Intrinsic Equine Services

10/01/2024

Hello everyone!
Long overdue update but sadly I have decided to step away from trimming for the benefit of my health. It’s been a wonderful 3 years full of so much growth, learning, friendships and a fair share of struggles but I have had such a great time. I have trimmed ponies, horses, foals, stallions, donkeys and everything in between and every single one of them have stayed with me even now. I hope they are all thriving and doing well and I thank them for trusting me with their feet, giving me cuddles and kisses and opening themselves up to me.
And to you the owners, my clients and friends thankyou for having me as a part of your care taking team. Thank-you for supporting me - those of you from the very start and those towards the end. I am so thankful.
I may return to it some day but for now this is the best way forward for me and I already feel so much better. Please, thank and cherish your trimmers, it’s a hard gig as it is - very rewarding yes but tough. I have been on a slow journey of cutting back for a long time now until I realised I actually needed to stop.
Very grateful for the journey, the memories and the connections. Wishing everyone and their ponies a safe, fun and happy year. Hope to see some of you out and about and hear of you enjoying all of the beautiful things being connected with a horse has to offer ❤️❤️
Take care
- Chloe

21/02/2023

Something to always keep in mind 💕

Not my words but they will be from now on....
.

25/12/2022

Merry Christmas to all of my lovely clients and your families, I hope you had a wonderful day. Thank-you for all of your support this year and wishing everyone a happy new year. I am spending christmas this year in a 15th century castle in county Kilkenny, Ireland with my parents and partner. A trip we were meant to do in 2020. I will see you all in the new year, stay safe over this holiday period 💕🎄

20/11/2022

Makes me so sad to think of the amount of horses with chronic problems that go undiagnosed because owners don’t listen to them. Your horse is trying to tell you something. We are too quick to put a human element on them and put the behaviour down to ‘attitude’ or ‘misbehaviour’. Let your horse speak, and listen. You’d be surprised what may be lingering under the surface.

I had the tremendous honor earlier this year to attend a dissection here in the states with Sharon May-Davis put on by -soma.com. For me this was a career bucket list experience and overdelivered in so many ways.

Our instructor was a 2013 OTTB who had 26 starts on the racetrack and then did some eventing. After multiple colics, some tough behavior and lameness he was diagnosed with ECVM and became our teacher. What an honor it was to work with these two groups and the pathology that this horse lived with was deeply troubling - besides the 18th rib coming off L1 and raising all kinds of havoc in the lower back this horse had fusion of intertransverse joints ( between L6-L5 ) and other L5-4 ( red stars ). He also had ECVM and fusion of the 1st and 2nd rib. He had large bony callouses on the scapula right where a saddle might be and so on.

The audience was mostly comprised of lay body workers and educators with a few veterinarians- the people who really needed this IMO. When we realized the extraordinary amount of pathology I tried to call in some of the local vets to have a free demonstration. I tried hard to emphasize the gravity of what this horse was trying to show us. Unfortunately I could not get them engaged - ( I consider this resistance to learning things outside the mainstream educational organizations with agendas funded by drug companies to be a huge issue in our profession. )
You don’t know what you don’t know.
Horses don’t have ‘attitudes’

18/11/2022

Sometimes, what owners worry about when it comes to their horses' feet and what farriers worry about when it comes to the horses' feet are not the same.
I will sometimes receive texts from a concerned owner with a picture of a small chip at the end of a cycle, but another cycle they will somehow neglect to tell me that their horse was footsore over stones recently when it hadn't been before..

Some of the most common "owner concerns" I see online or in person are:

✴️Wall chipping: although chipping isn't ideal, usually it won't cause much issue for stronger walls. Often this tells me that the horse either needs a shorter trim cycle, or a change to their hoof balance.

✴️Frog shedding: In wet seasons, sometimes I see an entire frog come off in one piece. Often owners worry this means something is wrong with the frog - don't worry, this is often completely normal!

✴️"A weird growth on the top of the hoof" (aka periople): I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me what the "stuff" is underneath the hairline. Think of the periople like your nail cuticle - it protects new growth as it comes in. Sometimes, especially in dry seasons, it can grow a bit farther down the wall than we are used to. Sometimes when the weather changes between wet and dry, we can see some weird periople changes, or even "flaps." It is usually completely fine!

