Soft hooves

Climate, bacteria and inner health all contribute to the condition of the horse's hooves.  I think the horse with the best hooves are the Mustangs.  They have the hardest, perfectly shaped and sized hooves of all the horses around and they rarely need a shoe.  I think once they are domesticated and put in certain situations they lose that perfect hoof. 

As of recent years, there is a lot of controversy as to weather to shoe or not to shoe and that has to be up to personal preference as far as I am concerned.  I go both ways, some I do and some I don't.  With the thoroughbreds, since the hoof is the extension of the skin and they are in fact "thin skinned animals, it usually means they have a thinner wall.  If you have a horse off the track the walls are thin and full of holes since racetrack practices usually require a horse to be shod every thirty days. 

The topic of today is the soft hoof.   Environment has a less to do with it than the inner hydration and absorption factors.  I can go into great detail as to why the hoof is in the condition that it is, but I want to focus on one circumstance at a time, without the possibility of overwhelming you.

The soft hoof can become that way due to many underlying issues but..if you are having trouble with tender foot, inability to maintain a shoe, and just a soft sole that you can actually flake off with your hoof pick as you clean, you have a soft soled, or hooved horse.  Sometimes no matter what, you have a problem with a soft soled horse, it just happens to be that way so dealing with it or trying to deal with it is all you can do..  '

The key is to harden the sole,  if possible with applications of one of two products..that I might add work very very well.  I can recommend them for this circumstance and I will expect  you would have some level of success. 

Turpentine is great for toughening up the sole. and the sole is where it is applied and the frog would be better left out of the application.  We need the frog pliable for blood pumping purposes.  All you do is clean the hoof, make sure it is dry, brush off all dirt and debris and apply with a tooth brush or other applicator of your choice.  Two or three times a week will be sufficient in a consistent manner and you will see that your horse is less tender footed and may hold a shoe longer than you thought it might. Over use is not going to make a the sole you are attempting..so two to three times per week will be all you need!

Pine tar is your next choice.  A good one too.  It has basically the same principals as the turpentine but there is a little added feature of pine tar, it is believed to have antiseptic purposes, which is helpful in some cases controlling thrush and or other bacteria that can be a nuisance.  Back in the day, I knew a few farriers that applied this under shoe pads to impede the growth of bacteria from shoeing to shoeing and it has been proven to be somewhat effective for this purpose.

Now if you want me to pick, I would have to say that either one is great, you decide and maybe it would be the odor of each that might lead you to one or the other.  They are both applied in the same manner and work just as well.  There is no leader here, although I would prefer to use pine tar if I am treating a stabled horse, since they are exposed to their own excrement's throughout the day.  But it is totally a personal preference and one that you can not really go wrong with no matter what you decide.

Thanks for stopping in and look forward to your comments if you have any please post.