Balanced Hoof Care

29/11/2023

NSC, NFC, ESC, WSC – it all really comes down to hydrolyzable carbohydrates for metabolically challenged horses. High insulin is the cause, not the result, of excess weight The only carbohydr…

12/08/2023

03/08/2023

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Eleanor Kellon, VMD to the Mad Barn team!

Dr. Kellon is a leading authority in equine nutrition and veterinary medicine, with expertise in metabolic conditions and performance horses. An Honors Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Kellon received special training at the New Bolton Center in Large Animal Medicine and Surgery.

Dr. Kellon has experience in private practice, including management of a breeding farm and rehabilitation facilities, and has worked extensively with performance horses in various disciplines, including eventing, fox hunting, racing, and showing. As owner of the Equine Cushing's and Insulin Resistance (ECIR) Group, Dr. Kellon serves as an invaluable resource for thousands of horse owners and industry professionals, defining the standard of care for endocrine-challenged horses.

An established best-selling author, Dr. Kellon's books include "The Older Horse", "Keeping the Older Horse Young", "Equine Drugs and Vaccines", "Equine Supplements and Nutraceuticals", and "Dr. Kellon's Guide to First Aid for Horses", as well as a compilation of Dr. Kellon's nutrition articles, Guide to Equine Supplements and Nutraceuticals.

Having Dr. K join our team will help us continue to improve the educational content we deliver through all of our platforms, as well as supporting our nutrition services for horse owners and the broader equine industry. We’re so glad to have you on our team!

You can reach out to Dr. Kellon by email at [email protected]

31/07/2023

25/07/2023

They are very smart… extremely smart! Recognize what’s going on when your donkey is refusing something. 🫏🫏🫏Trainer Tip that works for me: Sometimes allowing for breaks in a training session helps them progress quicker which results in more permanent learning abilities ❤️❤️ a scared, stressed donkey doesn’t “learn” a scared, stressed donkey “reacts”. I want my donkeys to learn.. not just react 😘

14/07/2023

How much does applied contact / bit pressure affect stride length? …. This much!!!

There is a huge difference to applying contact to the reins VS the horse coming up, through and onto its own contact. Applying strong unforgiving contact can hollow the horse and inhibit the hind leg action, riders often then have to resort to excessive forward to keep the horse going.

The connection from “hyoid to hind leg” involves the sternohyoid to sternum through the diaphragm to psoas major.

To see the videos of this in action check it out on our patreon (this one is from todays live feed dissection).

https://www.patreon.com/bonesbrainsbodiesbehaviours/

15/04/2023

The British showjumping legend is following some of the world’s top riders of the moment by removing shoes from some of his up-and-coming horses

17/03/2023

Why do ‘cresty’ necks suddenly go rock hard?

This information is relevant and useful to people who own horses with Equine Metabolic Syndrome and are in danger of laminitis or whose horses are intermittently ‘footy’. Understanding this has helped with rehabilitating, not only all the ponies at Jen Heperi’s Mini-HaHa Rescue Haven but many more horses and ponies all around the world.

We learned from Dr Deb Bennett PhD (who has conducted many dissections), that “the horse's "crest" is made of fibro-fatty sub-cutaneous (adipose) tissue similar in texture to high-density foam”.

Have you ever wondered how it is that the ‘crest’ of the neck can harden so rapidly? Sometimes overnight?

The actual reason is because it goes ‘turgid’ (it fills with fluid). Like foam, the crest tissue can take up water like a sponge; so it swells and hardens because fluid ‘leaks’ into it, filling the interstitial spaces until it is hard as a rock, and ‘softens’ when electrolyte balances are corrected thereby allowing fluid to be resorbed.

When the crest swells with edema, other parts of the horse's body like the abdomen and the hooves (significantly the digital cushion is made of similar material, it is a thick wedge of fibro-fatty subcutaneous tissue) -- are liable to be in trouble, too.

Hardening of the ‘crest’ coincides with not only spring and autumn growth spurts but also potassium and nitrogen spikes in autumn and winter grasses. It coincides with early signs of laminitis which are ‘stiffening’ of gait and being ‘footy’.

