BAREFOOT PERFORMANCE

23/07/2024

19/07/2024

Very true

19/06/2024

What a beautiful foot, especially for a TB x WB 😍

07/06/2024

Another great read about the importance of what you feed your horse and hay testing.

Nutrition and the Hoof

When it comes to growing healthier hooves through diet, there are a few simple avenues to make sure you’re heading in the right direction.

A few guidelines we have here at our farm are:

⭐️Make sure as much of the horse’s diet is from forage as possible.
Does the horse seem to need weight? Add more forage. Does the horse seem ulcery and may not be absorbing nutrients well? Allow constant access to forage. Does the horse seem stressed? Make sure they have forage.
Of course, here where we do worry about hoof comfort, we make sure the constant access to forage is in the form of dry hay, since fresh pasture can cause problems with metabolic horses. We do have some horses that rotationally graze certain seasons, but overall, we allow 24/7 access to hay through slow feed nets and feeders.

⭐️Try to avoid monoculture.
I want the horse’s here to have a healthy gut microbiome, so I don’t want hay that’s been sprayed to death to make a monoculture that doesn’t give them access to various kinds of safe grasses and forages throughout the day. I want a variety of plants/grasses! Obviously, we watch closely to make sure anything they eat is species appropriate and horse safe as well as safe metabolically, but I don’t freak out if my hay grasses don’t look 100% the same in a bale. In fact, I kind of like that.

⭐️Test hay to know what your horse is and isn’t getting from it.
There’s absolutely no way to know what’s in your hay unless you test it. We test all our hay here, and check for things like digestible energy (calories), protein levels, major and minor minerals, moisture content, RFV, sugar and starch levels, and more. All of this information allows me to make decisions on what else each horse needs individually. Which brings me to my last point…

⭐️Make choices for each individual horse.
Obviously 24/7 hay that has a diversity of forage in it is a great starting point for our horses here. That being said in our hay tests, every single one I’ve done over the last 10 years has been deficient in minor minerals, and no matter how much the horse eats it won’t supply what they need at even the most basic level according to the NRC requirements. With my hay test, I then consider each horse’s weight, workload, age and metabolic status and more to decide what else to feed them to ensure they are getting what they need to thrive.

Right now, the horses at my rehab facility get a mix of minerals fed in a forage carrier, as well as vitamin E (since this isn’t available in hay, only fresh grass), and various options for calories, gut health, joint health, and more based on the individual horse.

My hay tests for the last few years in New England have all matched super well to Vermont Blend from Custom Equine Nutrition, LLC, as well as some extra copper and zinc and vitamin E (I use liquid micellized Emcelle for better bioavailability and cost effectiveness).

Nicole over at Custom Equine has been a huge help and just wonderful for helping as needed on the mineral side of things. I also want to give her a big shout out for sponsoring our Open House event here in Amesbury, MA on Saturday July 13! I do truly believe our rehab horses’ feet improve as much as they do because of her help and supplements.

If your horse is struggling with hoof issues, I would urge you to consider diet and whether some changes are needed to make sure the horse is getting healthy, safe forage, and enough minerals to give the hoof the building blocks it needs.

04/06/2024

This is a great article covering the importance of knowing if statements are backed by science. Anyone can claim anything and there are some worrying and dangerous misconceptions being spouted at the moment about laminitis trimming in particular and also about hay only diets and NOT testing hay. None of it is backed by any peer reviewed papers, studies, nothing. Please be very careful what you believe.

I have been asked this weekend why some trimmers leave long toes on laminitic ponies and what the methodology is behind this approach.

The truth is, i don’t do that myself, i don’t personally know anybody who does, but apparently there are trimmers out there who do. I don’t understand the logic, and can find no published research papers or studies to support or explain this methodology. Not saying it isn’t out there, but i searched for several hours today and couldn’t find anything. If this paper exists and you have a copy i’d be grateful for a link.

What i DID find, however was a plethora of university and vet studies, peer reviews, articles, lectures and books that reference the importance of bringing the breakover back on a laminitic foot. All over the planet - vets, farriers, equine podiatrists, universities, research centres, and world leading experts talk about the biomechanics of breakover, because it doesn’t just affect the toe, it can also impact bone alignment, the position of the navicular bone, and the deep digital flexor tendon etc. There is a much bigger picture surrounding breakover, whether the hoof is laminitic or not.

I was trained to study hoof biomechanics, and this is the approach that i, like most hoof care professionals understand and adopt. Therefore, rather than trying to explain a theory that makes no sense to me, i will gladly explain the science that i do understand.

