, and often causes abdominal distention [17] As the sand or dirt irritates the lining of the bowel it can cause diarrhea. The weight and abrasion of the sand or dirt causes the bowel wall to become inflamed and can cause a reduction in colonic motility and, in severe ...