How can I help my flat footed horse?

In most cases, your farrier will need to shorten the toe of the hoof and add height to the heel. It will take an extended period of time to correct the shape of your horse’s hoof enough to eliminate the appearance of having a flat foot.

How can I help my horse with thin soles?

For some reason shoes that facilitate break over tend to help the horse grow a thicker sole. For rehabilitation of thin soles, I often use a roller motion-style shoe in which there is a roll to the toe and a roll to the heel of the shoe.

Can you fix a club footed horse?

Trimming or rasping the heel helps stretch the tendons and may be combined with toe extensions. This can result in complete correction in mild cases of club foot. Severe cases may need surgery for a good outcome. If foals acquire club foot between 3 months and 3 years of age, they will need a balanced diet.

Why does my horse have flat feet?

In MOST cases, flat feet are the result of poor or incorrect farrier care. This horse has built up callus on its sole to protect the foot from excessive concussion and impact of rocky ground. This horse lives on very rocky ground. If it had a thin sole that was flat then movement would be very painful for this horse.

Why do horses get thin soles?

Thin soles can be caused by over-trimming, and most practitioners now know not to try to trim an arch into a flat sole. Wet environments can overly soften the sole and contribute to thinning. Then, too, some horses are simply genetically predisposed to thin soles. [LEARN MORE: How to “read” your horse’s hooves.]

How do I know if my horse has thin soles?

You will know all too well that you have a thin soled horse when it insistently steers itself away from hard or stony ground. Likewise, when the ground goes from soft to hard, its stride will noticeably shorten and flatten. When a hoof is upturned, the sole will flex under thumb pressure.

Why does my horse have flat soles?

Some are simply inherited from the sire’s or dam’s line of genetics. Mostly, though, as stated, flat feet are the result of incorrect trimming of the hooves. The sole will exfoliate itself and form itself nicely if the horse gets appropriate exercise/movement.

Should I buy a horse with club foot?

High heels in a normal hoof are very different from the high heels of a club foot, and poor trimming does not result in a club foot. In an ideal world, IF we could view the hooves of both parents AND the four grandparents when purchasing a horse, then it may be possible to avoid buying a club footed horse.

Is clubfoot bad for a horse?

Older horses with club feet frequently suffer from lameness issues due to such thin soles and bruising, along with hoof cracks, white line separation, laminar inflammation, and abnormal coffin joint loading and strain on the navicular bone’s supporting ligaments.

Why does my horse have no heel?

Some horses have a low hoof angle based on genetics and events that occur early in the horse’s life. These causes are not well understood but most horses will have one foot with a slightly higher angle than the other. And the higher angled foot tends to be the right front foot (in the northern hemisphere).

How can I encourage my horses heel to grow?

A properly applied heartbar shoe will use the frog to assist in the weight bearing, taking weight off the heels and allowing them to grow without excessive compression. This would allow the heels to grow faster and stop the forward crushing.

What does it mean when a horse has a flat sole?

“Flat-footed” or “dropped sole” refers to a sole that lacks the normal cup-like concavity to the ground surface. This conformation can be genetic in origin or it can result from disruption of the hoof structure. Some horse breeds and genetic lines simply have little concavity to the sole, but truly flat feet are often a sign of a damaged hoof.

Why does my horse have dropped soles on his feet?

Too much moisture can be worse for foot health than too little. This horse’s dropped soles are so painful that he cannot go barefoot. Founder is a serious systemic disease that affects the horse’s feet. Horses that have foundered will have dropped soles.

What to do if your horse has a hoof problem?

“When the owner notices a hoof problem, usually the first line of defense—other than their own knowledge—will be their farrier,” says Raul Bras, DVM, CJF, of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.

Is the coffin bone of a horse flat?

This solar concavity occurs naturally in a healthy, well connected hoof and represents correct anatomy. The coffin bone is not flat, but instead has an arch to it. The external structure of the hoof mimics the internal structure.