Healing Hearts Barefoot Hoof Trimming

01/24/2024

01/06/2024

Can you identify healthy vs unhealthy concavity?
One hoof has pathological concavity and the other does not. Don’t let the dates fool you but use the time of year as information.

Below is the same horse only 2 months apart. The horse has PPID and isn’t a hoof model of “ideal” but the difference in concavity can certainly be appreciated here! Not only are there visual differences, but the comfort level of this horse from one photo to the next was drastically different. We’re talking comfortably walking over gravel vs avoiding it!

So what changed?
Which hoof looks healthier and more comfortable and why?

I’ll post the explanation below in the comments. ⬇️

12/20/2023

BAREFOOT at the NFR 🙌🏼👏🏻

Louder for the people in the back!

So I can’t tell you how many people messaged me about Summer and Apollo,  I’m not sure how this even became a question but yes, she runs him barefoot! Fun fact she trims him most of the time herself too. ASNY has very good hard feet too never ever needed shoes, so I hope this answers your questions 🤗

Summer Kosel Professional Barrel Racer

ETA yes I am very aware Every horse is individual as is every situation,  it was a question that was coming up a lot so don’t come at me 🙅‍♀️

12/13/2023

No Contest

11/20/2023

This is great information especially with the changing temperatures.

I am always available if you have questions, feel free to pm me!

Thrush is one of those equine conditions that most of us can do better at preventing and treating. Improving our horse’s footing, regular hoof picking, and using the right products can greatly reduce the incidence and impact!

11/08/2023

🐴✨ Ever wondered how your horse sees the world compared to you?

Humans experience the world through trichromatic vision, allowing us to distinguish a wide array of colors. Horses, on the other hand, have dichromatic vision.

This means they see the world primarily in two wavelengths of light, which correspond to blue and yellow shades. The vibrant reds and greens that humans can easily differentiate are likely perceived as more muted or similar tones by horses. 🎨🐎

This dichromatic vision is a result of evolutionary adaptation. It serves horses well in their natural environments, aiding in the detection of predators and forage, even in the low light of dawn
or dusk. 🌅🌾

Horses also have a broader field of vision, nearly 350 degrees, which allows them to be acutely aware of their surroundings with little need to move their heads. This panoramic view is essential
for prey animals like horses, though it does come with a reduced depth perception when using one eye. 🔄

The horse's eye is proportionally larger than that of many other mammals, and their pupils are elongated horizontally, optimizing the amount of light they can gather, which is particularly beneficial in dim conditions. 🌙✨

If you want to learn more, listen to latest episode of the "Mad About Horses" podcast itled "How Do Horses See the World?" It delves into the science of horse’s sensory perception, exploring how these animals experience their world compared to humans. 🎧

👉 Listen now by searing for “Mad About Horses” with Dr. Chris Mortensen, PhD on your favorite podcasting app. 🐴📘

11/05/2023

I can almost guarantee you will prefer one of these trims over the other … and it would be very easy to discuss the differences between these 2 trims.

But let’s discuss the similarities:

Same horse
Same foot
Same trimmer
Same Season (6weeks apart)

But the main similarity is:

🫶🏻 The trim applied is what the horse needed at that time 🫶🏻

What was trimmed and what was left was not only dictated by what the foot was doing at the time… because the horses lifestyle and work load had changed completely; after a kissing spine operation, gut issues, box rest, rehab and going always for schooling … It was also applied to help grow the horse the best foot it could after the trim … so she could continue to improve.

Feet don’t stay the same all the time. They change with seasons, weather, workload, health and many other factors, so it makes sense that the trim should sometimes differ in response.

If it didn’t … well… I wouldn’t be doing my job properly 😅

I’ve discovered that I will get slated by different groups for either trim. Either I’m taking too much … or not taking enough.

Everyone loves a natural frog … but sometimes they need trimming, everyone loves “no top dressing” but sometimes that can really help, quarter arches are an excellent tool on some feet but not others … it all DEPENDS … on the horse … and what’s going on around the horse and inside the horse.

