Hoof care is a critical welfare issue for donkeys kept in the UK, with inappropriate trimming practices and inadequate farriery leading to significant pain and lameness.
Donkey hoof welfare in the UK reflects both neglect in some populations and inappropriate care from well-intentioned but inadequately trained farriers. Donkeys' hooves are fundamentally different from horses in angle, structure, and growth characteristics, meaning that horse-trained farriers applying horse principles to donkey feet can inadvertently cause welfare harm through incorrect trimming. Overgrown hooves lead to altered biomechanics, joint stress, and eventually painful laminitis-like conditions. The stoicism of donkeys - an adaptation to their prey status - means that significant hoof pain may not manifest as obvious behavioral lameness, requiring proactive hoof health monitoring rather than response to visible distress signals.