Hoof Makes The Horse. Grandpas Wisdom Proved True By New Study
The hoof makes the horse, or so my Grandfather liked to say. As a horse crazy kid I was more inclined to think the right color or a thick mane and tail, quote “made the horse”. Hi I’m Susan Allen when Open Range returns, new studies reveal wisdom in my grandpa’s words, imagine that! Certainly no one in their right mind wants to buy a lame horse. There are a host of diseases, injuries and confirmation defects that can cause a horse to be what horse people call “off”. Some are quite visible, when horse has a noticeable limp or holds a leg off the ground in pain, others much more subtle, a slight indication something is wrong with an animal’s movement that’s often only felt by an astute rider. What if you could look at the hoof of the horse you were buying to see if it would develop lameness issues down the road? Very plausible according to a new British study that reviewed over 300 lame and healthy horses. They found that in 22 percent of horses that were lame on one foot, the lame foot was actually taller and more upright than the healthy foot. Other irregularities among hooves were associated with lameness. Meaning if you are looking to buy a horse, think like my grandpa, and carefully scrutinize the animal’s four feet because as all old horsemen have known for years, ideally all four hooves should be the same size and shape. And I can hear my grandpa saying that "it doesn’t take a man in a size nine hat or a British study to prove common horse sense.