It is a sure indication that one cause of ‘pasture related laminitis’ is as much to do with mineral imbalances, (particularly potassium and nitrogen excesses concurrent with salt deficit) as sugars and starches. It explains why short Autumn grass can cause laminitis when analysis shows soluble sugars + starch content is only 7.5% while potassium is 3.4%, sodium only 0.154%, nitrogen 5.8%, nitrates 2290mgs/kg (far too high, in mature grass/hay they are undetectable).
It is one of the many reasons clover is such a ‘no-no’ for EMS/laminitis equines and a likely explanation why there are some insulin resistant/elevated insulin horses that can't tolerate Lucerne (alfalfa) and is why Lucerne can perpetuate laminitis when everything else is being done ‘right’.

People who own horses with EMS are aware they need to pay attention to this vital sign: that just before a horse has a bout of laminitis, the normally soft and spongy crest stands up firm and hard. Then they can immediately reduce potassium/nitrogen intake by eliminating short, green grass replacing it with soaked hay and make sure they add salt to feeds and not rely on a salt lick. If action is taken quickly enough in these early stages, laminitis can be averted, you can ‘dodge a bullet’.

Soaking hay for about an hour not only reduces sugars but also reduces potassium levels by 50%.

Therefore a very important aspect of EMS and laminitis is that identifying and addressing mineral imbalances (particularly high potassium/nitrogen & low salt) are equally as important as sugar and starch content when rehabilitating individuals and assessing suitability of forage for these compromised equines.

24/02/2023

16/02/2023

14/02/2023

BLOODWORK

Some of those hoof cases that confound us, that just seem to have all these nagging problems that won't go away despite good diet and environment, things like the persistent thrush, chronic thin soles, hoof soreness/sensitivity, abscessing, wall quality issues, could simply be suffering from undiagnosed metabolic problems.

I want to be clear that while many of us assume a metabolic horse will be a chunky horse with a cresty neck and fat pads, thin horses can be metabolic as well. In fact, early PPID (Cushing's) often presents itself as a horse becoming a harder keeper, experiencing topline loss, or overall losing condition. Don't assume your horse isn't metabolic just because it's not fat!

To rule out metabolic issues, the first port of call is your vet. Have your vet pull some bloodwork to check that the horse's insulin and ACTH levels are in range. The Tufts Endocrinology Department has a great PDF about current practices, and ECIR is a wonderful resource for blood draws, so you can make sure your management leading up to the appointment will give the most accurate result on the blood test!

Just a note that this time of year (January through June) in the Northern hemisphere, ACTH levels are naturally lower. This can produce a lot of false negatives for early PPID/Cushing's cases - and can make people assume their horse isn't metabolic when the test simply wasn't sensitive enough for them!

During this time of year, ask your vet about a TRH stim test. It is much more sensitive and can help find those early cases of PPID that might be causing hoof issues but nothing else yet. Their coat might look fine, they might seem okay in all other aspects, but their feet are struggling a little.

The stim test is when your vet pulls a baseline ACTH blood draw, then injects a thyroid stimulating hormone, waits a bit, and pulls ACTH bloodwork again. This can help with comparing the pre-stim to the post-stim result to see how the pituitary gland is responding to the injection.

If you're struggling with hoof issues and can't seem to figure out why, bloodwork may be very telling!

10/02/2023

19/01/2023

"Oh, it's just an abscess!"

While even I have breathed a sigh of relief when a "three-legged lameness" turns out to be an abscess, abscesses aren't necessarily as benign as we might think.

The truth is, often abscesses are a symptom of a deeper issue. Of course, there are the cases where puncture wounds and acute trauma can lead to abscessing, but most "common" abscesses seem to come "out of nowhere."

Whether an abscess developed from thin soles, stone bruising/harder surfaces, weak laminae connection, hoof wall separation, or general poor quality hooves, these can all be symptoms of a systemic issue leading to hoof problems- and once we find the root cause, we can often remedy these and grow healthier feet that can withstand various surfaces and environments without abscessing!

The most common reason for thin soles/poor hoof quality/other problems that lead to abscessing, in my opinion, are diet issues and imbalances, or metabolic issues.
With chronic abscessing especially, the owner often can learn a lot from asking their vet about metabolic bloodwork, to rule out an endocrinopathic cause to hoof problems.
I also recommend owners take a look at their horse's diet. Excess sugar and starch, as well as an imbalance in major and minor minerals, can affect hoof quality to the point of chronic problems.

While abscesses may be common, they shouldn't be considered "normal." At the very least, they should serve as a sign to dig into the health of the hoof and where things may be able to improve.

