White hooves

[jessj]

Hi Everyone! I am thinking ahead to the spring and showing. I want to ask how you guys do white feet. Ferrari has white to the knee/hock or above on all four legs and his hooves are all white. I carried him in one show last fall and just did the clear polish. BUT his hooves tend to bruise easily...just running in the pasture he sometimes gets purple spots on them. SO do yall do clear polish or blacken all white hooves for show? And also do you have any tips or advice for doing either...and pics of either! Thanks! Jess

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Personally if they are black do black, if they are striped or white do clear, and defintelly always clear appy hoves. I think it personally gives it a better look. If you tend to blacken hooves with horses that have white legs the legs appear shorter. If you do clear them defintelly sand the feet down, and it may take a couple of times to get them to look really good.

Also if you have a horse with real dominant striped hooves take a sharpie and go over the stripes and put on clear, really stands out. I don't have any to show with that though. I personally would sand no matter what as it does help give that polish look.

 

[Minxiesmom]

Max with Black feet

Max with white feet.

It supposedly makes their legs look longer to have white feet. I don't know if that is entirely important. I kind of prefer the look of the black feet on this guy. It seems to give him a finished look. Also, if you don't perfectly sand and polish the white feet, they don't look good. If you are lazy, the hoof black is a quick fix to go into the ring! I guess it would depend on the color of the horse also. One thing I have learned is to use a little white shoe polish on sanded feet before putting the clear polish on. If you use just the clear polish, it yellows the feet.

 

[Wings]

I go by the natural colour. Black on black, clear on white or striped!

 

[supaspot]

I agree with all of the above , black on black clear on white and sand before doing both , one tip that might help is to use a black marker pen along the coronet band before you apply the black varnish , it much easier to get a neat edge , I usually give one coat the day before too and then a second coat on show day ..its not something you should rush

another tip - if your horse does not move 100% straight then use clear whatever colour the feet are , if he has a slight dish the dark colour will make it more obvious

 

[Flying minis]

I was told long ago by a trainer, for a performance horse, use black on white feet. It makes the horse's action more visible - accentuates where the leg is, rather than it kind of "fading down" into the arena sand. When I looked at minxiesmom's photos above, it seemed like the legs and action in the photo with black hooves seemed to "pop out" at me, where I had to look more at the other photo to see the horse's movement. At least to me, it seemed that way. Anyway, I'd agree for a halter horse, go with hoof color, but with driving horses, I go with black, and for showmanship I also like black, just gives that same little "pop". The problem for me arises when I have the same horse doing halter and performance or showmanship! Then I have to decide which way to go (usually I do feet for the class I think they will be most competitive in).

 

[mydaddysjag]

I think it depends on the individual horse. I have a horse who has two black hooves, two white, but he is not a pinto, just has two very small socks. I dont like the look of mix matching black and white, so I do black all four of his feet. I have a pinto who I prefer to use clear on all of his feet, as he has two high whites, and two white legs, BUT if his hooves are bruised, I wont use clear.

 

[ruffian]

I was told long ago by a trainer, for a performance horse, use black on white feet. It makes the horse's action more visible - accentuates where the leg is, rather than it kind of "fading down" into the arena sand. When I looked at minxiesmom's photos above, it seemed like the legs and action in the photo with black hooves seemed to "pop out" at me, where I had to look more at the other photo to see the horse's movement. At least to me, it seemed that way. Anyway, I'd agree for a halter horse, go with hoof color, but with driving horses, I go with black, and for showmanship I also like black, just gives that same little "pop". The problem for me arises when I have the same horse doing halter and performance or showmanship! Then I have to decide which way to go (usually I do feet for the class I think they will be most competitive in).

LOL I am just the opposite. I feel that in a big arena black feet blend in and the movement doesn't look as big.

Lots of trainers just do black because it's just easier to do everybody the same.

In the 2 photos I see more pop in the white feet

 

[horsenut50]

With showing Paints I was taught that black on dark, clear on white or striped. I use clear on my Perlino. Bruised hooves, hmmm don't know what I'd do. With the pictures above, I prefer Max with white feet.

 

[Genie]

Interesting to see what people say with regard to the hoof colour.

I like the black hooves on the Minxiesmom horse that showed white in one and black in the other comparison.

I guess that's why judges see them all differently

 

[Wings]

During a discussion on presenting different coloured horses a few people admitted they do a bit of judging, predominantly hacks and pony club not breed ring, and mentioned they could always tell when a white hoof was painted black. And the general consensus was they didn't like it!

Back when I used to do best presented classes I heard it mentioned to competitors that blacked everything that it wasn't prefered.

I'm sure some judges like it but the majority I've encountered haven't so that's what I'll continue to do.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

During a discussion on presenting different coloured horses a few people admitted they do a bit of judging, predominantly hacks and pony club not breed ring, and mentioned they could always tell when a white hoof was painted black. And the general consensus was they didn't like it!

Back when I used to do best presented classes I heard it mentioned to competitors that blacked everything that it wasn't prefered.

I'm sure some judges like it but the majority I've encountered haven't so that's what I'll continue to do.

I don't want to use the term lazy but I think it just shows more effort on the exhibitors part if they take the time and sand and polish those hooves and gives it a much better impression. I think their are always exception to the rule as the one bay pinto with the 2 different pics to me that horse can show either in white or black. Now if I did my horse that I posted in black I think it would look plain awful on him, he just has way too much white on him and I think judges will frown upon. My other pinto who is a dun and he has all white legs except cornet band blend spots he actually has black feet with thin white stripes, I just leave him clear as it shows how natural the color his hooves are and plus I don't think he would be a good candidate with stand out black feet as he does have the white legs plus it may look like I went up the cornary band because of the dark spots.

 

[jessj]

Thanks for all of the replies! The pics are a big help! I honestly like the look of the black feet, but if natural is preferred then I will definitely sand and do clear! Thanks again for all of the help! Jess