Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Soring is the use of chemicals, pressure or devices to cause pain to the front feet and legs of horses when they touch the ground. This results in the horses picking up their front feet higher and faster than they would do naturally.
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.
Signals of bit-related pain overlap those observed in horses ridden in conflict with their rider, suggesting that bit-related oral pain is a major cause. [43] On the other hand, severe oral pain makes veterinary examination of the horses concerned difficult, as they may strongly avoid being touched in the mouth.
Adjustments in trimming or shoeing can be made to help support the hoof, allowing pressure to be distributed over healthy tissue in order reduce the force over damaged or diseased tissue. Application of various types of therapeutic shoes, pads, and wedges, can be used to help alter stress placed on structures within the foot or the lower limb.
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.
Pain is the most common cause of lameness in the horse. [2] It is usually the result of trauma or orthopedic disease, but other causes such as metabolic dysfunction, circulatory disease, and infection can also cause pain and subsequent lameness.
A horse can live with laminitis for many years, and although a single episode of laminitis predisposes to further episodes, with good management and prompt treatment it is by no means the catastrophe sometimes supposed: most horses suffering an acute episode without pedal bone displacement make a complete functional recovery. Some ...
A shoe boil is an injury that occurs when there is trauma to the bursal sac of the elbow, causing inflammation and swelling. Multiple occurrences can cause a cosmetic sore and scar tissue, called a capped elbow, or infections. Shoe boils generally occur when a horse hits its elbow with a hoof or shoe when lying down. [29]