Clinical documentation of foot affections in unsound working horses

The present clinical study was carried out to know various foot affections in horses. Total 31 horses (20 females and 11 males) were studied for working soundness and unsoundness due to various foot affections. Out of the 31 horses, 25 unsound horses had various foot affections and 6 horses were found sound. The 25 unsound horses included: 9 (36%) males and 16 (64%) females which aged between 3 to 24 years. The foot affections were: buttress foot (4%), thrush (12%), laminitis (16%), laminitic ring (20%), hoof wall crack (20%), over grown hooves (24%) and over growth of frog and bar (4%). The incidence of over grown hooves was the highest (24%) whereas, buttress foot and over growth of frog and bar was low (4%). In most of the cases, there were more than one foot affections e.g. thrush, laminitis, laminitic ring, hoof wall crack, hoof over growth and over growth of frog and bar. Majority of foot affections in horse were found due to heavy work stress, poor stall management, unhygienic conditions of floor and foot.