NAIL BIND

A few hours after my farrier put a new set of shoes on my gelding, he went lame in one leg. I called the farrier back and he took the shoe off and re-shod my horse. The farrier explained my horse had nail bind. He didn't have time to explain what this meant, so could you enlighten me please? Thankfully my horse is now sound again and we haven't had any problems since.

The hoof is just the thin outer covering of the horses foot. In very old textbooks the hoof is called the “crust” which is a good description. Inside the hoof is the sensitive foot composed of blood, bone, flesh and nerves. The nails must not penetrate the sensitive foot: that would be “pricking” the foot and injury could result. However a nail can go close to the sensitive foot and press against it without actually going into it and this may be felt by the horse: this is a nail bind. It is just as if you were walking around with a tiny stone in your shoe. Once the pressure is removed the horse will be sound again fairly quickly.

You might think that it shouldn’t happen but it does happen to the best of us and this is one reason why farriers must be properly trained. A nail must go fairly deep into the horn in order to get hold the shoe securely. A nail that is too finely driven will just split the hoof and won’t serve much purpose. Nail binds, and pricks for that matter, are more likely to occur where a hoof is broken away and the farrier doesn’t have much sound horn to nail into. These problems are bound to occur occasionally.

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