General Horse Foot Care
"Farrier-Friendly"™ series By Bryan S. Farcus, BS, CF

The old saying "No Foot, No Horse" is one horse people like to recite all the time. What constitutes a healthy foot? As equine experts, you will have to be familiar with and responsible for the "Life-Line" of your horse ñ his feet.

A Healthy Foot: Includes hard, solid soles and soft, flexible frog bands with a triangular center. The outer hoof wall should be at least two times greater than the width of the white line, and the white line should bond with no deep cracks between the connecting sole.

Common Problems:
1. A "Frog-eating" bacteria called Thrush can cause bleeding, soreness, or even death if not attended to.

2. Weak cracking of outside wall due to extremely wet or dry conditions. Horses have a great capacity to adapt to environmental changes. However, it must be gradual. Sometimes horses need a little help.

3. Sole bruising often results from constant, abusive use of horses on rocky uneven surfaces. If soles are tender, find out whether the cause is heredity (flat-soled) or environmental (too wet, which softens soles or too rough and rocky).

4. Limb interference or hitting may result from unbalanced riding, lack of shoeing and trimming, and / or fatigue of horse.

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