Downs Equine - Holisitc Hoofcare Ltd

12/03/2025

Checkout our updated website -Our product Sole Food is now available. Sole food works wonders on seedy toe, thrush and white line disease. And we have used it successfully on mud fever too. We have been developing this product over the last 3 years…….

21/01/2025

This is Arahi All Purpose aka Peewee, we have just trimmed hooves and reset these stunning GG 3D shoes after being on for 4 weeks. During that 4 weeks she trained approximately 140km and competed in a 40km endurance event where she
Won the best managed at Bevege's Piopio ride. Well done Peewee and owner Pam Maurice. This composite shoe package is working very well for this team.

31/12/2024

We finished the year 2024 off with three resets of our own horses - Olive, Skippy and Jason.

05/12/2024

The FB posts from these guys, just get more outrageous and ridiculous. I have copied a recent one below.
They claim that ,
“Every Destroyed P3 Started With Toe Chopping”
I mean really ?? Being Chronically laminitic and having overgrown deformed hoofs, didn’t have anything to do with it??

They accuse farriers, vets and trimmers ( that don’t trim their way) of abusing horses and animal cruelty. They use really alarming and inflammatory words like that to help sell their message.

Talking of sales, let’s look at sales and marketing 101.
You should promote and sell your service or product on its own unique features and benefits. These guys seem hell bent on rubbishing everyone else rather than promoting their own service or products, features and benefits.
Why is that do you think?
Maybe they don’t have any?
Either way it’s incredibly unprofessional!
Seriously look back through their posts, they attack and belittle world renowned experts and anyone who questions them.
So I guess I will be in the firing line now. But I don’t really care, if they are going to make ridiculous claims I will call them out.

Trim or shoe horses however you believe is best for you and your clients. There is no need to rubbish anyone not doing what you do. You be you, and good on you. Truth, soundness and functionality will win out.

23/10/2024

03/10/2024

Rosie is all ready for the upcoming carriage driving season!!

30/09/2024

We applied these today to a horse that is well down the road recovering from a tendon injury. We have progressed her down to just a one degree wedge in the shoes, so they still give the tendon a slight relief. What do you think of the colour?

16/09/2024

It was a rewarding morning. We helped this Gypsy stallion with very neglected feet……

04/09/2024

An afternoon’s work. Happy horses and happy owners. Hot pink, baby!!! This is Meodow who is transitioning out of steel shoes. And the set of clear shoes are Eva’s who is recovering from collapsed heals and flat soles.

05/08/2024

Who has heard of Negative Palmer Angle? (NPA) It’s basically caused by incorrect trimming/shoeing -the heal is too short and the toe is left too long. We are seeing more and more of this in new clients and are not sure why it’s becoming a trend but it causes untold pain in the SLI joint, tight hamstrings and a horses hind end that no matter how much body work gets done, it just doesn’t come right. Instead of the coffin bone being at a 3-5 degree positive angle. It morphs to being a negative angle.
Check out this horse. He had been shod only 3 weeks prior to these X-rays. You can tell straight by looking at the hairline that things are wrong in the hoof. In his case he had become -6 degrees NPA - meaning his coffin bone was incorrectly positioned by around 11 degrees. Last photo is straight after the trim before putting on composite shoes on to increase comfort and support.

17/07/2024

Check out these great new purple kicks! We are halfway through a rehab with this horse with a tendon injury. From 3 degree wedges, she has progressed to wearing a 2degree wedge composite shoe…..and has began light walking and trotting work.

15/07/2024

We decided it was time to update our branding. Thank you for the logo Di Scott. And for the cool jackets Angela Croft!

15/07/2024

Eva’s getting new shoes!!! They are clear glue-ons so they are a little hard to spot!

08/05/2024

HOOF OF THE WEEK
We have done a lot of posts of poor quality hooves. But we feel it’s time to show people what a good hoof actually looks like. So Let’s start celebrating the beauty of a great functioning hoof. This one belongs to a Connemara named Lily, who is 11 years old and has never been shod. She is a show jumping and cross country machine!!
What’s good about the hoof?
Straight, thick walls
Tight white line
Great concavity
Beautiful plump frog
Thick digital cushion

29/04/2024

We would like to congratulate all our clients and horses who competed last weekend at the Distance Riding NZ Championships. Well done to all of you for achieving your goals!

Special mention and congratulations to Jeanette Rea (strapper and coffee supplier) Pam Maurice ( rider) and of course Arahi Dinero aka Cash who placed 2nd in the 160km distance at DRNZ Champs and were also awarded Best Managed. Well done team!
Cash is of course barefoot and competed in Renegade glue on boot shells.

18/04/2024

10 months on for Azlan, so much improvement and still a bit to go.
But sound and happy 😃

04/04/2024

We are thinking we need to start an “RL group”. - So this is Billy. Billy is a “Recovering Laminitic”. Today we used casting over composite shoes to speed up the growth in this feet and keep him comfortable. He stropped out in these - back to his track system and hay - very happy to be free of his cloud boots!
It’s been a long road but the dedication of the owners has been amazing.
Photos of when feet were at worst and abcessing out the sole.And then today…