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Re: RC: Re: Preventing scratches



> Wait a minute, I thought clipping was only to be used if scratches already
> had a hold, not as a preventative measure.  And clipping what?  The fetlock
> hair?  Isn't that there to protect that area?  I would think clipping that
> would leave the area vulnerable to scratches?

I think that depends largely on the conditions where the horse lives. Down
here in the swamplands, where it rains every afternoon for half an hour in
the summer and things stay pretty wet (evaporation is only a scientific
theory to us <BG>), having long fetlock hair will keep the skin in that
area constantly wet, and it gets soft and mushy and becomes the perfect
place for fungus to breed, which often leads to scratches.  The pastures
range from deep grass to deep sand to deep heavy clay mud, so hooves &
pasterns are wet and dirty all the time. Keeping the fetlock hair clipped
off is a good preventive measure and is recommended by all the farriers
and vets down here.

I've heard that the fetlock hair is supposed to keep the pasterns dry by
channeling rainwater away from that area, but if the water is coming up
from below, cuz the horses are standing in it, then that theory doesn't
work.  So I guess it depends on where the horse lives.

Glenda & Lakota
Mobile, AL
AERC # M18819 & H27310
SE Region


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