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Preventing Hoof Flares in Horses
Over the years I have come across plenty of horses afflicted by the results of hoof flares. Hoof flares especially affect unshod horses. It isn't an accident that the predominance of this condition has shot up strictly with the latest trend for keeping horses barefoot. I have seen a rise in the number of horses with badly trimmed hooves accompanied by dreadful side-effects. I have lost count of the number of times I have attended to performance horses with health worries directly attributable to hoof flares. That is the reason why I have written this article: to tell my readers of the reasons for the occurrence of hoof flares and the preventative measures that may be taken up.
When the bond which exists between the laminae of the hoof wall and the coffin bone within the foot weakens, this could cause hoof flares. Hoof flares do not trouble wild horses much because the gap at the lower part of the wall permits that part of the wall to break off, stopping the hooves from growing too long in soft footing. Wild horses traverse rough terrain, which keeps their hoofs constantly worn to the right length. That's why wild horses are almost never racked with hoof flares. Of course, tamed horses don't live on hard terrain but for all that, proper trimming and regular care can easily stop occurrence of hoof flares in even unshod tame horses.
You can easily confirm hoof flares in your horse by moving a straight edge thru the coronary band to the base of the foot and taking the edge fully round the hoof. You shouldn't come across any spaces between the edge and the hoof wall. If your pony does seem to have hoof flares, you take immediate curative action, but you also get yourself very conversant with the conditions that bring about hoof flares. These conditions can be consistant with mechanical causes and nutritive causes:
Mechanical Causes
Obesity
Oversized horses or horses with tiny feet that carry gigantic bodies may be very much susceptible to hoof flares as the excess weight bears down on a little surface area. This causes stress in the laminae of barefoot horses, which in turn can cause flares. While the most obvious long-term solution for the overweight pony is to reduce excess weight with correct diet control and heavy exercise, long-term treatment for the small-footed horse might be a more involved matter. You must very carefully watch the diet of any small-footed horses and make sure that any hoof flares that show up are trimmed regularly.
Late Trims
In a way, nature works with flares to stop accumulation of excess hoof wall in wild horses. In such horses, the hoof wall is weaker at the point of flare and disintegrates as the horse traverses rough ground. This natural defence mechanism deters wild horses from developing unacceptably lengthy flares, which would make them unable to outrun predators. Wild horses cover plenty of ground every day, and this obviously helps them a lot by preventing flares. Sadly, domesticated horses don't have this natural form of protection. Most domestic horses move around on soft ground and do not get round to the same amount as wild horses. So, they don't seem to be able to grind down excess growth on their hooves every day. Inadequate running means the tamed horse's hooves can develop flares that grow into big chunks before breaking off. This asymmetrical wear makes it hard to shoe the horse or keep the hoof balanced so weight can be carried evenly. Avoid flares caused by excessive hoof growth by trimming your pony regularly. Maintain a roll on the hoof wall edge to permit simple break off.
Nutrition
Deficiencies or Imbalances
The absence of some minerals in requisite quantities can inflict damage on the health of the hooves of horses. One of the vital minerals is sulfur; the hoof laminae is tied to the coffin bone by a disulphide bond. Inferior hoof quality means it's time to investigate the nutritional value of the hay you are feeding your horse before you add any pricey supplements. If you are unable to analyze your hay for any reason, you should give your horse food-based supplements like blue-green algae. This algae contain a wide range of a balanced mixture of trace minerals your pony can absorb easily. While biotin is another vital nutrient that supports hoof health, your pony will be making enough biotin himself if he has lots of favorable bacteria in his gut. Some of these bacteria produce biotin. As a general practice, you should like giving your pony courses of probiotics instead of feeds including items like biotin The healthy bacteria in probiotics are miles more beneficial for your horse. Their benefits include the maintenance of a robust immunological system for the horse.
Overfeeding.
