who is correct ?

[tessybear]

So last year we phoned the RSPCA on some cobs locally who were a bag of bones, had no hay going into winter and had destroyed the barb wired fence to nibble the grass on the verge. They were now very close to breaking out onto a busy(ish) road.

The youngsters had terrible overgrown feet that curled round on a few When the officer reached the field she said they were not the worst she had seen which is fair enough ( not ideal, they had no water so she left a notice) but then told me the hooves would drop off ? Like the excess hoof would just fall off once it had curled...


Now im certain that doesn't happen ? or does it ?! they are on grass so no where for them to wear it down but i have never heard of it dropping of They were then moved after the notice was put down but have come back with some more youngsters now who appear much healither

This isn;t an RPSCA bashing thread before someone starts a protest But surely the officer was wrong ? I have never heard of them dropping off ?

 

[BraveHart]

I might be being a little dim, but I thought the hooves carried on curling up and over when they grew too long? Never heard of them just 'dropping off' either

 

[showaddy1]

Never heard of them dropping off on grass... think you were fobbed off. But long feet would have been the least of their problems if they had no food or water... Poor things.

 

[Beausmate]

It doesn't 'drop off'. On hard ground, it might break off but no chance on grass.

Don't they give these inspectors any training?

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

In some circumstances the hoof can drop off the foot.

There was an article recently where this happened

 

[tessybear]

Hmm i didn't think they did ! She spoke to me on the phone as struggled to find the field they are hidden in and i told her i had horses, so was suprsied when she corrected me saying they do drop off lol !

In the heat of summer when they were there neighbours and us would take turns filling their water up. Was difficult to watch youngsters put through this but hey ho !

 

[doriangrey]

It's possible that bits of hoof can break off a relatively normal hoof or one maybe a bit too long on bare foot horses if trimming time is a bit late. But I think a curled one would be different and I've never heard of any hoof dropping off!

ETA - assuming there are no underlying conditions such as laminitis that it.

 

[tessybear]

It's possible that bits of hoof can break off a relatively normal hoof or one maybe a bit too long on bare foot horses if trimming time is a bit late. But I think a curled one would be different and I've never heard of any hoof dropping off!

They had aladin style hooves some of them They were friendly little things came over to say hello whenever i went in to give them water. Thank you, i didn't think it was right but didn't want to get into an argument with this woman, because im only 17 i think she thought i was clueless

 

[Charem]

Hooves can snap off when they get too long, it's what happens with the ponies in the forest. Lady I worked for had an elderly mare who had lived her life on the forest but wasn't doing so well in winter so she brought her in and kept her in a paddock. Her feet would start to curl and then just snap off.

Not that I agree that the cobs feet should just be left.

 

[Goldenstar]

Horses can very effectively trim their own feet by moving around particularily if they have acess some sort of abrasive surface however if they had got to the Aladdin slipper stage they needed attention .
To self trim they need to moving about a fair bit and over different surfaces like the forest ponys mentained above .
When my BF horses are working they get trimmed around every three months and even then they sometimes get nothing done , when turned out BF I need to do them much more often every six to eight weeks unless I lead them to the end of the drive and back ( about 1km ) most days.
I am suprised she said especially as they left one of those do it or esle notices on the field gate of a cob near here last summer it feet where a bit long few chips where they where chipping back but nothing serious not even remotely like slipper like .