­
Horses' Hooves in The AnswerBank: Animals & Nature
Donate SIGN UP

Horses' Hooves

Avatar Image
flump1 | 10:58 Mon 20th Jan 2014 | Animals & Nature
4 Answers
Watching the appeal for aid in looking after donkeys, my OH wondered what used to happen to horses, donkeys mules etc before we domesticated them and began animal grooming ? How did these animals take care of their ever growing hooves ?
Gravatar
Rich Text Editor, the_answer

Answers

1 to 4 of 4rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by flump1. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
In the wild, horses and ponies, at least are constantly on the move and hoof wear occurs naturally.
Hooves wear down on rock & shale when free roaming
Well… to a certain extent. Here in the u.S., where we still have substantial sized herds of Federally protected wild horses (in one case, the horses are closely related to the original Spanish Barbs, imported by the Conquistadores). Almost all of such herds exist in the arid semi-deserts of the west. Few, if any are in the wetter areas, so woof and tambourines answers are semi-correct.

We have working horses here in the western U.S. and have become fairly adept farriers. However discussing this very question with a veterinarian revealed the more important existence of a bacteria that always attacks the 'horn' part of the hoof from the underside… the foot side of the hoof.

It enters the 'white line' boundary of the inner hoof from the outer, tough horn. (Seen when the 'frog' of the under foot is cleaned before shooing). The bacteria is acquired from the soil in any damp area, such as drinking water sources, etc. The bacteria attacks only the horn, making it very susceptible to splitting and breaking. This can even be seen under certain circumstances in shod, domestic horses...
Question Author
Thank you all, Learn something new ....and all that .

1 to 4 of 4rss feed

Complete your gift to make an impact