Excess weight gain in horses isn't the only end result of too much high-starch feed. Such feed brings about unwanted changes in the population of bacteria in your horse's hindgut (or cecum). The cecum is essentially intended to digest fiber, but when undigested starch gets past the small intestine into the hindgut, fiber-digesting bacteria in the cecum die, allowing starch-digesting bacteria to take over. Your horse can find this phenomenon to be devastating, as it leads to poison release into the bloodstream; this in turn triggers off an enzyme that breaks down the laminae in the hoof wall. Peter Ramey, famed expert on pony hoofs, appears to hold the opinion that this is how nature gets unacceptably disproportionate hoof walls to splinter easily when the pony gets into a high sugar content forage grazing scenario. This can be a temporary phenomenon with the wild horse, but with unshod domestic horses long-term absorption of high starch or sugar diets can cause laminitis that appears out in continual hoof issues.
Hoof Wall Contagions
I have often heard fungus and bacteria getting held responsible for hoof wall separation or "white line" illness. The truth is that the circumstances are potentially wholly different: the fungus and bacteria are not the causes, but the effects. They're present because they're exploiting the environment already prevailing in the foot as a consequence of the weakness of the hoof wall attachments. Once a pathogen has invaded nonetheless , you should treat your horse's hooves even after the real cause has been eliminated so that healthy hoof growth can be initiated and maintained.
An oz. of tea tree oil in 16 oz. of apple cider vinegar is a good treatment for most minor hoof wall infections. Stronger infections need more aggressive treatments. In all my years, I've seen no better solution for persistent white line illnesses than White Lightning. When White Lightning is applied within a wrap or an airtight soaking boot, it releases a chlorine gas that permeates into the tissue of the hoof. There isn't any effect on healthy tissue. This regimen should be repeated every week till the hoof shows healthy attachments from top to bottom and the white line shows no separation or stretch. A different treatment regime has to be adopted for horses that fail to respond to hoof infection treatments and careful management. The immune systems in such horses could be weak, and this problem therefore would represent the 1st target for treatment.
Trimming Hoof Flares
Trim hoof flares aggressively if they appear on your barefooted pony. The right way to do that is to file from the front of the hoof wall until there is not any more space showing when a straight edge is run round the hoof. If this removes so much wall that shoeing becomes not possible, use boots or pea gravel footing. I know that some trimmers don't like to do that, but I believe it is the quickest way to bring back a healthy hoof, as any flare remaining will often pull new hoof growth away from the bone. The easiest way out is preventive: stop hoof flares altogether. When the hoof, the diet and the immune system are managed properly hoof flares shouldn't ever reappear.
When the bond which exists between the laminae of the hoof wall and the coffin bone within the foot weakens, this could cause hoof flares. Hoof flares do not trouble wild horses much because the gap at the lower part of the wall permits that part of the wall to break off, stopping the hooves from growing too long in soft footing. Wild horses traverse rough terrain, which keeps their hoofs constantly worn to the right length. That's why wild horses are almost never racked with hoof flares. Of course, tamed horses don't live on hard terrain but for all that, proper trimming and regular care can easily stop occurrence of hoof flares in even unshod tame horses.
You can easily confirm hoof flares in your horse by moving a straight edge thru the coronary band to the base of the foot and taking the edge fully round the hoof. You shouldn't come across any spaces between the edge and the hoof wall. If your pony does seem to have hoof flares, you take immediate curative action, but you also get yourself very conversant with the conditions that bring about hoof flares. These conditions can be consistant with mechanical causes and nutritive causes:
Mechanical Causes
Obesity
Oversized horses or horses with tiny feet that carry gigantic bodies may be very much susceptible to hoof flares as the excess weight bears down on a little surface area. This causes stress in the laminae of barefoot horses, which in turn can cause flares. While the most obvious long-term solution for the overweight pony is to reduce excess weight with correct diet control and heavy exercise, long-term treatment for the small-footed horse might be a more involved matter. You must very carefully watch the diet of any small-footed horses and make sure that any hoof flares that show up are trimmed regularly.
