Do draft horses have bad feet?

I get this question a lot. 

A LOT.

Why?

Well, because they usually appear to have bad feet. For example, I googled just "draft horse feet" (not "bad draft horse feet") and here were a few of the first images to appear:

Hmm. Well, I suppose if that's what "draft horse feet" look like one could assume that drafts have poor feet. 

But, lets have a look see at a draft horse that I trim every 6 weeks with a natural trim.

Love this horse. And her owner. :)

So why is there such a big difference? And what makes them look so awful sometimes?

Two things:

1. Many people do not have their draft horses trimmed often enough. I've had clients with drafts that want me to come trim them up once or twice a year. Literally. Also, in defense of the multitude of good horse owners, farriers that will trim drafts can be hard to find, and are usually very expensive. Drafts are big. (Read: physically hard to trim--even if they stand perfectly still.)

2. I hate to say this, because I absolutely HATE the idea of bad mouthing anyone, especially other farriers... But, sometimes farriers are not aware or haven't been taught how to properly trim a draft. The way I was taught to trim in school does NOT work for these guys. Long heels and trying to level off the foot (leaving the quarters the same length as the rest of the foot) asks for trouble, in the form of flares, splits, and cracks.

Why are they so different?

Not just because they are big. They have much much wider, flatter feet. If you look at the length to width ratio on a draft vs another horse there is a huge difference. This predisposes to flares. Flares predispose to cracking, chipping, and losing chunks of hoof wall. This, combined with reason #1, is why we see pictures like this: 

 

Ouch. 

I personally think that drafty horses have practically perfect hoof conformation (genetically). As long they are trimmed properly and consistently they will develop solid frogs, strong heels, and gloriously thick hoof walls. 

So what does a "proper" trim look like for these big guys? The answer to that question is a whole 'nother blog post entirely. ;)