Horses stand on the tips of their middle fingers and toes. In each forelimb, they bear their weight on an adapted fingernail which forms the hoof wall. This hoof wall is strongly attached to the last bone (third phalanx) which, in turn, is tied into the column of support in such a way that the complex locomotory forces received through the hoof capsule are directed up into the limb in alignment...

AIMS To determine the frontal plane position of the ground reaction force vector at its centre of pressure under the hoof of walking horses, and its projection through the distal limb joints, and to relate this to hoof geometric measurements. METHODS Reflective markers were glued to the forelimb hooves and skin of 26 horses, over palpable landmarks representing centres of the coffin, fetlock ...

The hoof plays an important role in the health and well-being of dairy animals. Consequently, mechanical properties of the hoof horn and changes in this tissue with nutrition or environmental factors are important concerns. A novel experimental approach for evaluating the mechanical behaviour of hoof horn has been developed. The process is comprised of obtaining incremental slices of hoof horn,...

Keratins are the characteristic structural proteins of the highly cornified epidermis of the skin, feathers, and hoof. Keratin proteins provide the structural basis for the unique properties of the biomaterial horn and its protective function against a wide range of environmental factors. Hoof horn is produced through a complex process of differentiation (keratinization) of epidermal cells. For...

Surface strains were recorded from four rosette gauges at different sites on the right forehooves of three ponies running on a treadmill at seven constant speeds and using three gaits. Principal strains determined from the rosette signals indicate that the hoof material is loaded predominantly in compression and that the wall is distorted in a regular, repeatable manner at all speeds and gaits....

Twelve healthy, adult donkeys of both sexes aged between 2 and 4 years were used to evaluate the feasibility of using coronary band autografts to aid in the healing of deep dermal hoof wall injuries. Wound healing and graft take were monitored visually and evaluated histologically at different time points. Epidermal cells of the coronary papillae survived the process of hoof wall stripping. Alm...

The connection between a feeding regime with a high proportion of concentrates and laminitis is well recognized in domestic animal medicine but has received little attention in captive wild hoofstock. We used the occasion of a transport of two ruminant groups, that necessitated immobilization, for an evaluation of the appearance of the hooves on the one, and of the pH of the rumen fluid gained ...

The internal, anatomical disintegration of the hoof, which accompanies the acute episode, is initially, invisible to the naked eye. With the passage of time however the hoof begins to display the effects wrought upon on it by the pathology of the acute phase. If the initial lamellar pathology is mild the clinical signs of laminitis may abate as the distal phalanx lamellar attachment apparatus r...

Cattle hoof meal was processed by autoclaving, fermentation, wood ash soda treatment and rawunprocessed hoof. This studied on Clarias gariepinus juveniles 14.22±0.23g stocked at 15 fish per tank in replicate. Treated samples were used compounding six isonitrogenous diets of a reference diet 70%: test 30% fed 3% body weight. Significant difference (P<0.05) observed among dietary treatments. W...

BACKGROUND Hoof lesions in sows have been associated with lameness and poor hoof horn quality. The mechanical strength and quality of hoof horn is determined by the density and diameter of horn tubules, which were recently associated with the severity of lesions on the hoof wall of sows. Histologic changes that have previously been described in cases of bovine laminitis, have also been observed...