Late Trims
In a way, nature works with flares to stop accumulation of excess hoof wall in wild horses. In such horses, the hoof wall is weaker at the point of flare and disintegrates as the horse traverses rough ground. This natural defence mechanism deters wild horses from developing unacceptably lengthy flares, which would make them unable to outrun predators. Wild horses cover plenty of ground every day, and this obviously helps them a lot by preventing flares. Sadly, domesticated horses don't have this natural form of protection. Most domestic horses move around on soft ground and do not get round to the same amount as wild horses. So, they don't seem to be able to grind down excess growth on their hooves every day. Inadequate running means the tamed horse's hooves can develop flares that grow into big chunks before breaking off. This asymmetrical wear makes it hard to shoe the horse or keep the hoof balanced so weight can be carried evenly. Avoid flares caused by excessive hoof growth by trimming your pony regularly. Maintain a roll on the hoof wall edge to permit simple break off.
Nutrition
Deficiencies or Imbalances
The absence of some minerals in requisite quantities can inflict damage on the health of the hooves of horses. One of the vital minerals is sulfur; the hoof laminae is tied to the coffin bone by a disulphide bond. Inferior hoof quality means it's time to investigate the nutritional value of the hay you are feeding your horse before you add any pricey supplements. If you are unable to analyze your hay for any reason, you should give your horse food-based supplements like blue-green algae. This algae contain a wide range of a balanced mixture of trace minerals your pony can absorb easily. While biotin is another vital nutrient that supports hoof health, your pony will be making enough biotin himself if he has lots of favorable bacteria in his gut. Some of these bacteria produce biotin. As a general practice, you should like giving your pony courses of probiotics instead of feeds including items like biotin The healthy bacteria in probiotics are miles more beneficial for your horse. Their benefits include the maintenance of a robust immunological system for the horse.
Overfeeding.
Excess weight gain in horses isn't the only end result of too much high-starch feed. Such feed brings about unwanted changes in the population of bacteria in your horse's hindgut (or cecum). The cecum is essentially intended to digest fiber, but when undigested starch gets past the small intestine into the hindgut, fiber-digesting bacteria in the cecum die, allowing starch-digesting bacteria to take over. Your horse can find this phenomenon to be devastating, as it leads to poison release into the bloodstream; this in turn triggers off an enzyme that breaks down the laminae in the hoof wall. Peter Ramey, famed expert on pony hoofs, appears to hold the opinion that this is how nature gets unacceptably disproportionate hoof walls to splinter easily when the pony gets into a high sugar content forage grazing scenario. This can be a temporary phenomenon with the wild horse, but with unshod domestic horses long-term absorption of high starch or sugar diets can cause laminitis that appears out in continual hoof issues.
Hoof Wall Contagions
I have often heard fungus and bacteria getting held responsible for hoof wall separation or "white line" illness. The truth is that the circumstances are potentially wholly different: the fungus and bacteria are not the causes, but the effects. They're present because they're exploiting the environment already prevailing in the foot as a consequence of the weakness of the hoof wall attachments. Once a pathogen has invaded nonetheless , you should treat your horse's hooves even after the real cause has been eliminated so that healthy hoof growth can be initiated and maintained.
An oz. of tea tree oil in 16 oz. of apple cider vinegar is a good treatment for most minor hoof wall infections. Stronger infections need more aggressive treatments. In all my years, I've seen no better solution for persistent white line illnesses than White Lightning. When White Lightning is applied within a wrap or an airtight soaking boot, it releases a chlorine gas that permeates into the tissue of the hoof. There isn't any effect on healthy tissue. This regimen should be repeated every week till the hoof shows healthy attachments from top to bottom and the white line shows no separation or stretch. A different treatment regime has to be adopted for horses that fail to respond to hoof infection treatments and careful management. The immune systems in such horses could be weak, and this problem therefore would represent the 1st target for treatment.
Trimming Hoof Flares
Trim hoof flares aggressively if they appear on your barefooted pony. The right way to do that is to file from the front of the hoof wall until there is not any more space showing when a straight edge is run round the hoof. If this removes so much wall that shoeing becomes not possible, use boots or pea gravel footing. I know that some trimmers don't like to do that, but I believe it is the quickest way to bring back a healthy hoof, as any flare remaining will often pull new hoof growth away from the bone. The easiest way out is preventive: stop hoof flares altogether. When the hoof, the diet and the immune system are managed properly hoof flares shouldn't ever reappear.
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