Daily hoof care is important for your horse’s overall health. Regular visits to the farrier or bare hoof carer are just as much a part of your horse’s routine as keeping it in an equine-appropriate environment, feeding and daily hoof care.
Clean your horse’s hooves every day and pick out any small stones or other objects. This is best done with a brush. Hoof picks are also used a lot, but care should be taken not to scratch off the healthy horn.
In order to stay elastic, the hoof horn must contain just the right amount of moisture. If the hoof horn is too wet, it tends to get soft, wear down faster and there is also a higher risk of developing thrush.
Thrush can be prevented by regularly applying decay-inhibiting products such as leovet's FrogAde. There are also hoof care products which contain anti-bacterial agents, such as leovet’s HOOF LAB Hoof Oil. If thrush has already developed, products may help that penetrate deeply, spreading into grooves and into small fissures, thus reaching decayed spots. They dry the frog so that healthy tissue can grow back. In such acute cases of thrush, a good option is FrogMedic of leovet.
If the hoof horn contains too little moisture, it will become brittle. This can make shodding difficult and may reduce the supporting surface of the hoof. If the horse’s hooves are very dry, you should first soak them in water and after allowing them to dry a little, apply a hoof care product which will then prevent loss of moisture. A good choice of product for this purpose is leovet's HOOF LAB Elastic Cream, which promotes the elasticity and stability of the hoof. To avoid this problem, it is necessary to use products in the daily hoof care that optimally regulate and support the moisture balance. leovet offers suitable solutions with Hoof Oil, Natural Oil Balm or Hoof Grease, which are part of the HOOF LAB hoof care series.