13/01/2023

Winter is coming and with it comes the rain and mud and boggy fields. The reality is in the wild horses would never choose to stand in saturated ground, they would roam and find more suitable grazing areas. As we enter these wetter months what should we know about the effects of the wet and often we...

15/12/2022

12/12/2022

29/11/2022

Training aids (uh oh, she's off on one again)

When assessing how a horse needs to alter their movement, I cannot stress how important the detail is.

I recognise that there are many contraptions on the market designed to help mechanically alter a horse's body position.

To people who are uneducated (yes I went there) these can look like viable options to help them to build topline, fill in xyz muscular atrophy, or adapt the horse's overall posture.

What is often misunderstood, when trying to rectify postural disbalances is that in all cases we are dealing with a complex anatomical system for which there are probably a multitude of parts that should move well...but don't;

And parts that are taking on the workload of areas that aren't moving well... increasing their susceptibility for compression, overuse and ultimately injury.

Healthy movement is so much more than what the horse's legs are doing relative to their trunk, or what their neck is doing relative to the rest of their body.

Healthy movement is ensuring that every joint within the horse's body is moving at its full potential and that the muscle system is appropriately balanced around the skeleton.

It's the transference of force through a biotensegral system. If you have a pinch somewhere in that system, no combination of pulleys and levers are going to fix that. The horse has to learn to unwind it themselves and your job is to facilitate...

Not force.

A training aid just isn't sensitive enough to communicate to the horse the specifics of where they need to channel awareness to.

The devil really is in the detail and that is why the art of horsemanship is tough.

16/11/2022

Good tips 😉

❄️❄️☃️ Winter appointments☃️❄️❄️
Today, it finally hit that we are just shy of full blown winter. Personally, I love trimming in the cooler weather, but winter and snow brings some challenges.

Here are a few things to help appointments run smoother

#1 🔨🔨 Please remove ice packs from hooves before my arrival and try to keep horses in an area where they won't accumulate more while waiting to be trimmed. I have never requested this before, however trying to chip ice from 40-50 hooves a day becomes very straining on 1 set of hands. The claw on a small hammer works very well for this.

#2 I need to be able to trim either inside or outside where snow is flat and compacted. It's very difficult to judge balance if the horse is standing in several inches of snow.

#3 Daylight savings time means less time to trim in the afternoon. If you need an appointment later than 4pm, please have an area available with good lighting. 💡💡💡 Garages work but please work with your horse on becoming comfortable in one and don't wait to practice this until your appointment.

#4 Your flexibility for appointment times is very much appreciated. Cold temps, snow storms and less daylight can make it difficult to set routes so please lmk all available options when I send the route notifications. 🗓️

Thank you all so much!!

03/11/2022

** Mud Fever: Washing legs as a treatment for mud fever does more harm than good in most cases unless you have a solarium or a horse that loves hairdryers**

Last week I read 127 comments about how to treat mud fever, 114 of which recommended washing and scrubbing legs twice a day for 7-14 days with various fancy lotions and potions. This advice worries me a lot, since without the proper aftercare (ability to totally dry the area and keep it dry), washing will contribute to the persistence and potential worsening of mud fever if the wet-dry cycle is not broken effectively.

Horse’s skin is made up of several complex structures which can be categorized simply into the outer epidermis and the inner dermis. Under normal healthy circumstances, the epidermis is thin, yet tough and able to protect the horse against the external environment, however with extremes in environmental conditions (e.g. increase in moisture), injuries (e.g. scratches) and external parasites (e.g. mites) the epidermis can be weakened and allow a wide range of microorganisms (e.g. bacteria and fungi) which normally co-exist, harmlessly on the skin (commensal skin flora), or in the the environment to pe*****te to the layers below resulting in mud fever (if on the legs), or rain scald (if on the body).

Wet ground conditions are the number one cause of mud fever (not the mud per se), whilst humid conditions are the number one cause of rain scald (you don't need rain for rain scald to occur). The key to resolving both is to stop the wet-dry cycle from continuing. In the case of mud fever, washing affected legs will keep the wet-dry cycle going and every time the legs are washed without effective drying (towel drying is not enough) the epidermis is prevented from healing and or damaged further. Excessive leg washing can even cause mud fever to occur in the first place. Some of the photos I saw posted this week were clear examples of where horses legs have been repeatedly washed and the “treatment” has made the situation considerably worse. What happens then is people will resort to filling up a bucket of warm water with diluted (or worse, neat) hibiscrub (or similar) and then throw it down the legs since the mud fever has become so painful.

