You can see the frog when you lift up the hoof. Upon first inspection, it’s immediately apparent that it’s made up of a different substance than the rest of the sole and has a different texture and wearing.
While the frog reminds me of a dart in pleated pants; allowing room for the hoof to expand should it binge on Ben and Jerry’s, it has concussive properties as well. Let’s look at the hoof in a slow rotation. Keep your eye on the frog position, relative to the internal workings.
What you can clearly see is that the frog is located in mirror image of where the digital cushion is. One is the external neighbor of the internal other. Both are placed, anatomically, to help cushion the concussion of the footfall.
Let’s look at the hoof from the side.
We can compare two images, side by side, to outline just three simple pieces inside the hoof.
Outlined in blue, we have the digital cushion.
Outlined in green is the tiny navicular bone.
Outlined in orange is the coffin bone, P3.
While this is a cut-away view (in 2D) the coffin bone (in 3D) is shaped like a croissant.
Where you can see the digital cushion, seemingly going “under” the coffin bone in the cut-away shot, it is existing in the alcove of this bone. What’s interesting is that the “toe” of the coffin bone, going all along its perimeter out to its wings, is snugged up against the hoofwall, with no cushion under or in front of it.
If your horse had a poorly developed digital cushion and an unhealthy frog, it wouldn’t leave much cushion underneath the navicular bone.
For that, we have the new Easyboot Cloud. With the EVA, injection-molded insert pad, we have a new tool for creating comfort in the horse by giving cushion.
Here is a Cloud Pad, after enduring many miles in the exerciser during our boot testing:
While the pad maintains shape and depth (didn’t collapse flat under the weight of the horse), you can see that the frog and neighboring collateral grooves were happily molded into the pad. It’s nice to see that the pad conformed and supported the varying surface of the bottom of the hoof.
If you are trailering across the US, on the road for the show circuit, standing on pavement at various fairgrounds or simply have a horse that could use comfort all the time, consider the Cloud boot for an “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” from your horse’s hooves.
Holly Jonsson
Director of Sales
Through a lifetime of “horse crazy” and the fortunate experience of riding nearly every shape and size of horse, I got to see a wide array of hoof shapes and sizes. No Hoof, No Horse is very true to me. I want to ensure that horses on every continent have a variety of footwear to pick from, to ensure the best match is found. I want your partner to be happy from the ground up!
