Barefoot Equine SRQ

10/04/2024

10/04/2024

09/28/2024

Hoof oil AKA snake oil

Don’t waste your money

09/11/2024

Making great progress with Wex’s feet, the new growth is really making its way down the hoof capsule and pushing that lamina wedge really fast now.

Another 3 maybe 4 months and I reckon the wedge will be fully gone 😍

09/08/2024

10 year old Lusitano x Andalusian mare. From fat to fantastic in 6 weeks on the track with unlimited grass hays, balanced minerals, h**p seed, aminos and vitamins. Less inflamed with fat pads disappearing and happier feet. She feels much better and is brighter eyed! Now, time to hope the humidity chills so we get riding and fit!

08/03/2024

It really is no surprise to me many eventers can’t jog soundley unless iced right up until the jogging inspection. 🤮

08/03/2024

07/25/2024

Ultra processed seed/vegetable oils & sunburn.🌽☀️🔥

You have probably heard about these oils causing sunburn and skin cancer in humans. But what about your horse? After all, some of these oil products were first used to fatten up livestock… and from there they were eventually accepted as “safe” for human consumption! [Why is everyone struggling with weight gain? Hmmm…]

I have had this mare pictured in my life since 2012. I took this picture today; she has been living completely outdoors in Florida for years. These days she wears an earless and noseless fly mask on the buggy days. She has plenty of shade, but she often chooses not to use it even in the middle of a full sun, 90+ degree day.

Before ditching commercial cereal grains which are loaded in these oils, she would burn so badly! Her soft pink nose would bubble, peel, bleed and scab. This even happened before moving south, when we were still in New Jersey. Refusing to make her stall bound, I resorted to sunscreens and long nose fly masks. This helped only marginally.🥵

Soy oil, sunflower [seed] oil, vegetable oil, canola (rapeseed) oil, corn oil, ect is not a part of the diets here and will never be for any of our eaters. Seeing the results from removing these products first hand is truly incredible. Our bodies take a very long time to detox these products, so I’m very happy to see her handling the Florida sun without issue!🏖

Unrefined coconut oil is what we use for a little weight building when needed. It also comes with the extra benefit of gut microbiome balancing, killing some of the harmful “bugs” known to hangout in the GI tract.🥥

Think whole body, think holistic, be intentional…for all the mouths you feed.💗👨‍👩‍👦‍👦🐴🐕‍🦺

05/21/2024

Why we only feed free choice grass hays. Rations of oats, herbs and well sourced minerals/vitamins/aminos.

Sadly, we see more and more muesli like grains coming to the US after it took us 30+ years to educate horse owners in Europe about the disadvantages (please search for keywords such as "oil, grain, oats" etc on this site)

Currently companies that already produced horse feed with indigestible ingredients to begin with are throwing mixed feeds with chopped forage on the market. Those are marketing strategies made for the human eye, but they won't help your horses. I currently treat several horses a week with terrible bloating issues, f***l waters, girthiness, or unwillingness to move off the leg. Owners typically suspect ulcers but don't question what they feed.

Chopped forage content in concentrated feed, as is now offered in many mueslis, is counterproductive because it - like concentrated feed in general - is not being chewed enough. The structure has a fiber length of less than an inch, which slows down intestinal transit so that the feed ferments in the large intestine are stuck for up to a week. Together with the high molasses content and the associated bacterial and fungal contamination of these structural concentrates, this leads to incorrect fermentation and a significant metabolic burden. Structural additions to concentrated feed are not a substitute for hay!
I also often see these symptoms in horses that only eat peanut hay, hay cubes or alfalfa from pasture blocks. Please assure that you provide long and rather rough hay as a forage source to maintain correct speed in the intestinal transit and ensure proper digestion.

During a kinesiologic session I am able to muscle test feed intolerances. Lmk if you would like to get your horses tested.

05/07/2024

04/23/2024

This is going to cause some comments... but I'm going to say it.
I was washing dishes this morning and read the lable...

Now why on earth do people use this to clean their horses privates?
Eek! Would you use this on your privates?