Firstly, have a quick look at this link. It is a scientific study and the full document is not free, but read the intro (which IS free) and then come back: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0737080602700622?fbclid=IwAR0XMkYLI3WXah3sD2gYfVttPYY7A_-oOZ_awPZ458Psv_t25IqNOa4IMqo

So hopefully, if you read the intro you’ll see the breakover isn’t just about the toe.

To explain what breakover is: “The act of lifting the foot from the ground (heel coming up first) and rolling over the toe. The breakover point is *the portion of the hoof that is last to leave the ground*”, which would be towards the toe.

If you are interested in the bigger picture, just ask google to show you some other articles on “breakover ddft”, or “breakover navicular”, or “breakover laminitis”. There’s a ton of information from all over the world. Don’t forget to check the sources are reliable and reputable (that part is just as important as the information they provide).

Anyway, going back to the laminitis perspective, first lets talk about what is happening inside of a severely laminitic hoof. You all know that we have a hoof wall, some vascular tissue that acts a bit like velcro, and that velcro basically holds the hoof capsule in place around the pedal bone. Lets assume that in a case of laminitis where the pedal bone rotates or sinks, something happened within the body that caused the velcro to fail. So where all that velcro has torn apart, there is blood and chafing, and if the tip of the pedal bone is pointing down it is probably stabbing/damaging the blood vessels and solar corium underneath it. Excrutiatingly painful, right? All that tissue is inflamed, and the hoof wall cant expand to accommodate the inflammation, so on top of all that velcro failure and stabbing, the horse feels like its hoof capsule is a few sizes too small for everything inside it. In a low grade or less severe case, you might *only* have the inflammation (it still hurts, please dont ignore raised pulses), but for the purpose of explaining how professionals approach trimming laminitics, lets assume worst case scenario;

The hoof is catastrophically damaged on the inside. The body’s response is to try to mend the velcro. So repair horn is spewed into that gap between the wall and the bone. It seals the hoof from infection, it acts a bit like glue (the texture is much like a hot-glue-gun stick before you heat it up) and that emergency repair is what you are looking at when you see a laminar wedge.

So before long you end up with a distorted hoof wall, a wedge that is usually thickest at the toe, and mechanically, every time the hoof *breaks over*, the last part of the hoof to leave the ground is that laminar wedge/wall. There are no two ways about it, you cannot change physics, the breakover is going to be the wall at the toe, and every time that horse takes a step, mechanically that WILL apply pressure to that damaged velcro behind the wall above it. Not only is this excrutiatingly painful, it is also detrimental to the healing process. The reason you see laminitic horses leaning their weight back onto their heels, and/or moving with a short choppy action is because the toe is so sore. So it makes sense that this posture/action is because they are trying to avoid the pain of the pedal bone stabbing into solar corium, and the pain of the wall at the toe being in contact with the ground.

Standard trimming protocol, whether you are a farrier, a vet, or a barefoot trimmer is to 1) lower the heels. In doing so, you change the angle of the pedal bone so that it isnt pointing down so much. It is less painful, and it prevents further damage to the tissue/blood supply. You do not have to trim the heels OUT of the foot. Just di whatever you can within reason to change the angle of the pedal bone. 2) apply a really strong bevel to the toe. That *brings the breakover back*, and thus removes any force from being applied to the wall at the toe. Primarily, this reduces pain. It helps healing. It changes forces on the ddft and other structures within the foot. It can save lives. Again, you DO NOT need to butcher that toe, but you do need to get it off the ground, leaving the toe pillars on the ground at 10 and 2, and making sure, again, you are not dropping the horse on the sole at the toe.

Important: Don’t let anyone tell you that physics and ground force reactions do not exist.

There are many other ways in which hoof care professionals can apply additional methods to help, and that will vary depending on their skillset, but we all know the absolute essentials: lower the heels and get the dorsal wall off the ground. Make that horse as comfortable as you can and in doing so, give it a fighting chance to heal. That’s what we do, and why in a nutshell.

I will add a disclaimer at this point to say if you suspect your horse has laminitis, call your vet. You can call your HCP too if you want, thats fine but ALWAYS call the vet, not only because they are the ones who can prescribe painkillers and do xrays.

As a side note, this article isnt really about all the stuff an owner needs to do when they suspect laminitis. There are loads of other places and posts which cover that aspect, and i am forever going on and on about diet on my fb page… but I read something this morning which suggested that changing the diet is more important than the trim. I’m not here to talk about the diet aspect, but i WILL say if your horse is rotating through his soles and his life is on the line, your priority should always be to call the vet, discuss pain relief and request xrays to assess the damage. Yes, you will need to make nutritional changes, yes you need to do that FAST, but you can soak a haynet while you’re waiting for the vet and deal with the actual hoof first.

