questions about grooming and hoof care

[fleabitten]

Ok, a few more silly questions!

Should you have a knot at the end of your lead rope to prevent it slipping through your hands? I would imagine this is personal preference and doesn't really have much effect on anything, but maybe i'm wrong. Some people always put a knot in their lead rope and some people would never really do this. Do any of you do this?

This is something which really confuses me! If your horse is kept half and half (out in daytime, in at night or vice versa) should you groom thoroughly or should you only groom as for a permanently grass kept horse?

In my books it seems to be that they give 3 procedures mostly - quartering, full groom (strapping) and brushing off and the use of a body brush and stable rubber etc seems to be part of the method. However, i know that if your horse is out in the field you don't want to strip them of oils which is what a body brush would do, because they clean down to the skin. Also, with our weather being the way it is they might be out with a rug one day and without one the next.

Would you just use these three methods but just leave out the body brushing part and just use rubber curry/dandy etc? The only thing then being that the horse would never be properly clean of a build up of grease and dust (imo). Then again, if the horse lives out its not going to be properly clean either!

Also, if you were going to change your horses routine from being stabled to out at grass or half and half to out at grass, is there any particular way you should go about this to let the oils and grease build up to waterproof them or should you just chuck them out? I suppose if you dont really use a body brush anyway you could just chuck them out.

How long does it take for oils and grease to build up in the coat?
I suppose this would apply for if you were washing the body as well, you would have to rug them for a certain period of time until the oils and grease return?

This has probably have been covered before, so will have a hoke in a moment, but how do you know how to keep a good moisture balance in the hoof throughout the year? Obv you dont want to let them get too wet or too dry and this would be most problematic if they lived out (also stabled they may get too dry) i would imagine.

In one book, they recommend soaking/washing the hooves in water in dry weather and then applying oil/vaseline. And seeing as the oil/vaseline would hold moisture in, it would make sense to apply this if the weather was wet? I suppose it depends on the weather and individual horse as to how often you would do this? If kept half and half, it would be easier to keep a good moisture balance, i would think? Is there any particular things you should do for a horses hooves that are kept this way?

Sorry, feel really stupid asking these questions - hopefully you can understand these ramblings!

Chocolate covered strawberries and marshmallows for all who get this far!

[joandlad]

With my DAEP hat on I can answer the questions on hoof moisture but not sure it's the BHS answer (if that's what you're after). Once a hoof is grown there is very, very little you can do to change the moisture balance within. You need to ensure the horse is hydrated and getting a good balanced diet in order to grow a healthy hoof. The reason why you get cracked feet is usually more to do with infection than lack of moisture. So, banish thrush and white line disease (again if a healthy hoof is growing and working as designed you shouldn't have infection problems). Whilst trying not to get drawn into a shod vs unshod debate the other reason why you get hoof cracks is because of the lack of inner wall. In order to get inner wall you need 3D distortion of the hoof. The inner wall is a softer, more pliable wall that distorts and helps dampen some of the concussive forces going through the foot. If you have good inner wall, which allows for distortion, then the harder outer wall won't crack. It's when you have poor inner wall that the outer wall has to deal with the forces going through the foot and because outer wall is very strong but unyielding it means it breaks as opposed to distorts. Hooves deal with too much moisture fairly well, it's only when you take a sodden hoof and put it on kiln dried bedding (eg shavings, aubiouse etc) that the sudden change from wet to dry will lead to problems as the bedding draws moisture from the foot. The continuing contraction and expansion from wet to dry can cause damage to the hoof. In summary, if you've got a healthy foot you shouldn't need to worry about moisture problems. Hope this helps.

[spotti]

Not got anything much to add, sorry Flea, but I that's really interested Jo. Kind of thought that already but its really interesting to have it put in such a way that it describes what's going on without a) confusing me, or b) making it too simple that I still don't really understand!

[fleabitten]

Thanks jo, thats brilliant! Thats really clarified it for me.

I'm not exactly sure how much I need to know about the foot and shoeing - tbh, there isnt a great deal in the stage 2 syllabus to do with hoof care either (not sure about 3 or 4) - so was thinking of getting in contact with the BHS to ask them.

But hoof care is something that has always confused me and i thought i should try and find out about good hoof care for future reference and in case a question is asked in the exam.

