Miraculous Equus

01/01/2025

Happy New Year to all my beautifuland valued clients and their horses!

This is so funny and relateable.

29/09/2023

26/09/2023

*** FOCUS ON RUGGING ***

Continuing our focus on rugging, this figure illustrates quite nicely what happens if we "over-rug". The image shows the air temperature in blue on a fairly typical autumn day similar to those many of us are experiencing now.

The horse has a 50g turnout rug on and the horse is clipped. The morning starts cool but it warms up to between 15°C and 20°C for much of the day. We can see that the horses's surface temperature measured under the rug follows a similar pattern BUT by 11:00 in the morning the temperature under the rug is already above the horses upper limit of its thermoneutral or "comfort" zone. And it stays above the 25°C line until later afternoon when the sun starts to get lower in the sky and the temperature starts to drop.

So once again, the message ISN'T DON'T RUG, the message IS DON'T RUG TOO EARLY, DON'T RUG ACCORDING TO HOW YOU FEEL & DON'T OVER-RUG.

Your horse covered in hair, is ~7 times larger than you but only has 2-3 times more skin surface. Most heat is lost at the skin surface. Your horse loses heat much more slowly than you. They won't feel the cold when we do.

In this example, this horse would likely benefit from a 100g rug overnight but doesn't really need one during the day if it stays dry.

For more information and resources on rugging, including rug testing and rug user surveys, please check out our website https://drdavidmarlin.com/rugging-round-up/

25/09/2023

White line disease, also called seedy toe, is so damaging. Look at how it has remodelled the pedal bone even!

23/09/2023

18/09/2023

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: While we tend to focus on how a horse moves to try to figure out how he feels, maybe we need to look more at how he stands. New research is exploring what a horse’s posture says about his health. Here's the first thing they've uncovered. >>>https://bit.ly/EQPostureAndHealth

05/09/2023

Propping vs Building (click to expand full image)

These drawings show why I believe steel shoes, wedges, and DIM are only short term fixes, and that they prolong and cause more damage, making it harder to heal the horse in the future:

- The top drawing shows a fully live and well developed hoof capsule that is undeviated from its origins at the coffin bone. The horn tubules are all parallel from the dorsal wall to the heels and the growth rings are all parallel to a properly arched coronary band. These lines form a perfect grid that should be seen, but not felt. This indicates perfect P3/Hoof Capsule alignment.

- The second drawing down shows the soft tissue ( outlined in pink ) with the digital cushion ( shaded in pink with arrow ) supporting the coffin bone naturally from within.

- The 3rd drawing down shows a hoof capsule with a common type of distortion from improper, infrequent trimming or inadequate wear. It’s easy to tell by the disorganized horn tubules and growth rings that the hoof capsule has deviated from its origins at the coffin bone.

- The bottom drawing shows a commonly used “solution.” The problem with this is that it’s only addressing the symptoms of distortion rather than the cause. Worse than that, I believe this causes more damage and distortion. The wedge pad ( dark gray shaded area with gray arrow) is placed externally where it can only superficially change the angles and hold the DIM in place, which only artificially props up the digital cushion. The reason that it is such a common practice is that it can temporarily relieve pain and keep a horse performing in the owner’s preferred discipline. The same applies for non working or companion horses, it can also temporarily relieve the owner of worry, but it does not heal the feet.

Trimming and shoeing in this manner artificially props up the foot and causes the majority of the weight to be distributed in front of the widest part of the foot. Excess toe loading causes pedal osteitis ( bone erosion ) and live sole depletion. The natural response from the foot is to retain and compress dead sole. This can be perceived as improved “sole” thickness to the untrained eye, whether they’re a professional or not. It’s very difficult to tell the difference between live sole, insensitive live sole, and retained dead sole on a radiograph. To further complicate the situation, over loading the sole allows the heel horn to gain height. This can even “stand the horn tubules up” more vertically in the beginning. If the horse gets a chance to go bare foot again after this, the retained sole is likely to exfoliate ( usually after wet weather followed by a dry period ) leaving the thin live sole exposed and the horn tubules typically collapse again.

Once you learn to read the hoof and see what’s actually going on inside…you can’t unsee it.

Soft tissue is very regenerative and thrives on consistent proper form and function, which means that the horse’s feet have to be worn and/or trimmed in a way that works for them,instead of against them, in order to continually build/heal their feet and the rest of their body.

It comes down to the sustainable cure of rolling and building a living, moving, working system vs the short term “fix”
of treating the hoof like a stationary object with flattening, buttressing, and propping.

