Interactive lesson

Hooves, teeth and grooming, step by step

Interactive lesson: horse and donkey hooves — the parts, picking out every day, the farrier, laminitis, teeth, grooming and teaching a horse to pick up its feet.

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The whole lesson as text

1. The hoof: what's what

A horse weighing half a tonne stands on four hooves the size of your palm.

Wall and coronet — The wall is the outer part you see: it carries the weight and protects. It grows from the coronet, where the skin meets the wall at the top.
Sole and frog — The sole is the slightly hollow underside and protects the bone. The frog is the V-shaped wedge: a shock absorber that pumps blood.
White line and heels — The white line joins the wall to the sole. The heels and bars take the first contact with the ground, so watch that they are neither too high nor collapsed.
The digital pulse — With your fingers, find the artery at the side of the leg, just above the hoof, beside the pastern. In a healthy horse you can barely feel it; a strong, bounding pulse means inflammation in the hoof.

Why: The hoof grows all its life, roughly 6–10 mm a month, and the wall takes 9–12 months to grow down from the coronet to the ground. Once you know the parts, it's easier to understand the farrier and the vet.

Check the wall for cracks, rings and a broken edge, and the sole for red spots and holes.
Learn to feel the digital pulse while the horse is healthy, so you know the difference.

2. Picking out every day

Pick out all four hooves every day, and always before and after work.

Catch and tie up — Catch the horse and tie it up. Stand by the shoulder, facing the tail, and ask for the foot by voice and hand.
Pick from the heel — The hoof pick goes from heel to toe, alongside the frog, never into it. Take out every stone.
Shoes and heat — A loose shoe or nails sticking out need the farrier before the next work. Run your palm over the wall of every hoof.
Always the same order — Near fore, near hind, off hind, off fore, in the same place. The horse learns the order and lifts the next foot by itself.

Why: A stone wedged by the shoe or in the sole makes a bruise and lameness within a day. While you pick out, you also check the smell, the heat and the shoes.

A healthy hoof smells of soil. A sour, rotten smell and black material by the frog mean thrush.
One hoof warmer than the others is a sign of inflammation; all of them warmer, with a strong pulse, may be laminitis.