Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
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.
Thrush and white line disease, common bacterial infections, can become serious if left untreated. Quittor, an infection of collateral cartilages in the lower leg is also sometimes seen, although most commonly in draft horses. Hoof wall separation disease is a genetic hoof disease.
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 ...
Thrush is a very common bacterial infection that occurs on the hoof of a horse, specifically in the region of the frog.The bacterium involved is Fusobacterium necrophorum, [1] and occurs naturally in the animal's environment—especially in wet, muddy, or unsanitary conditions, such as an unclean stall—and grows best with low oxygen. [2]
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.
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]
The nail creates a wound on the inside of the hoof wall. [3] A close nail or a nail bind is the placement of a horseshoe nail so close to the sensitive structures inside the horse's hoof that it causes discomfort to the horse. The nail is not necessarily placed in the sensitive structures itself, but creates a pressure on the quick of the horse ...