PROPER FOOT CARE OF YOUNG EQUINES
By Donald Canfield, Farrier Shakopee, Minnesota
In many cases, the period of time when the most can be done for a horse ' s legs is the time when they are most neglected. The young horse is left to his mother for the first six months and then put out to pasture to grow old enough to be ridden. It is during this time that the most can be done toward developing straight stance and motion.
A new born foal is nothing but joints and legs, but very quickly the mother is hard put to keep up when the foal frisks in the pasture.
It is at this time that thoughts should turn toward leg development. Careful inspection should be made to determine what can be done to straighten the legs of the new-born.
Observation of the foal from in front-behind will give the idea of how the legs turn. A look from the side will show calf or buck knees and sickle or camped hocks. Trimming can correct a good share of these faults. The conformation of each horse is different to some degree and must be treated as individuals. Also, we must treat each foot separately.
Toed out conditions usually are brought about by excessive wear on the inside of the hoof and can be corrected to a degree by levelling the foot. If the condition is so great that level feet will not compensate enough, the outside of the foot can be lowered. This shortening of the outside of the hoof will help to eliminate splay foot and cow hocks.
Toed in conditions can be corrected by lowering the inside of the hoof helping to eliminate pigeon toes and bowed hocks.
Calf-kneed and buck-kneed foals can be helped to a certain extent by corrective trimming, especially at an early age. Calf knees can be relieved by shortening the toes and leaving the heels intact, creating a higher hoof angle that helps to throw the knee joint forward into alignment with the leg. Buck-knees is by far the lesser of the two evils and will perhaps straighten with a few months growth. However, the heels can be shortened, if desired.
Correction should be done in small steps, especially if it is an extreme condition. Slight but constant pressure can exert a corrective force that will counteract irregularities of conformation. Although the tissues are very pliable in a young foal, a very forcible alteration will create consequences worse than the original defect.
A colt with well formed limbs only requires that his feet should be kept proportionate, but a foal with poor conformation requires that the feet be trimmed to counteract the defect. Trimming of the feet affects the legs in a great degree up to the first joints, and in a lesser amount to the bones above so that the position of the knees and hocks can be changed by trimming the hoof.
Regardless of the necessity of correction, foals ' feet should be trimmed periodically, even if for no other reason than training. If foals have their feet handled frequently, the training will pay big dividends in the future when they are strong enough for resistance.
It is important to be very patient when trimming young foals. Hold your temper and handle the foal kindly, but don ' t let him get away with much. The habits he forms now will be his usual actions when older, so make them good ones.
The horse ' s hoof is largely what we make it. Attentive trimming at a young age extends the active usefulness of the animal. Give every youngster an added advantage by keeping his feet in tip-top condition, because there is truth in the old saying " no foot, no horse."
Since the potential value of a foal is determined by soundness and conformation, get the most competent horseshoer available for hoof care. A poor horseshoer can do such injury and damage in one visit that the savings on the initial cost are out of proportion to what they appear. Quality is your best economy, the best shoer is by far the cheapest in the long run.
January, 1968
107