Dissertation idea for hoof care

[Ollie95]

I'm a final year Degree level student studying a BSc in Applied Animal Management at Bridgwater College in partnership with Oxford Brookes. As part of my course I'm required to do a Dissertation. For this I'm going to be looking into the affect of supplementation in a horse's diet versus non-supplementation on the protein/keratin content in the hoof wall. This will be done by looking at hoof trimmings under a microscope and measuring the content. From here I will then look at how this differs between horses and the reasons and variables in place, e.g. their diet.

I'm looking for people who would be interested in helping me with this idea by allowing me to test hoof samples of horses on different types of feed and supplement. This would involve the collection (if not too far) of the hoof trimmings from you after your horse has been shod or the postage of them to me if the distance is too far to travel to collect (I would of course pay for postage and packaging). I would also need to know a brief description of your horses environment and feed, for example:

* Their diet - Are they on dry hay, wet hay or haylage?
- Are they on any hard feeds a day, if so, how many and what do they consist of?
- Are they currently being supplemented in their diet, if so how are they being supplemented?

* Environment - Are they living in or out? If they are living out in the field, how many hours a day are they out for?
- How are they fed when they are living in and out?

* Health - What is the age of the horse?
- Are they of average weight for their size?
- How many weeks do they go between being shod?

My email address is zoefaithfull@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested or have any questions. I am also contactable on this forum.

Kind regards

Zoe Faithfull

 

[zara-190]

Hi Zoe, I'd be hapy to send you my horses' hoof trimmings. Sadly one was done only last night and the dogs have had them! I'm in Sheffield and happy oblige. Interested to hear what you discover.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Are you only interested in shod horses?

 

[wkiwi]

I think this is a great idea for a dissertation.
As a tutor though, you are going to end up with masses of variables; maybe too many to get a viable discussion? Have you thought of having a control group? e.g. perhaps you could ask round some farriers and see if any do a group of horses on a stud that are on the same grazing/same (or similar) age/ not supplemented i.e. with as many similar factors as possible.
Just an idea.