I bet this will get some shares, I hope to help the poor burned sheaths of the equestrian world!

if you can't get every part of your horses sheath rinsed with water, do not put any cleaner or product in their. Get 100% comfortable with water first. It will get a lot of his debris out, I promise

04/23/2024

Old article that I have shared before but this information still isn’t well know and costing owners $$$$ in avoidable surgery.

Copper and zinc
Copper and zinc
Copper and zinc

Feed minerals separate from alfalfa (and as little alfalfa as possible!!!), as a legume and high calcium profile blocks absorption of magnesium/copper/zinc!

What is OCD? Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) is known as failure of bone underlying the smooth articular cartilage inside the joints to form correctly from the cartilage template of the skeleton. T…

04/15/2024

Our 6 day new Irish Draught Sport Horse filly got her first [micro] trim today! She stood so well and tolerated the human shenanigans without protest. Feeling like we hit the jackpot with this cross, the last picture highlights mom and dad! If you are looking for a stallion I cannot recommend .sporthorses quality and service enough!

04/03/2024

Have you ever just come to the abrupt realization that you don't see anything the same anymore?

The two year old that you once would have approved of starting under saddle now looks like an incredibly immature baby that you can't imagine asking to carry a load.

Physical issues that lead to training and performance issues you no longer view as the problem but perhaps the solution to the actual problem.

All of the things you would have considered behavioral issues you can now see as the balance issues that they are. You no longer want to address the behavior but instead the reason for the behavior.

You are no longer fooled by words. Anyone can say anything about their training and approach...but the horse will tell you a lot about whether the words match the action, if you're educated enough to see it. Some things are debatable...other things definitely aren't.

You now recognize that you are a nervous system and your horse is a nervous system...and that the priority is to keep you upright and alive. That matters, A LOT.

You recognize that developing a horse is an endeavor that takes years. YEARS. Years of a lot of time and a lot of commitment. There's truly no substitute.

You also realize that getting here has meant admitting that there were times when you were wrong. That there were times when you did harm with the best of your intentions. That you had to walk away from circles of people whose beliefs and approach no longer lined up with what you now know...or maybe they walked away from you? Either way, it's hard to stand alone sometimes.

You realize you've had to become a beginner a thousand times over...and you'll continue to find yourself in that spot a thousand more times in the future, plus some. Maybe even at some point today.

You realize that even when it feels like you haven't grown at all...you actually have. That growth is something to be proud of, no matter where you're at on your journey.

- Terra

03/30/2024

Check out this comparison: Same hoof, two different trims, and the consequences are stark.

Trim A:

⦿ Toe aggressively trimmed back within the white line, leaving heels above the hard sole plane. This is what we call personal preference trimming (PPT), disregarding the horse's natural foot.

Trim B:

⦿ Trimmed to the natural parameters of the hoof, following the hard sole plane, and leaving the toe pillar intact with the inner hoof wall on the ground.

👉 Now, let's take a closer look at the differences:

1. P3 (the coffin bone) shows a more hyper-positive angle after Trim A than Trim B.

2. The digital cushion appears unnaturally 'squeezed' after Trim A but 'relaxed' and normally engaged after Trim B.

3. After Trim A, the foot rests on the sole, while after Trim B, it maintains support from its inner hoof wall pillar, enabling crucial ground clearance.

4. In Trim A, the tip of P3 is compromised above the sole pressure point, whereas in Trim B, there's no unnatural pressure, vital to maintain P3 health and avoid remodelling and osteonecrosis.

5. Surface area is significantly reduced after Trim A, whereas Trim B offers the maximum needed surface area.

Some may argue that bringing the hoof wall back within the white line is acceptable, but these images vividly demonstrate the implications of such methods on the horse's foot health.

Neglecting to adhere to the horse's natural parameters can have significant negative impacts, even if they may seem subtle to us.

These changes, though seemingly minor from our perspective, are magnified many times over for the horse.

They can lead to discomfort, compromised biomechanics, and potential long-term damage to the hoof, P3, joints, soft tissues and overall well-being of the horse.

It's crucial to prioritise the natural structure and function of the horse's hoof, rather than trimming it based solely on human perceptions or preferences.

Because the consequences are dire.



HM.

👉 If you want to find out if your equine's hoof care is right or wrong, join our free group: The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health