Baby Horses' "Fairy Slippers"

Notes From The Frontier

Feb 41 min read

One of the amazing little miracles of Nature: Gestating foals grow protective coverings on the little feet to protect their mothers from their kicking in the womb

Baby horses in utero develop "fairy slippers" over their hooves to protect the mother's uterus and birth canal. The "slippers" are called eponychium, composed of skin cells in the form of feathered layers to cover the hooves. They have a firm but squishy texture similar to boiled cabbage. They will fall off after the foal stands up and walks.

This above image shows a foal's fairy slipper after the foal has stood up and walked around. The feathers dry and crumble off as the foal gets more active.

As horses grow and mature, their baby fairy slippers transform into fleet-footed, flying hooves of steel, full of lightning, magical and tranporting.

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