✴️Waterlogged heel bulbs: Heel bulbs that seem to suddenly become white are often soggy heel bulbs that have had contact with a boot of some sort. Let them dry out a bit and they will be okay!

✴️Thinking a horse "just doesn't look due": Usually when an owner thinks a horse hasn't grown, really it just means they haven't chipped.. which is a good thing! We don't want them to chip or look grossly overgrown when it's time for a trim. Our goal is to keep them in balance, not chase after distortion. Sure - there ARE cases where a horse doesn't grow much foot, but 9 times out of 10 the hoof actually IS due for a balance adjustment.

These situations usually aren't a cause for concern for me. Of course, it depends on the horse and the circumstances, but overall these "issues" are simply cosmetic or a misunderstanding of how the hoof grows and naturally adjusts through seasons.

So what DO I worry about?

🚩Hoof sensitivity or changes in comfort: I don't want to see any of my client horses sore over ANY terrain - especially if it is a sudden change! This is a big red flag to me that the diet, trim, or metabolic management might need adjustment. I never want my horse owners to just accept hoof sensitivity as "normal."

🚩Abscesses: Abscesses are often a huge symptom of something unhealthy going on. A strong foot shouldn't get stone bruises or abscessing - see my last point. If the horse is throwing abscesses, especially if it seems to happen a few times a year, I want to know if the diet needs adjustment or if the vet should step in for some metabolic testing.

🚩Chronic event lines: the wall of the hoof should be smooth overall. Diet changes, fevers/illness, metabolic issues, etc can cause something called an "event line" to show up on the wall as it grows out. This can reveal to us a period of inflammation, although by the time we see it it's often in the past. When I see a series of event lines showing up on the wall, I know something is continually affecting the health of the foot. With that, I worry about something more sinister down the line, such as the risk of laminitis or founder, if the source of the event lines isn't found. Don't ignore them!

🚩Sudden changes in sole appearance, white line health, etc: If the horse's sole is typically concave and suddenly seems to flatten out "out of nowhere," or if we suddenly can see a stretched white line or fit a hoof pick between the wall and the sole, I know something is going on. OR, if a flat foot suddenly has a "sucked up" in a drastic ridge of concavity, I assume the soles have revealed that they are extremely thin. These all warrant further investigation.

Educating ourselves on what might be a red flag and what might not be can help catch early warning signs before a real issue starts.

15/10/2022

Hooves are not designed to have massive amounts of wall, I should not be coming in and taking a heap of material off a hoof. They are meant to self maintain and trim if provided with the movement they require. Of course in domestic life they don’t get adequate movement so keeping trim cycles short is the next best thing you can do for your horse ❤️

Horses have evolved to MOVE

Studies of wild horses show they move on average 20-40km every day! This equates to approximately 200km per week as a conservative figure. As a consequence their hoof continually grows to allow for this continuous wear.

Horses in the domestic setting are lucky to do 1-2km per day around the paddock, horses in stables do approximately 800 steps per day. Even if you ride your horse 10km every day you still are not reaching their minimum quota for movement.

Each trim you are taking the wall and other tissues down to simulate the kms that haven't been done. David Landreville makes the point that for a 4 week trim you are adding 800km to the horses hoof in one go, as opposed to daily wear in the natural setting. This is significant to the horse. Now consider how many kms you are dumping on the horse in one go if you insist on an 8 week cycle.

🧠 Food for thought 🧠

11/10/2022

Why does my horse keep getting seedy toe?
If you are finding that you keep on having continuous bouts of seedy toe despite keeping your horse in ideal living conditions with adequate movement, balanced nutrition and a functional body, it’s probably because of a weakness or pathology inside the hoof.

What you see on the inside of the hoof, you see on the outside. They are a mirror image. You can see in these photos that there is a little cut out/gap at the front of that red sensitive laminae and solar corium, this is a crena.

All of these sensitive laminae attach onto the surface of P3 (pedal bone) and then link into the insensitive laminae like velcro to suspend P3 within the hoof capsule.
So if you are missing a bit of bone- in this case at the tip of P3 - there is nothing in that area for the laminae to attach to. This then creates a weakness and lack of attachment in your following layers, the insensitive laminae and then the hoof walls, as shown in the hoof capsule that has been taken off. If I had the bone I could guarantee you there would be this same gap missing from the front of P3.