So basically, what you are saying is to make sure the horse is kept healthy with a good diet and good farriery and picked out regularly and daily the hoof should be fine? And thats interesting about going from wet to very dry conditions - how would you recommend to remedy that? For instance bringing them in from a wet field to their stable at night?

I didnt know that their feet coped well with wet conditions - i guess its more the skin that people be worrying about in the wet conditions.

Whats your opinion on the use of hoof dressings, oils and greases? Should you stay clear of these except on farriers recommendation or a bit of oil for shows etc?

Thanks for such a great answer!

And i agree, spotti!

If anyone has any more ideas on the lead rope or grooming questions, keep em coming!

[spotti]

I've just re-read your post and remembered that I wanted to answer your question about the knot in the end of a lead rope - not sure if you're supposed to (or not) but I have a knot in the end of mine purely and simply because Faith used to bolt through the electric fencing gate at the old yard and without the knot I had NO chance of stopping her, but with the know I had at least a small chance of hanging on (tbh if a 500kg horse wants to charge off like a steam train, a little 50-odd kg person isn't really going to be able to stop them, with a knot or without! lol). Anyway, we've worked on that issue and she no longer does that sort of thing, but the knot is still in the end of the rope.

Personally I quite like having it there, irrespective of whether it had a previous purpose. I find the rope hangs better in my hand when I carry it...almost like it feels more balanced or something.
I don't think there is anything wrong with having a knot (or not, *bangs on drums* ba dum dum tschh ). The only thing I think might cause a problem would be if the knot got caught up in a quick release knot and the horse couldn't get free even though the quick release knot was trying to undo. I think if you're careful, or use one of those 'safety tie' things, then this shouldn't be a problem as something else will break and free the horse if the quick release knot doesn't do it's job. (phew - too many nots and knots in there!). Other than that I would have thought it was would be down to personal preference.

[fleabitten]

Jun 14, 2011 14:00:53 GMT spotti said:

I find the rope hangs better in my hand when I carry it...almost like it feels more balanced or something.

Yeah, i know what you mean about that, thats true. Didn't think about that aspect. Good point lol!

Jun 14, 2011 14:00:53 GMT spotti said:

The only thing I think might cause a problem would be if the knot got caught up in a quick release knot and the horse couldn't get free

Never thought of that - I think though that depends on which way you would tie the knot. I used to have a really handy way of tying it to the baler twine and all you had to do was tug the end of it and the rope would undo and just fall away from the twine. But i cant remember how to do it now! So i have to do it by threading the rope through the string and then doing the knot - in which case, your theory about it getting caught up would be true - and the BHS would probably consider it unsafe! lol!

Thanks for that spotti - its great getting all this feedback and discussing it.

Keep em coming guys! I'm really interested to find out about the grooming question.

[joandlad]

Jun 13, 2011 20:42:03 GMT fleabitten said:

So basically, what you are saying is to make sure the horse is kept healthy with a good diet and good farriery and picked out regularly and daily the hoof should be fine? And thats interesting about going from wet to very dry conditions - how would you recommend to remedy that? For instance bringing them in from a wet field to their stable at night?

Whats your opinion on the use of hoof dressings, oils and greases? Should you stay clear of these except on farriers recommendation or a bit of oil for shows etc?

Feet are no different to any other part of the body. They are made up of bones, tendons, ligaments and cartilage. What produces a good body will also produce good feet as they are one and the same. The real difference is that the outer structures of the foot do not have a blood supply so once they are formed (by the internal structures which do have blood supply) they are open to infection and environmental forces. So just good hygiene and infection control are the best things you can do to keep feet healthy. As for bringing them in from wet field to dry stable, if you could do a straw bed with shavings or similar underneath then you'd get the best of both worlds - absorbent bedding but one which won't suck moisture out of the feet. I don't ever recommend applying anything to the hoof (other than infection fighting products). You may see some improvements by applying water based dressings but you are just fire-fighting. Some other dressings can break down the keratin bonds in the hoof wall. You need to treat the symptoms, not the cause. The frog has a very good blood supply which is very near the outer surface (there is research being done on administering medication via the frog as the reaches the blood quickly) so I'd be especially careful of what you put on the frog.

[fleabitten]

Thanks for that Jo! Thats brilliant!