Care And Rehabilitation of the Equine Foot

This was a very interesting read. I found Pete Ramey’s open and honest assessment of how the hoof-care industry is faring enlightening. Although he is the author of this book, the list of co-authors is like a tour through the minds of some of the most reputable researchers in the industry.

This is not just a book on rehabilitation of the foot, but also one containing information that any hoof-care professional can use in his or her daily work.

Robert Bowker Input

Dr. Robert Bowker’s papers provide the reader with easily understood narrative both in lay and anatomical terms. The Michigan State University researcher’s good-foot, bad-foot discussion explains the differences and how they contribute to sound and unsound horses.

The role of circulatory and micro vessels aiding in hydraulic dampening of destructive vibrational frequencies is eloquently described. Macro- and micro-structural irregularities between the good foot and bad foot are defined and explained in terms everyone can understand. Bowker makes a convincing case (and rightfully so) for hoof-care professionals to be more conservative in excessive removal of weight-bearing structures of the hoof.

In further chapters, Bowker explores the science behind hoof growth. He believes the foot grows down and gets larger in thickness and girth as it descends to the sole region. Some of the slides showing the discrete cells he is describing in the text could have been labeled better. This problem made reading and comprehending the text more difficult.

He does…