Keep one step ahead

Concave sole

The solar surface should have a good degree of

concavity. The sole should be firm and not too thin.

Flat feet with little concavity will lead to bruised soles.

A dropped sole may occur in laminitic animals where

the pedal bone has rotated or sunk within the hoof.

Well-developed frog

The frog should be well developed with a shallow

cleft. A deep cleft will predispose to thrush. A horse

with ‘shear heel’ has a very deep cleft and the inner

and outer heels will be of unequal height and can

be flexed independently - often painfully.

Healthy white line

The white line is where the horn of the hoof wall

and sole meet and it is an area of weakness which,

if breached, can allow bacteria into the sensitive

structures leading to ‘pus in the foot’ or ‘gravel’.

Laminitis will cause widening of the white line

exaggerating the weakness of this area. Another

cause of weakness in this area is a keratoma (a

benign, horn-producing tumour of the foot), which

can be recognised when it produces a defect or

deviation in the white line on the sole.

Level footfall and good

medio-lateral balance

Medio-lateral balance is best assessed with

the limb non-weight bearing. An imaginary line

down the cannon and pastern should cross the

bearing surface of the sole at 90

. Sometimes a

compromise has to be reached between trimming

for good medio-lateral balance and achieving

level footfall. Unequally worn shoes are a sign of

abnormal footfall.

Straight dorsal hoof wall

The wall when viewed from the side should be

straight - neither concave nor convex. A concave

dorsal wall occurs in chronic laminitis.

Good horn quality

The hoof horn quality needs to be good to ensure

protection from bruised sole and to provide the

farrier with a strong material to nail into. Horses

with poor quality, flaking or crumbly horn will be very

difficult to keep shoes on and will suffer repeated

bouts of lameness. Horn disease such as seedy

toe or canker will also predispose to lameness.

...Keep one step ahead

Visual assessment of hoof conformation.

Dorso-palmer foot balance assessment.