Growth Rings In The Feet? What Can They Tell You?

I thought this might be useful to share with you all.....

The feet in the images belong to my 3 year old Welsh D gelding Eric 🐴

They were taken today, just before his regular 6 weekly trim ⚒

🧐If you look closely you can see a line around each hoof around 1cm from the bottom edge.

Hopefully you can see that❓

It looks like a line in the hoof wall.

This line is called a Growth Ring and has grown down the hoof over the last few months.

Eric came to me in February this year – on valentines day 🥰 (lucky me) 🍀

He came from the home he was bred at where he had always been on the same diet.

When he came to me not only was he on different grazing to what he was used to, he was having a different hay and I slowly changed his feed from the pasture mix he was previously fed to a supplementary feed balancer, salt and chaff.

This is when the ‘Growth Ring’ was born 🥳

His change in diet meant his hoof growth altered and his new hoof was slightly different to the previous hoof. Causing a ring to be visible in the hoof wall.

😎It’s been really cool to watch as this growth ring has grown down the foot over the last 6 months.

Almost 6 months to the day and he has grown a completely new foot! 🤗

On average the visible part of your horse’s feet usually takes up to 12 months to grow.

During assessment of your horse I always include the feet.

Although I am not a farrier or trimmer the feet can still tell me a lot about your horse and give me some clues about their musculoskeletal health, any asymmetries in their bodies and any stress or changes they may have been through in previous months.

Growth rings are not just a sign of a change in diet, they may also be a sign of:

▪️Environmental changes

▪️Changes in workload

▪️Laminitic episodes

▪️An episode of colic

▪️An infection

▪️Equine Flu

▪️Metabolic changes

▪️Pregnancy

This is because all of these things change the body’s demand for key vitamins, minerals, proteins and amino acids.

If demand exceeds supply, available nutrients will go to the area or system that has the emergency need instead of to the feet.

And vice versa when you introduce a new diet to your horse you may be increasing the nutrients available for new hoof growth.

I hope you have found this post useful – I urge you to go and take a look at your own horse’s feet 🧐

Do they have a growth ring❓

Can you work out what changed for them to have caused it❓

The feet can tell you a lot if you learn how to read them 🤓

If you think your horse could benefit from an Initial Assessment and Equine Massage Treatment please do get in touch to find out more or to book an appointment 📲