How warm are your horses feet?

[dwi]

I didn't ever get that much of a feel of Daisy's feet as they were shielded by a handful of feather.

We noticed one of Lil's feet was very hot yesterday but with no digital pulse and no lameness. We assumed it was going to be an abcess but it was much cooler by this morning. This evening it was cool when brought it but both feet were quite warm after riding.

I can see this is going to become an obsession. I'm not too concerned in that she's not at all lame and there's no pulse but at the same time I can't help wondering if there's something going on.

 

[Nailed]

Hooves should be relatively cold. They will be slightly warmer after work as the blood flow to the hoof is greatly improved by the movement.

The other episode of heat could have been caused by a nock to the hoof or somthing similar.


On the laminitis front, You would be better checking the digital pulse than the temp of the foot. More realiable. But checking the hooves too is never a bad habit.

Lou x

 

[Snowysadude]

Haha do you know what i was wondering the same thing today!!

I work just one day a week on my yard and had to sort out all the ponies/pick out all the liverys horses feet and noticed that when they came in all the horses hooves were warm and all the ponies legs and hooves were - apart from my boys whos legs and hooves were stone cold

!

So i have concluded that it must depend on the horse - that or all the ponies are coming down with lami now all the grass has started to shoot through and they have been being fed haylage all week instead of hay (all bar 1 or 2 prone to lami!)

 

[brucea]

I find it hard to tell sometimes - my three are bare so their hooves are sometimes warm, soemtimes cold.

But there is a difference between warm, good blood supply, and warm as in fever warm

Warm I tend not to worry too much about but warm and pulses - worry about that.

If you don't know how to find the digital pulse let me know by PM and I'll send a link to my site with instructions how to.