Other Owners, How do you feel your own care has prevented lameness?

I know many of us do what we can to prevent lameness as possible. What would you like to share?

One of mine is to eyeball my horse in the morning as she comes for her breakfast.

now i look at all mine as they come in but i'm struggling to see how that "prevents lameness"

things i do to manage fitness and in turn to prevent lameness:

daily grooming and hoof picking

ensuring the horse is fit for the work it's doing
keep it well muscled and in good physical condition. never overweight

regular trimming and appropriate shoeing

consideration always for the footing

Thomas, I guess what I meant was I eyeball them .....to catch anything early, which may help prevent further deterioration.

This is a great topic Karen. Is it a coincidence that only one person other than yourself has posted on this thread since March when it was started, errrr, about the PREVENTION of lameness? WOW. Simply mind boggling. Anytime I look at a horse....mine, horses at a show, on the trail, track, hitched, at a sale, anywhere.....I look at their legs first. It's habit. Something taught to me almost from infancy. Everytime I lay eyes on mine throughout the day the first place I look is from the bottom of the hoof up. I don't generally rely on my eyes. It only takes a couple of seconds to run a hand down each leg and hoof when you use that instrument daily so foreign to so many....a hoofpick. It is amazing what hands will detect that eyes never will. I don't train, show or race/compete a horse that is sore. I don't overfeed. Just because the feed manufacturer says so doesn't make it so. Every horse's metabolism is different. I bring a horse up to condition gradually and don't throw a horse back into heavy work that is not fit. Consideration is always given to footing, especially if there are already existing issues. Turnout is very important to me even with my racehorses and I prefer to train off the farm. I have few lameness issues and attribute a lot of that to not having them standing in stalls getting stiff after they train. I don't inject and tap joints-the beginning of the end. I retire before they have no legs left. Proper warm up is crucial and probably most important of all is having the horses on a regular shoeing/triming schedule about every 4 weeks with an experienced blacksmith. Any foot or leg issues that come up are addressed immediately, the three deadliest words ever spoken being "Wait and see."

I kind of dig this quantum theory stuff.

A tree falling in the forest with no one there to hear the sound = a horse limping in the paddock with no one there to see it.

Hi Lynne.
yes it's certainly easy to spot a problem early. I guess it's a matter of being thoughtful about what the horse does and when it's time to quit.