Hooves are a window to your horse's health. Event lines - as can be clearly seen in the first photo are reminders of 'events'. The two biggest lines, at just below half way down the hoof and the one below were caused by vaccinations - which this horse will probably not have again because they made her very ill.
In the second photo you can see one big event line just above the bottom edge of the hoof. This is the same one which in the first photo is just below half way down. The hoof has grown that much in 8.5 weeks - or just about 2 months. I estimate that this hoof is replacing itself completely roughly every 6 months. Oddly before I checked the history I had always thought this horse grew foot quite slowly.
So it pays to keep records and to realise just how fast hooves can grow - barefoot ones anyway.
And despite being stabled this horse is almost self trimming. She works 3x a day on a variety of surfaces including sand, stones, grass and car park. Extreme metabolic issues mean she is not quite rock crunching at the moment, but she has been in the past and we hope that she will be in the future. But never again will I use a wormer that claims to be effective over a number of weeks. It takes too long to grow out the damage from this horse's feet.
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