Rather than washing the legs which maintains the wet-dry cycle, the most effective method is to massage antimicrobial barrier creams into the affected area twice a day with two aims in mind; firstly to soften the scabs to encourage them to fall off (if you massage for only a few minutes the scabs will begin to soften), and secondly to provide a waterproof barrier until the epidermis heals. This process should be repeated until all the scabs have come away and the skin beneath heals. If the mud fever was triggered by mite bites or associated scratching, then anti parasitic treatments should be used alongside the barrier cream. Remember that the microorganisms which cause mud fever are found naturally on your horses’ skin and within the surrounding environment and therefore the only way to resolve mud fever is to use methods which allow the skin to repair its natural protective layer and which break the wet-dry cycle.

If you have been battling what seems a never ending war and you are sure the wet-dry cycle has been broken yet the area is still not healing, your horse might have rare a condition called leucocytoclastic vasculitis which is an immune dysfunction which presents just like mud fever. This condition exclusively affects white legs and will need steroids to resolve.

Photo credit: Jo Fairbrother

30/10/2022

20/10/2022

Did you know most horses chew and hold their jaw towards the side of their more sound front leg?

The right front heel here is lower and more sound. The left front heel is higher, more contracted and sore. Easy to see, right!?

Now, peek at the jaw position to the horse's right, with slight overgrowth of the horse's upper left and lower right incisors. This is super common, and should not be allowed to get worse! It will end up in a vicious downward spiral over time.

Second teeth picture is after adjustments = better jaw AND BODY balance.

It's always a work in progress getting feet and teeth better balanced--lots of bodywork helps, but providing for more movement is #1 in my book. There are some interesting exceptions to this pattern that I discuss in my book.

It's ALL connected. This page also has more on this...scroll back!

**www.insighttoequus.com** under construction 🤠

04/10/2022

Why is your horse difficult to shoe?
Is it a sign of pain?

Similar to Dysons ethogram, Mannsman et al. (2011) suggested a pain ethogram for the shoeing process. The study expressed that the behaviours can be the result of bad training, improper handling, or the recall of past pain/punishment but its findings correlated with Dyson and concluded that pain must be considered first!

When shoeing horses we can be asking them to make unnatural body compensations to facilitate our work. The image below shows how shoeing the hinds can affect all the way along the dorsal myofascial line. Horses presenting with pathology along that line will struggle. A common "behaviour" can be hopping around, also snatching or slamming the leg down. Something I have experienced often in horses presenting with negative plantar angles. However, often these horses can have great feet and we are experiencing the effects of higher pain.

Very often the amount of difficulty can be proportionate to how poor the feet are, as they improve with remedial farriery the signs of pain reduce.
In the meantime simple considerations can be made. A horse with very thin soles or pr*****ed frogs, leave the opposite shoe on and do one foot at a time, for example.

As farriers we are well placed to note these "behaviours" as possible early signs of otherwise unrecognised discomfort, or even reactions to obvious poor hoof conformation. Not label the horse as "bad"!

In my experience, and supported by Mannsman et al. (2011) these behaviours desist with the improvement of the feet or higher issues.
Horses, in general, are genuine animals. Recognising pain in the horse is an obligation for anyone working with them and mentioning shoeing observations can be the first step in saving horses from unrecognised higher issues.

Further reading at this link..
https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/recognising-pain-in-the-horse

02/10/2022

30/09/2022

24/09/2022

The relationship between the horse’s lungs and the skin is simple - they are both subject to the environmental air, which is full of all sorts of pathogens that live in the given environment.
The lungs coat themselves with mucus to help protect themselves.
The skin is generally covered in hair and grease to protect itself.
The lungs need to be used to keep them clean and clear, but if you subject the horse to stale, stuffy and pathogen rich environments, where the horse cannot freely move in order to self clean, then at some point the lungs will get damaged,usually incrementally, and by the time you have to start treating the issue the damage will have taken its toll.
If your equine has a skin condition, then it might be a good idea to check that the lungs don’t have a problem 😊
So free movement and clean air should be there from foal to full grown.
The old saying stands.
If you don’t use it you lose it, so give equines the freedom to move and breathe😊

https://youtube.com/shorts/MZXVMz2tc2w?feature=share

19/09/2022

What is the Equine Thoracic Sling?

