Golden Horseshoe Pine Tar

Details

Pine tar is about as traditional as hoof care gets, and it stays in use because it does one thing well: it seals. Brushed onto the hoof it forms a heavy, sticky barrier that slows moisture leaving the horn, and moisture in the horn is what keeps a hoof wall flexible instead of dry and brittle. That barrier is why people reach for it in wet, mucky conditions and why it gets packed into the sole and frog. It is thick, dark and it stays exactly where it is put, which is both the virtue and the nuisance. Pine tar gets on everything it touches. Wear gloves, keep one brush dedicated to it, and keep it away from your good grooming tools. Pick and clean the foot out thoroughly before applying, because whatever you seal in stays sealed in, and dressing a wet, dirty foot is worse than doing nothing at all. Brush it across the sole and into the frog cleft, and up the wall if that is what you are after. Store it capped, and warm the container before use in cold weather; pine tar at minus twenty is close to unworkable and no amount of stirring changes that.