dfaa24ae

SmartPak Ask the Farrier: Hoof Circulation

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 21:48:12 GMT

“Some hoof supplements say they support healthy blood flow—why is that important? I thought hooves were “dead” tissue.” – BR from Waynesville, NC

When studying equine anatomy, it’s often useful to draw comparisons to human anatomy. It’s easier to understand hoof dynamics when we compare the hoof’s structure and composition to the nails on our own fingers and toes.

Comparing only gives us a partial picture, however. When we compare, we risk overgeneralizing and oversimplifying if we don’t complete the picture through contrast. With that in mind, the contrastive elements between human nails and horses’ hooves are dramatic.

While they’re similar in form, function, and structure, human nails ride on the upper surface of the finger or toe, whereas the equine hoof encapsulates the foot. In effect, when we talk about the hoof, we’re usually talking about the foot. And, in that respect, it’s not simply a nail. Instead, it’s a nail that surrounds, protects, and supports bones, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, nerves, and an intricate vascular network.

These vascular pathways, comprised of arteries, veins, and capillaries, network through both bone and soft tissue, and ultimately function as a key element in maintaining foot health. The strength of the equine foot, as with our own lower extremities, depends upon nourishment that begins with good circulation and vascularity. Owners and care providers can promote good circulation by attending to and focusing upon three major influencing factors: activity, hoof balance, and nutrition.

The first step in promoting good circulation is to promote activity. Horses simply aren’t designed for a sedentary lifestyle; in fact, they’re designed and programmed to be on the move. Left in a natural, open habitat, horses will graze and move approximately 20 hours a day. In many modern horse-keeping environments, however, turnout is often limited, and activity of this sort is generally not available, leaving us with a need to add activity through exercise programs.

Even with extended turnout, horses might not receive the stimulation they need to promote good circulation, as the size of the turnout area plays a significant role. While turnout in a small, confined space may be sufficient to provide a young, energetic horse with room to run and play, it won’t encourage a geriatric horse to constantly meander and stimulate circulation.

Likewise, turnout that provides a consistent footing may not stimulate vascularity in a complete manner. Hard-surfaced, concrete-like terrain doesn’t engage the frog and sole of the foot, which encourages load sharing. While the outer hoof wall provides primary support, the entire solar surface of the capsule needs to be sufficiently engaged to promote good circulation. The old belief that the frog functions to “pump” blood has long been proven wrong, but the fact remains that the frog and the entire solar surface of the foot need to be stimulated to encourage good vascularity.

The second step in promoting good circulation is to maintain a balanced foot. In the artificial environments we provide, horses simply can’t maintain their hoof wall as they would in their natural environment. Subsequently, we must work to optimize the hoof, not only through trimming, but also through encouraging new growth and promoting balance. In effect, modern horse keeping requires regular maintenance from a professional hoof care provider who works to simulate natural wear patterns through maintaining proper length and balance. By attending to both anterior/posterior (front/back) balance and medial/ lateral (inside/outside) balance, the farrier promotes good circulation by establishing optimal break over points, good heel-first landings, and utilization of the entire foot.

The third and final component in promoting vascularity is good nutrition. A good nutritional program is essential, especially for older horses and for those with a history of hoof-related problems. While a biotin-based supplement provides a solid nutritional foundation for healthy hoof growth, horses with a history of hoof issues—especially heel discomfort, slow or retarded growth, and uneven growth—will often benefit as well from a supplement designed to support healthy circulation.

SmartPak Ask the Farrier: Q & A

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 19:03:23 GMT

"Several riders at my barn use hoof supplements for their horses, while others swear by a particular farrier. When it comes to healthy hooves, what factor plays the biggest role?" — BM from Washington D.C.

As a farrier, I’d love to claim that it’s all about me, but the truth is that healthy hooves result from overall good horsemanship and attendance to a complex web of concerns, including hoof care, nutrition, age, climate, environment, activity, and genetics. Since elements like age and genetics are beyond our control, we have to focus our caretaking on the areas we can realistically influence. The topics you mention—hoof care and supplementation—are our best opportunities to make a positive impact on hoof growth. Basically, we need a knowledgeable professional to maintain the external hoof, and we need a solid nutritional program to ensure that new growth is as healthy as possible.

