Natural Hoofcare Northwest

11/11/2024

It makes it all worth it when you start to see the progress ❤️
I have been trimming this mare since June - we still have further to go but I’m so happy to see these positive changes.

✅ The imbalance in her heel bulbs in her front feet is improving and she has a much stronger back of the foot now.
✅ Her very low heels and long toe in her hind feet are improving (still some way to go)
✅ You can visibly see the change in angle and quality of the new growth since June.

09/11/2024

Perfect example of how stress disrupts hoof, or in this case fingernail, growth, causing ridges which are often referred to as ‘event lines’ or ‘stress rings’. They can be a result of a physical stressor or an emotional one.

07/11/2024

Settling down after a day of trimming to watch the rest of the World Horse Welfare 2024 conference from today, which explores the theme of ‘what is a good life for a horse?’.
You can watch it back here 👉 https://bit.ly/40ChZme

04/11/2024

Chickens living dangerously for a little piece of frog 🤣

27/10/2024

In the last few days I’ve kept seeing a post from an Equine Vet practice’s page, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed in them.
I don’t want to say which vets it was and so I haven’t shared the post here, but essentially it was discussing the pros and cons of winter turn out.

I guess they were trying to give a balanced view, but they failed to explain the seriousness of the impact of stress on the horse resulting from stabling for prolonged periods or as the sole housing option in winter. So I’ve made my own post. I doubt it will get shared as much as theirs, but I’ll try to do my bit.

‘The pros and cons of winter stabling’

PROS:
1. It is easier for the horse owner. The horse will be clean and dry. The owner doesn’t have to go outside in a dark muddy field.
2. It is easier for the yard owner (if you own your own land this may be you). There is no need to invest in field shelters and areas of dry standing and the yard can be over stocked for the amount of acreage by only using the fields in the drier summer months.

There are no pros for the horse.

CONS:
1. Digestive issues. Whilst eating hay can be beneficial by being higher in fibre than short stressed grass, running out of hay and standing for long periods without food causes acid in the stomach to increase. Slow feeder nets can help, but in a situation where a horse has nothing else to do but eat or sleep, there are few horses who can be left with enough hay to ensure they never run out without this leading to overeating and weight gain.

2. Weight gain. Limited movement equals fewer calories burned. As mentioned above, it is very hard to balance feeding hay 24/7 to avoid ulcers and alleviate boredom whilst sticking to your horses hay to body weight ratio of 2%. Too many horses come off their summer grazing fat, and then fail to lose that weight over winter whilst being stabled.

2. Lack of movement. Standing, as opposed to repeatedly loading and then unloading of the limbs as happens when walking, reduces blood flow in the foot affecting hoof health. Bone density is decreased - bone is a living tissue and if there is less activity bones are less stimulated to lay down new cells.

3. Thrush. Standing in wet bedding and poo increases the likelihood of a horse developing a bacterial infection in the frog and collateral grooves. I don’t find mud to have this same effect.

4. Stress. This, if it were the only item in my list, should be enough to make us reject the use of stables for prolonged periods.
We know that horses are evolved for travelling long distances every day. This is how they are physically and mentally set up.
We also know horses evolved living in herds. To have social interaction is an essential need for them.

I’m not setting out to upset anyone, but when people say that their horse loves his/her stable or that ‘it depends’ because ‘all horses are different’, it’s not possible for these statements to be true, based on what we currently know about zoology. I’m not blaming anyone for thinking this, it’s what a lot of us grew up with and if your horse doesn’t bang the door or express its stress by weaving or wind sucking etc then it can seem like they are pretty content, but we have to think objectively and logically. Confining a large herd animal to a 12ft by 12ft space, separated from others of its own kind, is not species appropriate. As one of my clients said the other day, ‘if horses loved stables we wouldn’t need doors on them’.
So if you accept that preventing movement and social interactions is unnatural for this animal, then you have to accept that doing so places unnatural mental and physical stresses on it.

Well what are the implications of putting stress on our horses? They are designed to cope well with short sharp stressors such as a lion appearing out of the undergrowth, but not prolonged low level stressors.
These are just some of the documented issues caused by stress:

🚩Growth and repair are put on hold. High levels of the stress hormone cortisol turns off keratinisation - hoof wall growth is reduced and walls grow thinner.
🚩Stress shifts the storage of excess nutrients into visceral fat
🚩The gut microbiome is affected, which impacts on nutrient processing
🚩Stress increases the rate of telomere shortening. In laymen’s terms telomeres are the parts at the end of chromosomes which protect the dna but they shorten each time the cell gets replicated. Their shortening over the lifetime is what causes age related problems so artificially reducing them further is bad news.
🚩Immune system compromise
🚩Increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol is linked to the development of PPID (Cushing’s disease).
🚩Atypical behaviours - weaving, irritability, door kicking, pawing.

I intend to follow up with a more helpful post about what can be done to help this situation, but I just really felt the need to set some other information out there. Pictures of frosty bums and my little hairy herd from last winter ❄️

14/10/2024

My biggest client 🐴 the lovely Hally

The photos don’t really do him justice - he’s massive (I’m 5”7 and I can’t see over him) 🥰 but he’s also probably THE best behaved horse I have on my books (and he’s only 4yrs old!). Which is fortunate because I’m pretty sure each of his legs weighs about the same as me 🤣🤣

13/10/2024

Yes please 🙏 🤣🤣

Customers with big feathers, the new expectation 👌👌👌🤣🤭

04/10/2024

I’m now offering limited brand boot fitting for existing clients. This is currently limited to Cavallo hoof boots, although my intention is to expand to all the main hoof boot brands in the future.

