What is hoof testing?

The horse I was supposed to ride yesterday is lame. Poor CeCe. Which led me to think about hoof testing.

Horses can't tell us where it hurts. Hoof testing is examining a horse's foot to see if they're experiencing pain anywhere. It's not a pleasant thing to do because you're basically prodding at them until they go "Ow."

Professional hoof testing is done with a device called, yes, a hoof tester. A limited version can be done with a hoof pick. Hoof testing can find things like abscesses, the early stages of founder and fractures in the foot.

Or in poor CeCe's case, a painful little bruise. She'll probably be fine in a few days.

That's her hiding behind her pasturemate and not cooperating at all with being photographed ;).