22/11/2021
🤔 Shoes don’t harm horses? Let’s talk digital cushions…
So it’s common knowledge by now (or at least it should be) that nailing a metal shoe to a dynamic and organic hoof is going to go against the natural hoof mechanism.
That’s a given right?
But what does that really mean for the health of the hoof?
Well let’s focus down on a part of the hoof that rarely gets any limelight - the digital cushion.
‘Let’s celebrate you baby’ 🎶 🥳
Many people have heard of it, but not many people really give it much attention.
And that is SUCH A SHAME!
Perhaps people know it is important to the hoof, and that maybe it helps ‘cushion’? - after all that IS part of its name.
Well a hoof without a healthy digital cushion is seriously compromised - and so is the leg, joints, soft tissues and body above it.
But let’s just find out how important it really is to the horse first.
The digital cushion sits between the frog and the bones of the foot, protecting and cushioning.
When horses are young, the digital cushion is present, but it’s structure is more fatty - it’s called a fibro-fatty tissue.
Useful, but not fully developed.
As the horse grows in size and gets heavier, the digital cushion really starts to develop into a strong, incredibly important structure.
And becomes… a bit more than useful.
It goes from that fibro-fatty tissue when the horse is young, to a fibro-cartilaginous tissue towards adulthood.
Stronger. Tougher.
This change in the structure of the digital cushion is important because as the horse grows it needs to be tough enough to withstand a larger horse’s continuous compression by the pastern bones on one side, and the frog beneath.
It has to MAN UP! 💪
It is able to dissipate energy from compressional forces… and is essential for perfect shock absorption.
Working together with the frog, fetlock, lateral cartilages and bars… being compressed and squeezed on every stride, it is ‘elastic’ in its nature - bouncing back after each compression.
Pretty VITAL.👊
Pretty AWESOME.👊
BUT… and here it comes…
If the digital cushion doesn’t develop as it should, stays more fatty than cartilaginous… then it impedes the horse’s ability to EFFICIENTLY shock absorb.
OBVIOUS RIGHT? 👀
The back of the foot just isn’t up to the job anymore.
Even though the horse has now grown much bigger - the digital cushion stays underdeveloped.
And WHY would the digital cushion not develop?
Because like a muscle in your body, if you don’t use it, you lose it.😬
Many, many people may not want to hear this, but when a horse is shod, it prevents the digital cushion from developing as it should.
Drastic for the horse.
Never thought about by the human.🙈🙉
In fact, in that good old cognitive dissonance way that people have about them, what we are saying here is often generally thought of as propaganda.
“Rubbish - the digital cushion does develop with a shoe on…”
Well we’re sad to be the bearer of bad news…
but…
… the digital cushion in shoes stays immature, rudimentary, weak, feeble - COMPARED to what it should have been if the horse had been allowed to remain barefoot.
How do we know? 🧐
Because apart from the fact that when you palpate the digital cushion at the back of a long standing shod foot, you can feel the weakness…
. you can SEE it with your own eyes in this post, and we see it, and so do our students, every time we dissect a hoof.
EVERY TIME.
Not just on the odd occasion.
EVERY TIME.
WAIT ✋ And one more thing to know about the digital cushion.
It can become SCARRED.
And that scarring also impedes its ability to efficiently shock absorb too.
How? Through persistent infection in the central sulcus of the frog, that ‘eats’ its way deep into the digital cushion.
Nasty. And permanent.☹️
And one of the biggest culprits for deep central sulcus infections in the frog - is contraction and atrophy at the back of the foot.
Caused by… yep you guessed it - SHOES.
SHOES are the biggest culprit for pain, disease, contraction and atrophy, at the back of the foot.
So, in answer to the ‘shoes don’t harm horses’ at the top of this post - they irrefutably do.
It’s a fact. No nonsense. No propaganda.
A FACT.
But can a weak digital cushion ever become stronger again?
Yes - it seems all is not totally lost for that amazing digital cushion.
Because take your horse barefoot, and it can begin to develop once more.
“To how it should have been if your horse had never been shod?”
No probably not - but it WILL BE ‘good enough’.
**********
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The BHM Team ❤️
