Foot disorders resulting in lame horses are a worst nightmare of the horse property owners. It can cause no end of frustration. Unfortunately, never a truer word was said than that of the old adage “no foot, no horse”. It doesn’t matter whether your horse is a $200 000 performance horse or a $2 000 kids pony, they are all susceptible to hoof problems, and most horses at some stage in their lives will have some kind of lameness.
However, it does seem that some horses are more prone to problems than others, and there can be any number of reasons for this. After all, you have a half tone of horse standing on a very small hoof area and horses spend the majority of their time standing up. So if a horse is lame they generally become very unhappy creatures.
Like most health issues it is better to try and prevent them from happening in the first place than it is to try and cure them; however, some hoof disorders are easier to cure than others. So with this in mind a good farrier; regular trimming and/or shoeing; a good diet with all the essential vitamins and minerals and regularly cleaning out the hooves are all important procedures to prevent problems.
Proper balancing of Phosphorous and Calcium in the diet along with Zinc, Biotin, Sulphur, Copper, Selenium, Methionine, are all essential to healthy hooves.