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The Equine Foot October 28, 2006
The equine lexicon is filled with clichés about the equine foot. Most horse owners have heard them all. "No foot, no horse...The foot is the horse's foundation...For want of a shoe..." The list goes on. Without sound feet, a horse can't move freely, and a horse whose movement is hindered becomes a predator's meal in the wild and a liability to its owner in a domestic setting. A quick outward glance at a horse's foot gives little clue as to its complex nature. On the surface, we see a hard, horny substance called the hoof wall and nothing more. Beneath that hard exterior, however, is a sophisticated arrangement of bones, tendons, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels, and sensitive tissue. When this amalgamation of parts is properly assembled and functioning well, it is one of Nature's masterpieces. When something goes awry, however, the effect can be akin to an explosion in a closed room. That hard, horny hoof wall is not malleable. When an injury or systemic insult causes blood vessels to expand or tissues to swell, there is no room to accommodate enlargement of any kind and something must give. We will examine the anatomy of the foot in this article and use a variety of sources, but two deserve additional mention. They are Dr. Doug Butler, a certified journeyman farrier, and a Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Farriers of Colorado, a lecturer, author, and consultant; and Dr. David Hood, a professor at Texas A&M University who has been involved in that institution's Hoof Project. Information from these researchers comes from past interviews and papers they have authored. Other information comes from a variety of papers and textbooks. It should be noted that hoof and foot are not synonymous. The hoof or hoof wall, generally speaking, is the three-layered outer surface of the foot. The foot, on the other hand, includes the hoof and all the bones, blood vessels, ligaments, tendons, and nerves therein. Continue Reading [*PDF file, 3.89 MB download] *Adobe Reader is required to view PDF files. |
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