Of course, I realize that’s easier said than done. Neither farriers nor supplements are created equally, and given all the choices available, choosing a farrier or a supplement can be daunting. When selecting a hoof care provider, you should look for exactly what you mention in your question, a “particular” farrier. Look for someone who takes pride in his/her work, who has experience and a foundation in the basics, and spends the time and effort to pursue continuing education.

When selecting a hoof supplement, you should look to products and manufacturers that attend to details in a similar, informed manner. While, in an ideal world, a complete and balanced diet should provide adequate nutrients to support healthy hooves, those other concerns (age, climate, activity, etc.) often result in a horse needing supplementation, and shopping with SmartPak will give you the peace of mind that you’re choosing from the best available options. Research has shown that a daily serving of 10–30 mg of biotin improves the growth rate and quality of hoof wall. A good hoof supplement should also provide some of the minerals and amino acids required for the production of healthy horn, such as zinc, copper, methionine, and lysine.

Ultimately, the factor that plays the biggest role in your horse’s hoof health is you. Fortunately, you’re asking the right questions to ensure you’re doing right by your horse. He’s lucky to have you!

To shoe or not to shoe

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:34:19 GMT

The age old question

Whether you're cruising horse sites on the internet or flipping through the equine section at the supermarket newsstand, you'll likely encounter some strongly held opinions. Currently, many of the opinions being forwarded are focused on hoof care; specifically, they're focused on a debate about whether it's better for your horse to be barefoot or to wear shoes.

It's the nature of debate that the middle ground is often ignored, and this debate stays the course, with each side tending to forward their belief as THE way rather than as A way. Interestingly enough, the people at the extremes in this debate are—for the most part—not farriers and hoof care professionals. Instead, they're primarily horse owners.

In fact, the professional farrier is seldom involved in the decision as to whether a horse should be shod or not. More often than not, our clients specifically ask us to shoe their horse or to trim it; it's rare that they ask our opinion on the matter.

When the professional farrier is involved in making these decisions, however, the decision is not generic. Instead, knowledge and experience govern his decision making, and whether he articulates the criteria and variables or not, a number of factors (ranging from environment and usage to conformation) get consideration on a horse-by-horse basis.

Ultimately, if the professional farrier opts to shoe rather than trim, his decision making will hinge on one (or more) of the three basic reasons for shoeing: to protect the foot, to address traction concerns, to alter or enhance gait.

protection

The idea of protecting the hoof encompasses a number of concerns. The obvious need occurs when a horse's rate of hoof wear exceeds his rate of hoof growth, which is most often seen when the horse is working hard on abrasive surfaces.

Likewise, horses working on hard, uneven, or rough terrain may well need some extra protection to avoid breakage and/or bruising. Since the front limbs are more weight bearing than the hind and since they typically have less concavity, you will occasionally see farriers opt to protect the front with shoes, while leaving the hinds unshod. With many horses, this works quite well; however, it can cause problems with growth disparity, timing, traction, and other concerns.

Additionally, a hoof that's been compromised by injury or disease will often need to be protected in some manner, whether permanently or temporarily. While this might bring pictures of elaborate shoes to mind, it can sometimes be as simple as applying a conventional shoe to provide a solid base of support.

traction

The leading edge of the bare hoof, along with its concavity and the texture and shape of the frog, provides a fair amount of traction. In fact, on many surfaces, the barefoot horse will have more traction than the conventionally shod horse. In some situations, however, it's advantageous to add traction. Horses that are travelling on pavement, concrete, ice, and other slick surfaces will often need additional traction whether barefoot or conventionally shod. Likewise, horses working on turf can benefit from studs or concave shoes, and horses being asked to pull a load will often benefit from traction added to a conventional appliance.