I'm always open to being proven wrong, but I have never seen any long term proof that the set up in the bottom diagram will make real, sustainable positive change. It will not build the hoof into what I've shown in the top diagram. We do not want a band aid fix and an angle change using artificial support, but a fully regenerated, self supported hoof.

15/06/2023

Have you downloaded your free pdf version of The Bare Facts? A pocket guide to horses without shoes 🐴

https://www.australianhooftrimmers.com/publications

29/03/2023

14/03/2023

09/10/2022

27/06/2022

This is so important to understand. Laminitis is not always the completely lame version. More often it is many small events that cause long term damage. Diet is so important as a preventative.

15/06/2022

This is very important. There are so many cases of over rugging.

Making decisions about rugging is much easier when you realise just how different horses are from humans. The temperature range where we feel comfortable (our thermoneutral zone) is much higher and narrower than horses.

In general, horses are comfortable between 5-25℃, whilst humans are comfortable between 25-30℃. That means that we feel cold before horses do, but horses feel hot before we do.

Learn more about rugging from https://horsesandpeople.com.au/the-science-of-rugging-horses-what-to-use-and-when/

13/04/2022

09/04/2022

🤔 Why don’t humans wear METAL shoes?

Ok this might sound a bit ridiculous because we can’t actually nail metal shoes permanently to our feet, but WHY do we wear rubber soled shoes and boots - not METAL?

What would happen if we tried to walk or run with metal covering the bottom of our shoes?

We wouldn’t feel at all SAFE.

We would be forced to acknowledge that the metal was slippy, non forgiving, unable to flex as we walked.

👉 We’re not comparing horse to human foot anatomy here... we’re comparing the EFFECT of the metal ON our anatomy.

As humans, if we were to wear metal shoes, we would experience a definite immediate IMPACT on our joints and soft tissues throughout our bodies, and anything above a walk would be treacherous.

We would change our gait to compensate... unnaturally.

We all know it would hurt us - so we can't even imagine doing it.

And yet... for some reason... we feel this is totally acceptable for horses 🤷‍♀️

We have CONVINCED ourselves it’s absolutely fine to put a metal shoe on a horse's foot.

But shouldn't the old thinking be gone now?

Haven't we moved on from when people believed that, because horses hooves were ‘hard’, nailing metal to them wouldn't be a problem?

If the hoof is hard - then it's ok to nail into it! 😐

It would ‘PROTECT’. 😐

It would stop the hoof from 'WEARING OFF'. 😐

But that shoe of metal, nailed onto the hoof, stops it FLEXING, expanding and working properly.

It STOPS the hoof mechanism from working correctly... but that is only the TIP of the iceberg.

Now we know, without a shadow of a doubt, metal nailed on shoes cause pathology in hooves, and bodies too.

The fact that we even feel horses need shoes to ‘help’ the horse, is a STARK REMINDER of how the domestic world is failing horses by not acknowledging that the reason we use them...
.. is because WE have created the sore foot - NOT the horse.

We have FAILED in our understanding that a sore footed horse is our creation not theirs.

We blame genetics... bad breeding... inherent weaknesses.

A horse is a flight animal and movement and running are paramount to their very existence.

A natural bare hoof has PROPRIOCEPTION... it feels the ground and sends vital feedback to the rest of the body.

Horses are CAREFUL where they place their feet and legs. If you are in any doubt about this, watch horses take time to walk around areas they’re not sure about.

👉 They need to FEEL the ground.

It is widely acknowledged that shoes cause horses to excessively SLIP... so studs are applied, usually only on one side of the shoe 🤷‍♀ causing even further disruption to the vital natural form and function of the hoof.

Put on a slippy object... then add something to try and stop it slipping. Hmmm 🤔

Shoes HARM horses. Period. They are metal. If you think they don’t, then please go and put some metal on the bottom of YOUR rubber soled shoes.

Think about it.

Spend just ONE DAY walking around in them. But even that wouldn’t begin to scratch the surface of the true impact of a nailed on shoe.

We have no clue what it feels like to feel contraction. The loss of use of the back of our foot. The ATROPHY of our soft tissues over time.

But horses feel it.

There is not one single shod horse on this planet that is not experiencing the NEGATIVE effect of the metal shoe.

Not one single horse. But because horses can’t ‘talk human’ we don’t ‘hear’ it.

But those who know how to read BODY LANGUAGE can SEE it!

Shoes are nailed onto the foot. The foot grows CONTINUALLY, so immediately it is applied, the shoe is working against not with the hoof.

And yet even though we know all of the above...
.. we still shoe horses with metal and nails.

Saying things like...

