29/09/2025
An alarming number of barefoot horses have their toe wall either excessively thinned, trimmed back too far, or removed altogether!
I am seeing a very concerning trend, both online and with new horses that come into my care, where the toe wall is almost completely removed.
This is deeply troubling because the horse’s hoof was designed for peripheral loading — not solar loading, as is often proclaimed by many hoof care professionals.
What follows are horses that are intermittently sore, often needing boots just to recover from a barefoot trim. The rehabilitation process is long and it never really ends.
The attack on the so-called “long toe” is even more questionable. I had to logically dismantle the argument by asking some important questions. First: what exactly do you mean when you say the toe is long? Please define precisely what a “long toe” means. Is anyone proclaiming “long toes” actually measuring toe length? Because I have not yet seen a single piece of data. If anyone who criticises the “long toe” does hold measurements, has there been any reference to the natural range of toe lengths — and if so, in relation to what data pool? Is that pool based on horses free from pathology? Is any proclaimed research fully transparent about what is included in the data set, and equally, what has been left out?
Some years ago I attended a webinar on alternative grazing systems and listened closely to the data presented. What stunned me was that natural boarding facilities — like track systems and Paddock Paradise setups — were not separated in terms of grass intake. One of the most predictable factors in chronic inflammation and laminitis was simply overlooked. I was shocked at how much vital information was missing. Information that would clearly point in the direction of the U.S. Great Basin wild horse model.
What is being overlooked in this “long toe” discourse is that horses with so-called “long toes” are usually suffering from chronic inflammation that slowly and progressively deforms the hoof. This inflammation drives the proliferation of enzymes called MMPs, which devour the lamellar attachment bonds. The horse’s hoof is literally coming apart under the weight of the horse when the inflammation is present.
What is often practiced at the hoof borders on the surgical procedure known as a toe resection — carried out under the guise of “improving breakover,” “relieving pressure,” or "improving hoof balance." In reality, when the toe wall is excessively removed and the lamellar attachment is left exposed, the corium inevitably recedes. Think of people who bite their nails: what happens to the nail plaque? Should we really be carving into the horse’s hoof wall like a block of wood, under the pretense of unsubstantiated claims? Because I have not yet seen evidence that such practices successfully resolve the underlying problem.
This does not mean that the toes should be left to grow unchecked. The theory of H° developed by Jaime takes care of this. In the ISNHCP we apply Healing Toe Lenth to maintain the toe length in deformed hooves.
Jaime Jackson once said in his book that no one in hoof care agrees with anyone on anything — and it is as true now as it was fifty years ago. Not much has changed. Why? Perhaps because the truth has yet to fully ring out. Perhaps we only accept half-truths.
Before you, as a horse owner, allow someone to use fear tactics or smear another professional, ask them to explain their logic. Do a little more research. Check both sides of the aisle. Ask where their knowledge comes from — because too often people simply say, “that’s how it is.” Ultimately, we need to trace it back to nature. Because science cannot say one thing and nature another. (J. Jackson)
My own horse's hoof in the photo below, because we need to promote more healthy looking hooves. They are not perfect, not like the hooves Jaime was able to achieve in Lompoc Paddock Paradise. But they are much healthier now than I've ever seen them before. These hooves are a testament to the theory of H° in action.
![Some things just get better with time, don't they Carys? [Women and wine 💃🍷 ] 😆Lovely trim session, with photo shoot inc...](https://img4.voofla.com/595/683/767955555956830.jpg)