Just as we sometimes find the need to add traction, we occasionally find the need to take it away. Horses working in deep footing will often benefit from shoeing that provides them with some sort of “floatation” which keeps them from getting too deep in the ground and laboring. Likewise, usage will sometimes dictate that a horse has some slippage, as with reining horses and—to a lesser extent—calf roping horses. In these cases, shoeing with a wide-webbed shoe, a plain-stamped shoe, extended heels and other specialty modifications or appliances can be beneficial.

gait alteration

The idea of shoeing for gait alteration makes one think of gaited horses, weighted shoes, and exaggerated action. While attempting to modify or exaggerate a horse's gait to meet some breed standard is among the reasons for shoeing, a more solid reason for shoeing to alter gait has to do with the horse's health and safety.

In this respect, shoeing for gait alteration is most often associated with a farrier attempting to keep a horse from hitting himself or interfering in some way. While this type of shoeing can get very technical on racetracks (especially with harness horses), it has its place in the work-a-day world as well. A good farrier can often make adjustments and fine tune an appliance to help a horse that's over-reaching or forging. Likewise, he can make adjustments in breakover—through shoe placement, rolled toes, or rockered toes—to help compensate for uneven gaits.

Whether you're trimming or shoeing, a regular maintenance program provided by a competent farrier is essential to the health and well being of your horse. And it wouldn't hurt to ask that farrier's opinion about what's best for your horse.

Thrush

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:07:32 GMT

What is this ick?

For years, it was thought to be a fungal disease, but modern science has cleared that up, and we now know that the thrush we find in horses' hooves is bacterial. In fact, we know that it's an anaerobic bacteria, fusobacterium necrophorum , which is present in all animal feces and most soil samples.

When it sets up residence in the horse's hoof, it generally localizes in the frog and is usually most prevalent in the collateral sulci (or commissures) and/or in the central sulcus. As an anaerobic bacteria, it thrives in a moist, dark, poorly oxygenated environment. Once it's established, you can recognize its presence from many symptoms typically associated with thrush infections:

• Repulsive odor
• Watery or oily discharge—often black in color
• Tenderness in the frog region
• Fissures / Deep pockets extending to the heel bulbs
• Loss of frog shape / integrity

Standard texts on equine health will tell you that horses develop thrush because they're being kept in a sub-standard environment. And there's no doubt that poor conditions, especially wet conditions, will promote the problem. But professional farriers will tell you that it's a more complicated issue that simply can't be explained away by pointing at dirty stalls and mud puddles.

They'll tell you they've seen horses with thrush in some awfully clean, pristine barns. Likewise, they'll tell you they've seen feedlot horses with no thrush despite their living fetlock deep in manure and mud. So keep a clean stall, but realize that prevention involves more than simply providing a clean / dry environment. It also involves performing regular maintenance to maintain the hoof capsule in a balanced, supportive manner, and allowing the horse to get sufficient activity and/or exercise.

In fact, one of the most important factors in avoiding and/or eliminating thrush is exercise. Those feedlot horses are working hard all day, getting a lot of activity and moving in a natural manner that promotes good vascularity in the foot. The horses standing in those pristine stalls are simply standing, so they are not promoting the same kind of vascularity to generate a good healthy foot.

Likewise, the horse that is receiving regular maintenance from a professional farrier will maintain a more balanced and supportive hoof. And that balance lends itself to even loading, compression, and concussion, all of which promotes good vascularity and overall health.

If you're too late for prevention and need to be worrying about treatment, it will vary according to the severity of the condition. Should the thrush be advanced to the point that the horse is lame, blood is present, and/or puss or proud flesh is present, an equine veterinarian should be contacted to debride the infected area and administer appropriate medications and possibly a tetanus vaccine or booster.

Cases of a more intermediate nature (i.e., ones which are not invasive of sensitive tissue), should be debrided and treated aggressively with commercially available medications. While home remedies and recipes abound, many are simply inappropriate. For instance, you will find texts advocating the use of bleach on thrush. The authors of these treatises would likely never pour bleach on an open wound of the hip, yet they willingly recommend that you soak an open hoof wound and its exposed sensitive tissue in bleach. You're much better off to use mild disinfectants and hoof packing!

Ultimately, you need to have your horse trimmed or shod properly from the beginning, make sure he gets plenty of exercise, and keep on top of maintenance, including regular hoof care and a good environment. Horses especially need lots of exercise; those that stand in stalls are more prone to thrush, which is likely more related to the standing than it is to what they're standing in.