Hoofcare

Here you can see a deep feed-changing line on this hoof. This grows out in a year. Yes this is true, it breaks my heart (and makes me glad) too see how good the hooves are on most horses when I've gone abroad. I guess that many a horse coming from Iceland hears the comment "What terrible hoofcare he has had" without a reason. I have been thinking a lot about this, what environmental factors are working here. Because, so I take my own horses as an example, bad hooves can hardly be helped. I saw last summer that what would be called good, normal hooves here would be called unsatisfactory hooves in many other countries. This usually changes in a year or two after a horse has been exported and lives in a more steady nature. When we ride our horses, here on the farm, they are shod every 5 or 6 weeks. Half of them gets (expensive) biotin-supplement over their hay to make their hooves stronger. There are rubber mats in the stalls. The youngsters are trimmed when they need it. The riding horses get 2-5 months off every year, so their hooves can recover then. The horses hardly get any stronger feed than hay, exept some grasspellets as treat. To avoid "food-changing-lines" in the hooves we take 3 weeks in the spring to accustom the riding horses to grass, where they are only allowed to be on grass for 0.5-1 hour the first day, and then we gradually increase the time on grass. All the same, their hooves would be considered not good in many countries. What can be happening? The seasonal change is very extreme here in Iceland. For example our fields here at Langhus can change from being covered in snow to being green with 3 inches tall grass in 10 days. In the spring we try to feed the horses that are outside on as much hay as they can eat, but they rather want to eat the strong green grass, and we can just hope that they won't founder (if a horse founders in Iceland, it is in most cases shot). They get eed-changing-lines" for sure. And the grass is so strong, that the riding horses also get "feed-changing-lines". One thing that also influences the hooves, I guess, is that bedding is extremely expensive here. In a country with little cereal agriculture, it is still rare to use straw as bedding. So it is a common way, too keep hooves from overdrying, too put manure under the horses in the day-time. It's not hygenic, but it works. Hay here can also be very strong. For us, for example, it is a problem every year, to grow hay that is weak enough, so that the horses won't founder or get "feed-changing-lines" when we start feeding them in the winter, both the riding horses and the herd outside. In spite of all this, this work is somewhat in vain. A mare I bought 2,5 years ago got terrible "feed-changing-lines", half a year after I bought her, because the farmer had put his riding horses out on an inch of grass fo 4 hours the first day they were out in the spring (I asked him later). Now, I've been shoeing her every 4-5 weeks, for 2 years, exept in the autumn, because her heels were almost nonexistent after this spring-treatment. Well, finally this spring, she had some heels, and the line had grown down to the toe, and was on it's way to disappearing. But when I looked at her a few days ago, she had a new "feed-canging-line" in her hooves, from last spring. Standing there, tearing my hair out, I could just be glad that this line is not as deep as the old one, and hope that she won't get a new line when we start feeding her this winter, with the crummiest hay we can find. She is just a normal horse, and I know she would do well with her hooves abroad, but I do also know that it is likely, in another country, she will hear the words "What terrible hoofcare she has had".

Here you can see a deep feed-changing line on this hoof. This grows out in a year.

Yes this is true, it breaks my heart (and makes me glad) too see how good the hooves are on most horses when I've gone abroad. I guess that many a horse coming from Iceland hears the comment "What terrible hoofcare he has had" without a reason. I have been thinking a lot about this, what environmental factors are working here. Because, so I take my own horses as an example, bad hooves can hardly be helped. I saw last summer that what would be called good, normal
hooves here would be called unsatisfactory hooves in many other countries.

This usually changes in a year or two after a horse has been exported and lives in a more steady nature.

When we ride our horses, here on the farm, they are shod every 5 or 6 weeks. Half of them gets (expensive) biotin-supplement over their hay to make their hooves stronger. There are rubber mats in the stalls. The youngsters are trimmed when they need it. The riding horses get 2-5 months off every year, so their hooves can recover then. The horses hardly get any stronger feed than hay, exept some grasspellets as treat. To avoid "food-changing-lines" in the hooves we take 3 weeks in the spring to accustom the riding horses to grass, where they are only allowed to be on grass for 0.5-1 hour the first day, and then we gradually increase the time on grass.
All the same, their hooves would be considered not good in many countries.
What can be happening?

The seasonal change is very extreme here in Iceland. For example our fields here at Langhus can change from being covered in snow to being green with 3 inches tall grass in 10 days. In the spring we try to feed the horses that are outside on as much hay as they can eat, but they rather want to eat the strong green grass, and we can just hope that they won't founder (if a horse founders in Iceland, it is in most cases shot). They get eed-changing-lines" for sure. And the grass is so strong, that the riding horses also get "feed-changing-lines". One thing that also influences the hooves, I guess, is that bedding is extremely expensive here. In a country with little cereal agriculture, it is still rare to use straw as bedding. So it is a common way, too keep hooves from overdrying, too put manure under the horses in the
day-time. It's not hygenic, but it works.

Hay here can also be very strong. For us, for example, it is a problem every year, to grow hay that is weak enough, so that the horses won't founder or get "feed-changing-lines" when we start feeding them in the winter, both the riding horses and the herd outside.

In spite of all this, this work is somewhat in vain. A mare I bought 2,5 years ago got terrible "feed-changing-lines", half a year after I bought her, because the farmer had put his riding horses out on an inch of grass fo 4 hours the first day they were out in the spring (I asked him later). Now, I've been shoeing her every 4-5 weeks, for 2 years, exept in the autumn, because her heels were almost nonexistent after this spring-treatment. Well, finally this spring, she had some heels, and the line had grown down to the toe, and was on it's way to disappearing. But when I looked at her a few days ago, she had a new "feed-canging-line" in her hooves, from last spring. Standing there, tearing my hair out, I could just be glad that this line is not as deep as the old one, and hope that she won't get a new line when we start feeding her this winter, with the crummiest hay we can find. She is just a normal horse, and I
know she would do well with her hooves abroad, but I do also know that it is likely, in another country, she will hear the words "What terrible hoofcare she has had".