What are Hoof Problems?
Hooves refer to the hard outer covering of the horse’s foot. The outer and inner hoof is made up of bones and sensitive structures. The outer hoof consists of the coronet (the band around the top of the hoof where the hair stops) and hoof wall (horny exterior of the hoof). Under the hoof is the frog (spongy, triangular portion in the center of the underside of the hoof), sole (the concave, hard and tough underside of the hoof), bars (portion of the wall that curves forward at the heel) and the white line (narrow strip where the bottom edge of the hoof wall meets the sole). The inside of the hoof consists of the coffin bone (shaped like a hoof – held in place by the sensitive laminae and the insensitive laminae which form a bond), navicular bone (small bone which fits in the space between the short pastern and the coffin bone), short pastern (bone found above and connected to the coffin bone), and the lateral cartilage (wings of cartilage on either side of the coffin bone). Taking care
