Cleaning Your Horse's Hooves
Cleaning out your horses hooves is an essential part of horse care and it needs to be done frequently. Its important for several reasons. The concave shape of a horses hooves and the two clefts beside the frog can easily pick up debris that could injure the horses hoof. Its not unusual to pick rocks pine cones and twigs out of a horses hooves and although a pine cone probably wont cause damage rocks and twigs certainly can. Nails bits of wire glass and other sharp objects can pierce the sole or cause bruising.
Manure and soil left in the hoof can create a damp dirty environment that makes an ideal place for thrush to start. Keeping the hoof cleaned out may help prevent thrush from starting. Once thrush does set in frequent cleaning can help it from getting worse and any thrush remedy you are using can be applied without drawing more dirt into the area 1
Getting a good look at the bottom of the hoof helps you assess when your horses hooves need trimming or shoes need resetting. Youre also more likely to notice if a shoe is loose as you clean out your horses hooves. You may also notice things such as separated laminae heels that are getting shallow or contracted soles that are changing and other problems that evolve slowly but can be solved easily if caught in time. Hoof cleaning time is a good time to assess the overall health of your horses foot.
How to Clean a Hoof
Start picking out your horses hooves by having it tied safely. Crossties may be safer because