The cost of purchasing the fitting kits needed for each brand are quite high, but I wanted to be able to offer something for those of you who would like help with finding boots in a hurry.

I’ve chosen Cavallos as a start because in my experience they are an excellent starter boot. Yes, there are fancier designs out there, but Cavallo boots are reasonable in price, easy to use, and forgiving in fit, which means they suit a wide range of hoof shapes and foot conformations. You can use them as therapy boots or for riding. They come in wide and regular width styles, and you can even get little sparkly ones for ponies ✨

Because I’m only able to advise on fit for one brand at the moment this is just a service for my trimming clients at this time. A fitting will cost £20 and will consist of pictures and measurements being taken, and then a fitting using size shells to identify the exact size boot you need. You can then go ahead and order your boots (from any store) knowing that you are going to have the right size to use straight away, with no faffing about or expensive postage returns. You will also have your horse’s measurements and photos if you wish to use these to rent other brand fit kits or boot trials from any of the larger retailers.

If you would like a Cavallo boot fitting please let me know so that I can book you the extra time following your next trim appointment ☺️

(Screenshots from Cavallo’s website)

26/09/2024

THRUSH 🤢

I’ve been so pleased to see how much improvement one of my clients has made with her cob’s central sulcus thrush, that I thought it would make a good post to share.
When this client bought her lovely boy he had a bit of thrush going on in all four hooves. Thrush can really make a horse quite sore, so we wanted to sort this out. In addition to me trimming the frog as needed each visit, his owner has been very diligent in giving his frogs some attention and she’s been able to totally clear it up 🙌
You can see in the photos the black gunky sections have disappeared and the whole frog just looks healthier and plumper. His owner says he’s no longer sore when she goes round there when picking his feet out.

TREATING THRUSH
The kind of thrush we usually see in our climate is actually a bacterial infection in the tissue of the frog and it’s usually within the central sulcus, but also sometimes either side of the frog in the collateral grooves and into the bars of the foot. It can be quite painful for the horse, but is easily treated.
2-3 times a week get the horse in and pick his/her feet out, then scrub the frog and soles with a stiff brush and some soapy water - antibacterial washing up liquid is good and cheap. Make sure to get right into the central sulcus, which when infected will look like a deep cleft in between the heels. Dry the feet - I use the edge of an old towel to dry right in the central sulcus. I then recommend applying an antibacterial hoof clay liberally in the central sulcus and either side of the frog (but not on the hair/skin of the heels as this can cause sensitivity).
Red Horse Artimud is my personal preference for clay but there are many others. I will put a link in the comments to Urban Horse where I buy mine from.

20/09/2024

I’ve had a great time this week attending the Liberated Horsemanship Gateway Clinic, catching up with friends, meeting new ones, and getting to learn from and talk with other hoofcare enthusiasts.
Today there was a bonus CPD event focusing on pathological hooves, to finish off a brilliant week ☺️

I’m off now to bury a couple of specimen legs so that hopefully in a few months time I’ll be able to learn from their bones.

The pictures further along do include dissections and cadavers so maybe don’t scroll all the way through if you happen to be squeamish or are eating your tea 😬

14/09/2024

** NOTICE TO CLIENTS **
W/C Monday 16th September I will be away for 5 days CPD training at the Liberated Horsemanship UK Gateway clinic. I will have bad signal most of the day so please bear with me if I’m a bit slower to respond to messages 🙏

(Pictures from the Gateway clinic I attended in 2022 in Arizona. We took a sunrise walk and it was just the most beautiful thing ❤️)

11/09/2024

If anyone is visiting the Westmorland show please come over and say ‘Hi’. I’m with the Fell Pony Society’s official display team and will be giving some trimming demonstrations throughout the day with the lovely Hynholme Amber.

01/09/2024

Saturday mornings off are for… trimming your own horses of course!🤣

29/08/2024

I maintain that West Cumbria has some of the best views 🥰 Taking in the sea air on my lunch break today at Ravenglass

21/08/2024

Opportunity to take on new hooves 🐴

I currently have a few spaces on existing routes where I could take on new clients on a 6 week trim cycle.

🔹West Cumbria (Egremont, Workington)
🔹 Lancaster/South of Kendal
🔹 Central lakes (Keswick, Ambleside, Coniston)

Please send a message to my page for further information, to enquire about other areas, and to book in.

🐴 Fully qualified and insured certified hoof care professional
🐴 Quiet and patient approach
🐴 Reliable
🐴 Hoof pathologies/rehabs supported

15/08/2024

Some good strong feet from today’s round ❤️💪

08/08/2024

First trim for a new client today with a lovely big mare who is approx 3 months out of shoes. I’m really looking forward to seeing how these heels de-contract and improve.
Credit to David Landreville, whose drawing I’ve shared here as an example of where we’re heading. I find this image of David’s so useful that I have it saved on my phone so I can show owners!

07/08/2024

Congratulations to the Houston Police Mounted patrol officers on achieving their hoof care certifications 👏🙌🤩