Unlike us humans; horses lack any bony attachment (such as the collar bone in humans) between the forelegs and the thorax (body). Instead, the thorax is suspended between the forelimbs by a ‘sling’ of muscles, known as the ‘thoracic sling’.

The thoracic sling is made up of various muscle groups, these include:
• Muscles of the chest including deep and superficial pectoral muscles
• Muscles of the shoulder including omotransversarius, subscapularis and subclavian
• Muscles of the ribs including ventral Serratus and latissimus dorsi
• Muscles of the wither and upper neck including rhomboid and trapezius
• Muscles of the lower neck including the brachiocephalic and sternomandibular

When conditioned effectively these muscles enable the horse to elevate the thorax (body) independently within the shoulder girdle. This much coveted phenomenon can make the difference between a horse who appears “on the forehand,” and one who floats effortlessly with their withers and back raised, and freedom through the shoulders.

While for some horses this may seem to come naturally, conditioning of the thoracic sling requires regular activation of the correct muscles. Many horses develop poor or weak posture from a young age, this may be due to conformational weaknesses or injury; but I believe that lack of active engagement of the thoracic sling muscles in daily movement is also a significant factor.

Modern management practices often leave horses stood for prolonged periods in stables or small paddocks, with limited variation of terrane and forage. This can result in horses who no longer use their bodies as nature intended; to balance up and down hills, stretch to reach browse nor walk for vast distances in search of food.

Over time muscles which are not regularly used will weaken and atrophy, resulting in overall postural changes and reduced performance. It is therefore essential that we assess the impact modern husbandry may be having on the development of our horses, and consider the implementation of environmental enrichment where ever possible; as these can have a greatly beneficial impact on long term movement patterns and postural development.

The muscles of the thoracic sling enable the forelimbs to move inwards or outwards from the body, shifting the centre of mass or balance from one forelimb to the other. This allows the horse to turn and manoeuvre efficiently at speed and when effectively conditioned, enables the horse to perform lateral movements from a basic leg yield, to the canter half-pass and pirouette.

In addition, these muscles control the movement of the scapula; both forwards and back, up and down (as well as towards and away from the body), while maintaining the integrity of its connection at the wither, absorbing concussive forces from limb impact and (in the case of the thoracic serratus ventralis) storing and returning elastic energy to aid efficient movement. It is therefore of vital importance that the thoracic sling is able to work effectively; without restriction or discomfort.

Regular assessments from a qualified body worker can help pick up any tension or restrictions which may be occurring through the muscles of the thoracic sling. Addressing issues early on will reduce the risk of injury occurring, and enable the horse to build healthy posture and maintain long term soundness.
((Information Collected from Animal Balance))

13/09/2022

FLASHBACK TO THE FUTURE: Neuropathic changes in equine laminitis pain

https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/8395473/Neuropathic_changes_in_equine_laminitis_pain.pdf

Although this article was published in the distant past (2007), it bears a great deal of relevance to us from a neurological point of view.
Here are some of the most ⚡️findings shared in this article:

⚡️ Laminitic horses displayed quantifiable pain behaviours - this is NB - changes in behaviour are an indication of pain!! In this case, frequent forelimb lifting and spending time in the back of the stall 🤕

⚡️the lateral digital nerve of laminitic horses shows DISTINCT morphological changes to the myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibres innervating the hoof - these included
🔸a reduction in the number of fibres,
🔸disruption of the axon sheath,
🔸abnormalities in the shape of surviving axons
🔸an accumulation of myelin debris
🔸a reduction in the total nerve area
🔸and more......

⚡️within the Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) at C8, the neuronal injury marker ATF-3 is selectively expressed in the sensory neurons that innervate the forelimb, at much higher concentrations than normal...

⚡️there is a distinctive pattern of Neuropeptide Y (NPY) expression in the sensory nerves within the DRG of C8
🔸this points to an immunoreactivity of NPY in C8 of laminitic horses

WHY does this matter to us, when we don't necessarily treat these cases??

💭It matters, because these changes in the nervous system make laminitic pain hard to control.
💭it matters, because this mechanical pathology now becomes a neurological pathology and deficit.
💭it matters, because these horses matter.
Their rehabilitation matters.
Their lives matter.
And we need to be a part of that whenever we can 💚

Thank you to Amie Hesbach for pointing us towards this article during your and Gillian Tabors lecture series on Neuroplasticity in the Equine patient 💚