Health & Care · #hoof

Health & Care guides tagged “hoof” from the Apex Equine resource center.

• No hoof, no horse: how the foot actually works — A horse stands a thousand pounds on four feet smaller than your hand. Understanding what's inside the hoof capsule changes how you see every trim and every lameness.
• Laminitis and founder: the words every owner should fear correctly — People throw these words around interchangeably and most use them wrong. Knowing exactly what laminitis is, what founder means, and what the early signs look like can save your horse's life.
• Thrush: that black smell and what to do about it — You'll smell it before you see it — a sharp, rotten reek when you pick out the foot. Thrush is common, manageable, and almost always a sign your management slipped. Here's how to clear it.
• Picking out hooves the right way (and what you find when you do) — It looks like the simplest job in the barn, and most people do it too fast to actually learn anything. Done right, the daily hoof pick is your best early-warning system.
• Winter feet: snowballs, mud, and thrush season — Cold weather throws three problems at the hoof at once: ice balls that turn a foot into a wobbling stilt, deep mud that rots the frog, and slower growth that changes the whole maintenance game.
• Hoof abscess: the sudden three-legged-lame horse — Your horse was fine yesterday and this morning he won't put a foot down. Before you panic about a broken leg, know this: the most common cause of sudden, severe lameness is a hoof abscess.