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Read an old book that said a horse's hoof grows about a quarter inch a month
I was looking through a farrier manual from the 1970s at a used bookstore. It had a section on hoof growth rates and stated the average is roughly a quarter inch per month. That's about three inches a year, which seems fast when you think about it. I always knew they grew, but never put a number to it. It makes you think about how often some horses really need a trim. Has anyone else come across different numbers in more recent studies?
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the_nina1mo ago
A buddy of mine had a rescue pony that came to him with hooves so overgrown they curled up like elf shoes. Took the farrier three sessions just to get them back to normal, and they said the growth on that pony was closer to three-eighths an inch a month because of how neglected it had been. Poor thing needed trims every four weeks for a solid year before it settled into a regular six-week schedule.
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