This is the first installment in a series of articles which will hopefully shed some light on the hows and whys of hoof maintenance, function and anatomy.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit
—Aristotle.

You may ask what has some long dead Greek philosopher got to do with horse’s feet? The answer is, if you are a horse owner you may as well be an excellent horse owner, and an excellent horse owner ensures their horse has excellent feet.

Today we will take a look at some simple ways to evaluate whether your horse’s foot is in good shape and the reasons why it is important that it should be.

Firstly let us look at the hoof wall.

(FIG.2) HOOF WALL AND PASTERN.

When viewed from side on, the hoof wall should be straight with and the hoof-pastern axis (see part three) should be correct. See Fig 1.

Welcome back. Today we will look at probably the most important aspect of foot assessment, the hoof-pastern axis.

Hopefully, by improving your knowledge in this area you will be more capable of assessing whether your horse is,

1. Comfortable.

2. Able to perform at their optimum.

3. Being managed for long term soundness.

Well it is that time of year, when constant wet ground and mud seems to lead to a spate of hoof abscesses.

If you have never had experience with hoof abscess it can be quite a frightening thing. Depending on the severity some horses will overnight go completely ten out of ten lame. The leg may swell up and there may be considerable heat in the hoof/lower leg. Well the good news is that if recognised and treated early it is rarely a serious problem!!!

WHAT IS A HOOF ABSCESS? A hoof abscess is an infection within the hoof in an area called the lamina. The lamina consists of hard and soft sections, designated the insensitive and sensitive lamina, respectively....