Daily hoof care

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ChelseaFilly

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Hi all,

It's that time again when fields are getting muddy and horses are potentially standing round in puddles for a while (not mine because he's too busy eating to ever be by the gate)

I was just interested to know, what is everyone's daily hoof care routine for this time of year? My pony came to me with horrid feet and over summer they have really strengthened and are actually looking quite nice at the moment. Any ideas to keep them looking that way?

There's not one person at my yard that has the same hoof routine, so would be nice to know what works best for people?

Thank you :)
 
ChelseaFilly said:
Hi all,

It's that time again when fields are getting muddy and horses are potentially standing round in puddles for a while (not mine because he's too busy eating to ever be by the gate)

I was just interested to know, what is everyone's daily hoof care routine for this time of year? My pony came to me with horrid feet and over summer they have really strengthened and are actually looking quite nice at the moment. Any ideas to keep them looking that way?

There's not one person at my yard that has the same hoof routine, so would be nice to know what works best for people?

Thank you :)
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Well one of my mares has thrush. Was terrible but it is improving. I am currently picking out and washing and treating the thrush twice a day. However, I am ordering some Red Horse Field Paste, and I will see how I get on with that. I will still check at least once if not twice a day even if I don't wash and scrub daily as I am doing now.
 
I'm a proponent of the leave-it-well-alone camp. I pick out feet daily or twice daily if ridden, but leave all mud on and never hose legs (unless showing). Mine never have cracks or splits and have never had mud rash.
 
If hooves are generally healthy they are good left alone. Personally in winter I tend to spray my lads front frog clefts (which can get a bit deeper than ideal) with red horse sole cleanse once or twice a week so that no thrush gets any chance.
 
horses feet are designed to cope with mud and water. I do nothing. Check for any bits of gravel after riding and check before riding daily that nothing like a nail could have got in. If I cleaned them out fully I would make sure they went back into the field so mud could pack into the feet. Otherwise I leave them alone. If they got thrush I would brush iodine on daily for 5 days but I wouldn't do anything else. My daily treatment for the frogs is to ride over stoney tracks each day.
 
If they come in they get picked out other than that they don't unless there is a problem. Legs are left again unless there is a problem. When they come in to be got ready for hunting legs are blasted with a cold hose to get the mud off and get them clean. White socks are washed with fairy liquid.
 
Fwiw I don't treat because of the mud and water in winter, more that mine is stabled a lot more than in summer so tends to pick up poo/wet bedding. I'd be quite happy with mud :D
 
Agree with Bonkers2 on the feeding...

If thrush is recurring, there is a problem with skin integrity so do look at what is causing the skin to become unhealthy in the first place. Healthy tissue is very capable of dealing with muddy and wet conditions.

Remove sugar, if needed add a mineral supplement. Ours do better on nothing but salt and grass.

Removing shoes is a great option during winter! Was very common when I was a girl in the 80's but it seems more normal to see horses shod all year round...

Someone said to me it's because in those days, farriers were blacksmiths so still had other forgework as income but nowadays, shoeing horses is the only income so more owners are encouraged to continue keeping horses shod all year.
 
It's so nice to hear that the majority are in the 'leave alone' party! This makes me feel a lot better about the fact that I haven't really been doing anything to my pony's feet!

He's on a balancer and micronized linseed with as little sugar as possible - this diet is working so well for him and like I said his feet have improved dramatically with me only really picking them out and not doing much else.

I will carry this on through the winter then and hopefully his feet will continue to get better :)

Thanks everyone!!
 
Bonkers2 said:
A soft brass wire brush? I'd not want to use the brush that we use to clean concrete, a bristle could go in to the frog/heel
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just an ordinary wire brush. They don't get stuck in anywhere, I have used them for years and they are brilliant. If you use then before trimming they really clean the feet out. If you want to clean your feet daily with a wire brush no reason not to. Personally I prefer to leave the mud in but some people like to clean them .
 
I'm also in the "leave mud in" camp but I do like to prod for stones... stones come out... but I find mud keeps the stones out so unless I'm trimming, it stays put...

If you follow the research on mustangs, no one picks their feet out... they have brilliant feet. Muck just gets packed in and flung out/soaked out as they run, gallop, fight and paddle in the rivers.
 
Picking out daily atm as he's just had raised heel eggbar shoes put on and I don't want anything getting stuck in them and I'm trying to keep my nice frogs as nice as possible. I meant to smother them in the field paste before we put the shoes on, but I forgot to buy any! I'll give them a good wash out at the weekend with milton (if you can wash a babys food in it, I think it should be ok for horses feet!) and then endeavour to buy some field paste whenerevr I can.

The ponies in the field get their feet picked out once a week at best, and thats mainly to try to keep their manners in check!
 
tallyho! said:
Agree with Bonkers2 on the feeding...

If thrush is recurring, there is a problem with skin integrity so do look at what is causing the skin to become unhealthy in the first place. Healthy tissue is very capable of dealing with muddy and wet conditions.
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I completely agree with this. My Haffy had awful thrush last summer, to the point he was lame. I fought it for months and it never seemed to get any better.

I then took on my own land and moved from the livery yard with poor grazing where I had to feed hay daily. Literally within a couple of weeks the thrush was gone and hasn't returned since. I can only assume he was lacking something at livery on the over grazed paddocks that the grass now gives him?
 
HaffiesRock said:
I completely agree with this. My Haffy had awful thrush last summer, to the point he was lame. I fought it for months and it never seemed to get any better.

I then took on my own land and moved from the livery yard with poor grazing where I had to feed hay daily. Literally within a couple of weeks the thrush was gone and hasn't returned since. I can only assume he was lacking something at livery on the over grazed paddocks that the grass now gives him?
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Sounds like a vitamin E deficiency, amazing it turned around so quickly though!
 
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