Rarely it seems, does anyone consider that I’m doing what the horse not only presented and needed going forward.

It’s a good job I only really care what the horse thinks 🥰

Incidentally, the bruise has nothing to do with how the horse was trimmed 👌

10/27/2023

Amen to this!

10/25/2023

Such a perfect hoof!

10/15/2023

10/12/2023

10/08/2023

2 months progress after pulling shoes and beginning to correct the hoof capsule/coffin bone relationship.

There are a few things worth pointing out here:

1. Relaxing of ligament strain
2. Relaxing of the hoof wall and coronet. (The hoof wall has not been top dressed with a rasp. Instead, the horizontal ripples are relaxing, showing the dynamic nature of the outer wall)
3. Hoof/pastern axis realignment
4. Heels height stabilizing and finding their own true height
5. Sole/wall/ground relationship improved

(Reposted from 2015)

10/02/2023

The blood circulation of the horse's foot is OVERLOOKED.

A warning not heeded ⚠️ In November 2005 an article was posted in the American Farriers Journal, entitled "What a farrier should know about blood flow to the hoof"

In said article they quoted a vet called Anderson, who was a member of the International Equine Veterinarian Hall of Fame.

He said the following:

“The most important thing that a farrier ought to be aware of is the circulation as it curves around the edge of the coffin bone through the circumflex artery of the foot. That’s the area that farriers can impact.

The farrier really doesn’t affect the blood flow through the digital vessels coming down the limb, but trimming and shoeing can certainly impact the circumflex artery.

If you trim the wall too short, or if you get the sole pressure between the sole and the shoe, you can actually compress the vasculature and reduce the blood flow to that area.

And if you reduce the blood flow to an area enough, you get ischemic necrosis, in which the tissue actually dies from lack of blood supply.”

That was in 2005! Seems that incredibly sound advice fell on deaf ears.

Just one example of how the equine world likes to do its own thing and ignore biology.

We teach our students the importance of the circumflex artery - and how incorrect trimming and shoeing can damage it.

Shame no-one else teaches that.

HM.

Illustration of this uniquely clever vascular structure of the arterial system in the horse's hoof by Inky Mouse Studios.

09/23/2023

08/30/2023

08/13/2023

The hoof capsule is essentially a strong,flexible box!
It protects and has the ability to distort and compensate!
It becomes vulnerable if it doesn’t get enough stimulation!
It weakens and allows pathogens to invade if it doesn’t get correct nutrition!
It was never intended to be nailed onto/into!
It doesn’t just grow from the top down but can also compensate by thickening in most directions!
It is made up of several different coriums that react to stimuli in the environment and they act independently locally!
The coronary band is very elastic and joins onto the frog,which helps the haemodynamic function as the hoof engages/disengages with the ground!
The white line is just the thickness of the sole and forms the connection between the sole and the inner wall- extremely strong and tight when healthy!

08/12/2023

Building Hooves in Different Environments

In no particular order, this photo series contains 5 structurally and functionally sound horse’s hooves in the following living conditions:

~irrigated grass pasture
~12’ X 12’ stall attached to a dirt paddock
~300 lft hard dirt/sand track system
~20 acre natural desert grassland pasture
~12’ X 12’ stall occasional turnout

These horses have all been on my schedule for 3 - 15 years.

(David Landreville, 2019)

08/08/2023

WEAR PATTERNS

This past week, I had Saxon Alexandra, a Structural Integration Therapist, staying at the farm here to teach me about myofascial work and help me learn some exercises to get my hoof rehab cases here to the next level of soundness.

We spent days exchanging knowledge- both about bodywork (from their end of things) and hoofcare (my end of things).

Something we talked a lot about was wear patterns on the hoof, and how telling they can be.

Any time we take a video, or watch movement, or assess a horse, we are noticing just a moment in time. Even when looking at hoof landings, which I love to critique, those landings are influenced by footing, energy level/impulsion, topography, etc.
Even range of motion and flexion in a limb can vary depending on so many factors and variables.

