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When to trim my foal’s hooves
Q: I am looking forward to my mare having her first foal (my first foal too!) this season. What I’d like to know is how early should a farrier start trimming a foal’s hooves? And from what age should I start picking up his or her feet? Have you got any other advice to help me make the whole farriery business as stress-free as possible for my new foal and for my farrier?
Barbara S, Waikato
A: Great question Barbara. It’s vital to make any improvements or alterations to a foal at the first available opportunity. There are a number of growth plates in the horse that are soft at birth but begin to set at different stages in the period soon after birth. It is possible to make some significantly noticeable changes to angles of limbs and feet before the appropriate growth plates are set.
For these reasons, getting the foal familiar with picking up his feet and having the farrier at the very least asses the feet and limbs from the start is a sound investment. My advice is you can’t do these things early enough.
Providing your farrier is checking the hooves regularly, then he will be able to advise you as soon as the feet need trimming or balancing.
Helping the foal become familiar with the hoof-picking-up experience should assist the farrier to make a better job when it comes time for trimming. Regular handling can make a world of difference to the experience.
I recommend having another pair of hands when handling a foal – one person at the head and another picking up the feet. It’s often a good idea to work in an area that isn’t too open – a round pen or yards can be useful. Patience and understanding when handling a youngster is important to make for a successful outcome. Picking up all four feet, making sure you extend the hind feet rearwards, rather than just picking them up off the ground, and taking all four feet forwards too, is something that is often over-looked. When you’ve won the initial battles and gained some confidence from your foal, then holding the front feet between your knees – like the farrier does when trimming – could help the farrier with his initial visits. Don’t forget to introduce your horse to gentle tapping on the feet too, to prepare him for trimming and, perhaps one day, shoeing.
Good luck and enjoy your first foal – you should be very proud!
Over-reaching
Q: My horse has given himself a horrific injury through over-reaching. He is 14 and has never done this before. He is very sore and is going to be out of action for weeks and weeks. Can you advise me on how to help treat him, and also your opinion on what the cause could be? Are there any special shoes I could ask my farrier to try to help prevent this happening again? I would hate him to knock his heel again while the wound is healing.
Olivia, Northland
A: Olivia, sorry to hear about the nasty over-reach. For treatment advice, I recommend you seek the professional help of your local horse vet. They will be the most appropriate person to ensure the over-reach is treated correctly and the injury encouraged to heal efficiently.
An over-reach is when a hind foot comes into contact with and causes injury to the rear aspect of a front limb. An over-reach that occurs above the fetlock is referred to as a high over-reach and below the fetlock is referred to as a low over-reach. Most commonly, the heel bulb area of the front hoof is the area that is injured with an over-reach.
Common causes of this problem include conformational anomalies (horses with short backs for example), particularly heavy going (such as mud or a deep arena), hoof imbalances or young/green/unfit horses. Any or all of these factors can alter the timing of the foot in motion and cause the horse to strike or over-reach.
If you are confident that this is the first time in 14 years that this has happened to your horse, then it may be just a one-off and unnecessary to make too many changes to hoof care at this stage. However, your vet may recommend protecting the injury to ensure keeping it clean and secure whilst healing.
Deformed hoof
Q: A horse that I am considering leasing has a kind of deformed hoof – it’s like he has a whole extra piece of horn growing out and down from the side. He isn’t lame and his owner says it’s never caused any problems. Can you tell me what would have caused this in the first place, and if a good farrier can help?
Mungo, Wellington
A: Mungo, what you are describing sounds like what is known as a “false quarter”. Most commonly, these have been caused by an injury to the coronary band and as the new horn is generated from this area, a visible defect in the hoof continually grows down. A classic cause of this type of original injury is a wire cut – when a horse has got his foot stuck in the fence and caused a severe cut at the heel.
If the owner tells you he hasn’t been lame and it doesn’t cause any problems then it may be that he will continue to be comfortable on the hoof. It may be sensible to continue on as before rather than try to improve the appearance and risk further complications. A good farrier will help to keep the hoof balanced and extend the horse’s working life as he should with any horse.
Antsy in the hindquarters
Q: My new horse is fine to shoe in his front feet, but is really crabby about extending his back legs out and back for the farrier (or for me to pick out his shoes). Do you think there is something physically wrong with him or is it just a habit, and how can I help him relax?
He doesn’t exactly kick the farrier, but he jerks his legs back and forth and won’t keep still. Our farrier is very short-tempered and this doesn’t help matters, as he doesn’t have much patience. Unfortunately, where we live we don’t have a lot of choice in blacksmiths.
Becca, Bay of Plenty
A: Oh dear, that doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience for anybody involved – the horse, yourself or the farrier!
This type of problem isn’t uncommon. It may be that your new horse needs some careful thought to work out what’s going on. To start with, I recommend spending lots of time gently extending the hind feet out the back as your farrier does when shoeing. Keep your horse comfortable and settled but try and keep the limb in that position for a few minutes at a time. Being gentle and patient will give you an indication if there’s any pain, stress involved (such as he thinks you are going to pull him around and make him uncomfortable) and so on. When you pick it up yourself, let him find his own level and gently extend it. Rushing him or putting pressure on him may be one cause of him pulling it backwards and forwards when it comes to shoeing. If at any time you think it’s uncomfortable for him, then let him down.
You may want to consider whether the new horse has some discomfort somewhere. If he were sore somewhere higher (stifle or back, for example) then this could be aggravated when extending hind legs for shoeing. A vet and/or equine therapist may be able to offer advice on the likelihood of soreness elsewhere in this horse.
The long-term damage done by tying up the legs of young horses with ropes as a training method can often be blamed for horses with similar issues in other parts of New Zealand.
