Page 126 - February 2017

Monitoring and maintaining horse’s feet with routine foot handling and regularly picking them out helps
keep the
integrity
of the foot
and creates
an easier
handling
experience.
“Some of these horses can’t make it without shoes, especially after they’ve been shod awhile. For instance, after they come off the track
and retire to the broodmare band to be bred,
a lot of maiden mares have to be left in shoes - nearly until they fall off - just so they can grow more foot. Then we just smooth up that foot, leaving as much dead foot as we can so there’s enough hoof wall to adapt to the concussion and environment.
“You want the nail holes to grow clear out (to where they can be trimmed away) before you have to take that shoe off, so that the bare foot won’t chip and be shredded while those hail holes are growing out,” he explains.
“The feet will bounce back and callous up after you take the shoes off, but it can take a while and sometimes that foot doesn’t get its perfect angle back again after the horse has been shod for so long. You’d like to see that perfect angle that they had when they were yearlings, but it’s difficult to accomplish, especially on the broodmares. They get in foal and get heavy and this puts more weight, pressure and concussion on the feet. Here in Kentucky where it’s often wet with morning dew on the grass, the feet are hard to maintain,” says Norman.
In a drier climate, the feet will react dif- ferently. The breed of the horse also makes
a difference. “The Quarter Horse racehorse
has a different foot than a Thoroughbred.
You could probably get the foot back together quicker without shoes on a Quarter Horse than a Thoroughbred, only because of the shorter pasterns and more upright hoof angle with more heel,” he explains.
A stalled horse will generate more hoof growth since they are not on abrasive surfaces and because the heat of the manure and stall bedding stimulate hoof growth, but stall confinement does not allow the hoof to become tough and calloused.
Norman has shod a lot of racehorses in both breeds and says there are many differ- ences in shoeing the Thoroughbred runner and the Quarter Horse sprinter. “Now, my forte is Thoroughbreds, though I grew up with Quarter Horses and shod them when
I started. I was a jockey when I grew up, then got too big and started shoeing horses,”
“You really want these young horses to stay barefoot as long as you can because once we do shoe them, they are generally in shoes for the rest of their racing career...”
he says. “The difference between shoe-
ing Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses is mainly in their conformation. One of the biggest factors is the long pastern of the Thoroughbred versus short pastern of the Quarter Horse, and a little different foot. The Quarter Horse has a smaller foot just because of the shorter, more upright pastern
and the make of the short-legged, stronger animal,” says Norman.
The long pastern/short pastern gives a much different hoof conformation. A horse with a long pastern has a different heel struc- ture. “It’s harder to withstand the pressure put on the heel by the long pastern. You can see this difference from the time these horses are babies, and right up to the first race of their life. By the time they are seven or eight years old, you are dealing with a heel issue in most Thoroughbreds because of that angle.” The angle can cause more stress on the back portion of the foot, causing heels to collapse more readily.
“In a horse with a short pastern, the pres- sure has moved forward more into the foot cap- sule and the toe region from the point of the frog forward. You’ll see more pressure in that area, and the heels grow faster because there’s not quite as much pressure on them. You’ll have a more boxy, upright foot in the Quarter Horse because Mother Nature is telling that foot to grow more heel. With a short pastern, you have more heel to deal with,” he says.
“With a long pastern, the toe grows faster because all the pressure is in the heel and wher- ever there is less pressure, the foot grows faster. The length of the pastern is the deciding factor regarding what kind of foot you will be dealing with,” explains Norman.
The heel pressure on a horse with a long pastern takes its toll. “Those heels don’t get as much chance to grow out and be healthy. With the long toe, the whole foot capsule just kind of moves forward. Trying to get it back under- neath the horse takes time and can be really tough to do,” he says.
Because of their foot conformation, Quarter Horses are typically able to stay barefoot longer when they start racing, if the trainer wants to keep them barefoot, and are easier to transition back to barefoot after they retire from racing. “It depends a lot on the individual horse’s foot conformation and strength and on the environ- ment. Track surface isn’t the only thing we need to worry about regarding the environment the foot must deal with in a racehorse. There’s also pavement and gravel. Whatever that horse will be walking on is going to dictate what that foot must handle,” says Norman.
“It also makes a difference how many hours a day they live in a stall. Are they in a stall 23 hours a day? Being in a stall on soft footing will actually grow more foot than any supplement you can feed a horse for hoof growth. If they stay in the stall and you don’t pick the feet
out, they are not moving as much or walking on abrasive surfaces like they would be if they were outside. And, the heat of the manure and bedding in the stall seems to stimulate hoof growth. When a horse is laid up and needs stall
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EQUINE HEALTH