But wear patterns on a hoof can tell you the predominant way that hoof is landing and loading over days or weeks.

Seeing a steep and flared side of the foot can tell you how that foot is distributing ground reaction forces and load.

Noting wear at the toe, point of breakover, thinner areas of wall, etc- it all tells a story.

I was telling Saxon that I often make my trim decisions based on the story I am reading from the foot. We make informed decisions based on wear patterns, comfort level, posture, movement, depth of collateral grooves, health of frog and wall and sole, but also conformation, past injury, environment, diet, owner involvement, etc.

And sometimes, we are wrong. Sometimes we make a decision and we don’t know until we come back to the foot X amount of weeks later to see how that foot responded to our decisions, and how the wear patterns changed- or didn’t.

When we see patterns perpetuating, we know that it most likely is previous injury, conformation, diet, metabolic status, comfort level, or even potentially the “wrong” suggestion we are giving to the foot with our trim. This almost always encourages me to critique my own work but also push owners to pursue diagnostics and bodywork.

The amount of information we can see from appointment to appointment, from the wear patterns and subtle changes in hoof growth and morphology, is amazing. It’s something I’m constantly learning more about, and it’s also allowing me to grow in my trim choices.

Do you notice various wear patterns with your personal or client horses? Does this inform your trim decisions or make you seek out bodywork or further diagnostics?

08/04/2023

Metal shoes are nailed onto horses’ hooves because owners are told they ‘help’.

In this image we’ve taken off one side of the shoe off this cadaver hoof and then trimmed it.

Can you tell us:

- was the shoe helping or was it causing problems?

- what was the shoe covering up?

When owners are told shoes help, they are being encouraged to ignore what the hoof is telling them.

Make sure you know what is going on with your horse’s hooves!

HM.

07/28/2023

5 Reasons why long grass is better than short grass for horses.

1. Generally the further up the stalk the horse eats, each cell of the plant has a higher fibre/sugar ratio.
2. Eating longer grass means the horse has to chew more, slowing the intake while increasing the essential flow of saliva. The saliva helps to buffer the stomach acid.
3. A healthy horse eats until they have a specific volume of fibre in their stomach before stopping. So eating short grass with a high-sugar and low fibre ratio means a horse consumes a lot of high-sugar grass before enough fibre is ingested to trigger that 'full enough' feeling and finish their grazing bout.
We should focus on increasing our pastures' fibre content, which will reduce the NSC intake.
4. Short grass is usually stressed grass, constantly trying to recover/grow. Therefore it will store/hang on to a lot of Non-Structural Carbohydrates (NSCs) (sugars/starches) in preparation for when growing conditions improve.
5. Long grass creates a longer root system, improving both the health of the grass, the soil biome and it follows the health of the horse.
Read the full article here. https://www.equiculture.net/blog/horses-short-grass-or-long-grass along with many other great articles.

07/26/2023

Hoof boots are a great alternative to the modern shoe. I use Scoot Boot on my personal mare and it makes all the difference.
I love that at the end of a ride I can take them off.

07/25/2023

Requiring double bridles at FEI Grand Prix level is not in the best interest of horse welfare; use of noseband taper gauges also recommended.

07/25/2023

07/24/2023

The importance of body condition scoring is that it assesses a horses overall health based on the degree of fat cover!

Advantages of the body condition score are:

Integration of all body areas
Easy to perform
Allows for classification of horses into underweight, overweight, or obese categories
Cutoff values available to imply risk for disease

Disadvantages of the body condition score are:

The method only assesses subcutaneous fat
Bias between evaluators may influence results
The score can be influenced by coat length, gut fill, muscle mass, pregnancy, etc.

The score may not be comparable between different breeds or body types..🐴

07/05/2023

Good Morning,

I will not be trimming this week! It is waaay to hot 🔥!!!
Hopefully next week will be better!

Stay cool and remember that if it is too hot for you it is probably too hot for your horse 🐎