"it helps horses, and is a KINDER OPTION than letting them walk on their own feet"

"all horses are individuals, and some horses just cannot go barefoot, so a shoe is a KINDER OPTION"

Really? 😳

Serious issues are developing in our horses at a younger and younger age...

👉 Incidences of ARTHRITIS are rising
👉 Incidences of NAVICULAR are rising
👉 Incidences of CONTRACTION are rising
👉 Incidences of BONE MALFORMATION are rising

If we walked around with metal on the soles of our shoes for long, we’d experience a lack of confidence and the painful REALITY of the devastating impact it would have on our bodies... and minds.

Humans don't have metal soles on their shoes or boots for a VERY GOOD REASON.

It would soon negatively impact our behaviour and our MENTAL HEALTH.

That’s why we wear rubber soled shoes and boots. Because frankly, metal would be RIDICULOUS.

So if you’re going to put hoof protection on a horse, why would you even contemplate metal over a HOOF BOOT?

Or better still, give the horse the ability to grow its own healthy, sound hooves. Free of pain. Free of pathology.

The EXCUSES can only go on for so long. 🙊🙉🙈

Here at this magazine we don’t make any excuses, because we believe in empowering owners to give horses their own hooves back.

👉Read ISSUE 33 in PRINT & DIGITAL now 👉https://bit.ly/BHMIssue33

👉or SUBSCRIBE and never miss an issue👉http://bit.ly/ANNUALsub

Metal shoes WILL be obsolete one day... why not help your horse sooner rather than later 😉

The BHM Team ❤️

05/04/2022

🤪 You’re not alone, we’re not a bunch of weirdos and freaks!

We started this magazine to support horse owners all over the world who are interested in keeping their horses barefoot.

To this date, we have 1000’s of readers all sharing a common goal, to keep their horse barefoot and sound. 💕

Some of them are barefoot already and many have shod horses wanting to go barefoot.

We get messages on a daily basis of just how stoked people are that they have this magazine to help them, when no other magazine really discusses barefoot - except in the odd ‘showcase’ article.

So why do we get such a lot of FLACK?😢🤷‍♀️

After all, going barefoot is a lifestyle choice for both human and horse - and making that choice should ultimately be YOURS!

We guess it’s when we say comments such as ‘every horse can go barefoot’, that it really gets some people HOT under the collar.🥵

But do you know what?

It’s TRUE!

Every horse CAN go barefoot but they need an owner who REALLY wants it badly enough - and to do that they often have to look to changing their horse’s diet, management and hoof care.

Because sometimes making some simple changes is all that it actually takes.🤔

So if you do want to go barefoot, our best advice is to surround yourselves with people who UNDERSTAND what it takes to go barefoot.

And find out from those that have succeeded, rather than those that have failed.

Because failing hurts but learning from that failure is what separates us from the crowd!

And we are here to keep you sane along the way!

👉DON'T MISS ISSUE 33 👉https://bit.ly/BHMIssue33

👉or SUBSCRIBE and never miss an issue👉http://bit.ly/ANNUALsub

******SHIPPED WORLDWIDE!******

All horses can go barefoot - but not all horse owners!

The BHM Team ❤️

27/03/2022

Once, a client remarked how good their horse was standing for me because she had bit and kicked the last farrier. I was on the third hoof.

Once, a client told me their horse had "gone through a few farriers." Another farrier told me later that horse kicked their tools halfway down the barn aisle.

Once, I finished trimming and the owner said "wow, I didn't want to tell you this until we were done, but he kicks."

Once, I had a horse kick out while I was working on their front feet. Owner was upset I wouldn't trim the hinds. I told them to go pick up a hind and show me how they do it. They got kicked in the process.

Once, or twice, or ten times, I asked a potential client upfront if their horse stood well for the farrier, scheduled a first appointment, and then found out that is a lie.

These are the stories that flash through my head when people complain about farrier prices or difficulty in finding farriers.

Our job entails a lot of work - administrative work, continuing education, hoofcare, communication, our own inner work to remain present and soft in the presence of horses....

I place my safety in the hands of other people to a certain degree every time someone holds a horse for me. The horse(s) and owner are a package deal. If you don't have your farrier's safety and best interest at heart, you should understand what really goes into this career.

It is never, ever worth it to work in conditions that give you a bad feeling. I have made mistakes and nearly gotten seriously injured a few times when I ignored my gut instinct and kept on going.

If your horse is struggling to stand safely for your hoofcare provider, ask them for suggestions. Have the vet out. Hire a trainer. Handle their feet regularly yourself. Offer pain meds or sedation for appts if needed.

Farriers need to work smarter, not harder, for our work to be sustainable and we can only do that if the client is interested in being a part of the team.

~Corrie