This hoof capsule had been cut in half in the area where the seedy toe was which makes it trickier to see but you can see I have circled to show you where there was some seedy toe. Without the integrity of bone (P3) and laminae to support it, that part of the hoof wall is less resistant to any material or bacteria getting in. If your horse has this you will never stop the seedy toe. It will always have to be managed. This horse also had separation and white line disease but it had become particularly aggressive in that area where the crena resides inside the hoof capsule.
Added note- I did not trim this hoof.

18/03/2022

Was pretty cool to meet these two beautiful girls, pure bred Suffolk Punches ❤️ Fewer than 500 of these registered. Was nice to trim such well behaved large horses. All large horses should be well mannered to trim, if they aren’t, you need to work on this. Trimmers aren’t there to train your horse and ruin their body. The bigger they get the harder they are on the body, even when they stand and behave. Big horses like this are a godsend.

16/02/2022

This older girl Opal is an extra special ‘client’ of mine.
She was a family friends pony, and I got to have a ride every now and then when we visited. I was always very keen to help with anything, making feeds, brushing her, giving her carrots. Not having a horse of my own, even just spending that time with her and giving her a pat meant the world to a little horse crazy girl. I am still so thankful that I had this experience growing up, it helped nurture my love for horses until I landed a job at a local trail riding centre for 5+ years and bought my first horse at age 16.
Life got busy and eventually we stopped going around to the farm so I didn’t see her.
15 or so years later I come across her when I turned up to trim her for the first time. She was in a new home and a fair bit older but carried the same name and looks so I recognised her instantly.
It honestly is very special to me that I ran into her all these years later, now with 2 horses of my own, a growing bare foot trimming business and an even bigger passion for horses. That little girl would be so proud 🥰 I thank Opal now for putting up with that girl who just wouldn’t leave her alone all those years ago ❣️

15/02/2022

When you remove your horses shoes and go barefoot be aware!

Your horse's temprament will most likely change.

Your horse's muscles will most likely change and redevelop.

Any past injuries and weaknesses will show up and most likely strengthen.

You will notice quickly how the diet affects soundness.

You will most likely become hoof and diet obsessed.

You will become impatient for changes.

But at the end of it all you will hopefully have a much healthier horse.😊😉

06/09/2021

It has been a while since I last jumped on here. Things have been very busy, and with everything going on in the world I just wanted to share some love.
I want to give you all a huge pat on the back. The last year has been a challenge; our stress levels haven’t dropped, some of us are struggling to pay the bills, we may feel like our bodies are running on empty, mental health is a huge crisis, the news seems to be always be full of terror and tragedy, we are missing family, travel, adventure, hugs. And through all of this chaos on top of every day life you have still shown up everyday to your horses and fed them, groomed them, kissed them, rugged them, treated that thrush. Wrapped that leg. Paid for that bodywork, that trim, that vet.
And if some days all you can muster is checking on them and tipping their food into a bucket, that’s okay too.
I just wanted to say, good job. I know it can be hard. I know it’s been hard. But we know all of our problems seem to fade away when we are with our hooved friends, even if just for a moment ❤️ All you have to do is sit in the sun with them and remind yourself the world is good, and your life is good. It’s all just a little messy at the moment. But the creases do iron out. The rough sea becomes calm. There is still plenty of love and light out there, even if some days it feels like it’s all been sucked up. So keep up the good work ❣️

16/02/2021

Sometimes all we need is a push, something to make us want to learn more, to do more, to be more. For me, this journey I am embarking on is all thanks to my sweet boy Fella, an ottb who became mine in August 2018. About 6 months in we had a hard time, for a long time, to manage his comfort on his hooves and for the most part, I had no idea what I was looking at or dealing with. Eventually I had to really take notice of his hooves and start to make a change. That first step was just the beginning. I started to become more and more fascinated with hoof health and now I will never look back.
I first picked up a rasp in September 2020 at the start of the course with ACEHP, and with mentorship and my two boys as my guinea pigs, I have become more and more confident. I love where this is taking me and cannot wait to learn more so I can help more horses like my goofy Fella. It brings me the greatest joy to now have a horse who is wanting to move again. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a horse slowly build a solid foot, balanced healthy feet are a major part of achieving harmony within a horses body.
This is just the beginning.