Again, there are thousands of resources out there. Credible, scientifically backed sources, studies, peer reviews and articles written by universities, veterinary schools, people who are pioneering research into their fields and have done the maths. These people are world leading experts who dedicate their 9-5 careers to research. They can’t all be wrong… Please don’t take my word for it, see for yourself: www.google.com

25/04/2024

**************SPECIAL OFFER***************

£15 per tub (RRP £28.99)

Hoof Doctor Putty is a unique restorative hoof putty based on Birch Bark Extract, Betulin, Clinoptilolite, Omega 3, and Vitamins A & D for professional care of horses' hooves. It is a non-caustic product easily applied to the white line, hoof wall separations, and the hoof frog.

Maintains a germ-free hoof environment—helps avoid crumbling horn, white line disease, and thrush

Non-irritating and safe to apply without wearing gloves

Can be used for horses, ponies, donkeys and other hooved animals

Made with a non-caustic formulation—contains no copper sulfate, no harmful or petroleum-based products

24/04/2024

A lovely photo one of my customers son’s took yesterday

01/03/2024

This young lady has had some bad luck with abscessing recently. Almost all of her sole came off today showing the extent of the infection. It must have been very sore for her 😢.
Isn’t it interesting how her foot with “trauma” grew so much faster than her other foot. This is perfectly normal and often happens when the foot is subjected to trauma like laminitis, abscess or injury.

21/02/2024

I love this putty, especially for separations and the central sulcus of the frog. Only £20 per pot and it lasts for ages.

13/02/2024

A huge sub solar abscess which burst out of the coronary band. So satisfying peeling off more than 2/3 of the sole today but sadly for the horse it revealed extensive bruising. That will have been a sore one 🥴

11/02/2024

What an amazing 7 month old baby trim today. First time trim for this young c**t and he had all 4 feet on the hoof stand with no fuss at all. His owner has done the most amazing job of preparing him for my visit (she’s only had him for a month).

28/01/2024

As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but some nice progress on the limb deviations on this youngster today.

It’s SO important to get any horse trimmed regularly but especially foals and youngsters when you can still influence their limb straightness.

Did you know that foals have rapidly growing feet (15mm per month v 9mm per month for mature horses)?

27/01/2024

The horses and I are enjoying some milder weather ❤️

19/01/2024

POLITE NOTICE TO ALL CUSTOMERS

PLEASE ENSURE PAYMENT IS MADE ON THE DAY OF YOUR APPOINTMENT. I am spending increasing amounts of time chasing various customers for payment and unfortunately I also have bills to pay and can’t afford to act as a bank.

PLEASE ENSURE A MINIMUM OF 48HRS IS GIVEN IF CANCELLING AN APPOINTMENT. Failure to do so will result in full payment being required. This gives me a chance to fill the empty slot and thus hopefully avoid a loss of income.

I’m a very reasonable person and of course please talk to me if you are having any financial difficulties. But please don’t let me do the work and then not pay.

Many thanks

18/01/2024

Trying to defrost after work 🥶

08/01/2024

Another delivery of Hoofdoctor arrived today. I love this product and find it very effective against thrush and separations.

Let me know if you want me to keep some aside for you.

Putty £20
Oil £29

25/12/2023

Wishing all my lovely customers a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for another wonderful year and letting me do a job that I love

05/12/2023

Icey roads today on my rounds 🥴

28/11/2023

I’m going to be placing another order for Hoofdoctor…….would anyone like some more?

£29 for the oil
£20 for the putty

21/11/2023

Brego was a total super star yesterday for his first trim ❤️

20/11/2023

After trimming 13 horses today, I was so looking forward to my tuna sandwich…..only to find the yard cats had beaten me to it 🤣

23/10/2023

The joys of working post Storm Babet 🙈

16/10/2023

Yay, my hoofdoctor putty order has just arrived. I really like this for packing into any separations

£20 per pot

17/09/2023

I couldn’t help but zoom into the horse foot

02/09/2023

Ground parallel/negative plantar angels. These are relatively common and usually easy to significantly improve.
This is the improvement after one trim.

17/08/2023

The hoofdoctor putty arrived today for me to try. I’m keen to see how good this is separations 🤞.

14/08/2023

Good news, the first box of Hoofdoctor has arrived 👏

10/08/2023

Would anyone like to take advantage of a 15% discount on Hoofdoctor? RRP £34 (plus postage). I have bought some in bulk and can therefor sell them at a discounted price of £29.
It’s a product I’ve been using for several months now for thrush and white line disease. It’s really easy to use and effective.