Hoof & Body Solutions

10/26/2024

When your horse extends through their AO joint [the articulation between the base of the skull and C1], their lower jaw retracts - you can feel this yourself if you point your nose to the sky, notice how your bottom jaw glides back.

When your horse flexes through their AO joint, their lower jaw protracts - you can feel this yourself if you press your chin to your chest, notice how your bottom jaw glides forwards.

When your horse flexes through their AO joint, their laryngeal diameter decreases - you can feel this by pressing your chin to your chest and taking a deep breath in, notice how much harder that is.

If your horse has tension in their jaw, they lose range of motion through their AO joint - you can feel this yourself if you clamp your jaw shut, notice how much harder it is to point your nose to the sky or point your chin to your chest - your neck feels tight and immobile.

And the same can be said if your horse has tension through their AO joint or neck, they will lose range of motion through their jaw.

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Now do all of those movements again and notice how, when you drop your chin to your chest:

It's difficult to inflate your ribs to breathe,

It's hard to round your back,

Your hips tighten up.

This is because you've impinged your deep ventral line.

We do this to horses when we ride with a rein length/tension that doesn't accomodate and support their anatomy.

So if we compress their jaw and neck, we compromise their ability to:

Breathe

Lift their back to carry a rider

Activate their hindlimb.
..Gives us quite a lot to think about with how many horses are ridden and trained, doesn't it?

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Want to learn more?

The recording for Train Your Eye - How's Your Bit Affecting Your Horse? is now live on my website.

❤️✨️

10/18/2024

Pastures, nonstructural carbohydrates, and frost 🌱🍂❄️

Because it is that season, I want to discuss horse pastures and nonstructural carbohydrates, specifically as they relate to the beginning and end of a grazing season. Let’s begin by breaking this down by each topic before we add them all together:

Nonstructural carbohydrates, often abbreviated as NSCs, are comprised of water soluble carbohydrates (simple sugars and fructans) and starch. This class of carbohydrates is an important source of energy for the horse and they are digested and absorbed in the foregut, leading to an increase in blood glucose and insulin. As a result, high levels of NSCs in the diet can be an issue for horses with metabolic concerns specifically related to insulin dysregulation such as equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), Cushing’s (PPID), and laminitis/founder. While NSCs can be more consistent and documented in manufactured concentrates, more variation is observed in pasture or hay due to outside factors such as plant maturity, time of day, and weather conditions.

In pasture plants, NSCs are produced via photosynthesis, a process in which sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide generate glucose and oxygen. A separate but complementary process known as respiration is responsible for breaking down the glucose created during photosynthesis and releasing that energy for cellular use. As a result, increased photosynthesis leads to an accumulation of NSCs and increased cellular respiration leads to a decrease of NSCs. There are many weather conditions that can alter the balance between these processes in plants.

So how are these two factors connected to frost and the swing in temperatures observed in the spring and fall when horses are either being introduced to or removed from pasture? Well, when temperatures fall below 40°F, the enzymes involved in cellular respiration become significantly less active. And when temperatures fall below freezing, the enzymes can become denatured, stopping respiration altogether. This means low temperatures can lead to an accumulation of NSCs in the forage which can be problematic for grazing horses.

As a result, it is important to look at the nightly lows, and if these temperatures are sustained for more than a few hours, change your management practices accordingly, especially for glucose-sensitive horses. Furthermore, a hard frost occurs when temperatures drop below 28°F for more than four consecutive hours and will not only result in NSC accumulation but also marks the end of the growing season. While current recommendations allow grazing to resume 7 days following a hard frost, pastures require a minimum height of 3” to 4” going into the winter to support pasture productivity the following grazing season. Since grasses will no longer grow after a hard frost, continuing to graze can put undue stress on the pasture.

Additionally, sudden changes in the diet that would occur from removing horses from pasture abruptly, keeping horses on dried forage for 7 days, and then reintroducing horses to pasture, could lead to digestive upset or other health problems and the process will be time intensive for owners. When shifting the diet, even between different forages, it is critical to plan intentional transitions that allow the gut microbiota to sufficiently adapt. While the transition back to pasture can be accelerated in the fall compared to beginning grazing in the spring, it should still be done with care.

I hope this information is helpful as you make decisions on horse management and grazing this season!

- Dr. DeBoer

10/15/2024

Baby’s 1st trim… Josey was a rockstar!

10/13/2024

Postural Rehabilitation for horses and dogs
Applications are open !!
All levels are welcome ! So excited for this next run of this course. Check it out
click the link to LEARN MORE !!

https://heartequine.krtra.com/t/vyr2w90tuGCp

10/13/2024

I am working on a more in depth write up but I wanted to give you a readers digest version, if you will, as food for thought to start your wheels turning.

Are you aware of what it takes for a horse to lift up a leg? To hold it for the farrier?

We can’t completely understand as we are bipedal versus quadrupedal but we can get the idea. I was doing a mat session with Katherine Lowry, I was in quadrupedal position and working on lifting my limbs. It gave me a fresh perspective on the possibilities of what our horses might experience. I encourage you to assume the same position, if you comfortably and safely can do so and go through the following.

To lift a limb, I have to first have the awareness, connection to my body, and then shift my weight. It might feel hard, another limb might not want to help stabilize, it might feel uncomfortable, you might have to really bear down or twist or lean to stabilize, you might not feel safe to pick up a limb at all, you might not understand how to coordinate your limbs to pick one up. It may be effortless, easy, and stability on three limbs easily found. You may find that one limb is easier to pick up than another. You may find that one is hard than the others.

Now imagine, if someone lifted your head up and wouldn’t allow you to move it, could you still pick up a limb? Or if your held your head off to one side, could you pick up a limb? Which one is easier? Which one is harder?

That’s all just to pick up a limb.

Now, pick up a limb and abduct (take away from midline) it as if a farrier were there. How easy or hard is that? Was there a twist in your body? Could you relax? Did you want to yank it back under you to where you feel safe?

And again, imagine if your head was held up and held still, could you still pick up each limb and abduct it? What does that feel like?

Imagine if you clenched your jaw, could you still pick up your limbs with ease? What if you had a stomach ache, could you still pick up your limbs with ease? What if you were worried about your friends and are thinking about them or it is dinner time and you haven’t eaten in hours and are thinking about that juicy steak, could you still pick up your limbs with ease and comfort?

Just because they know how to pick up a limb, doesn’t mean it is easy or that sustained holding for the farrier is easy too. So much goes into their ability to truly be present, feel safe, and feel their body to make the necessary shifts to pick up a limb.

Much to think about the next time you ask them to pick up a limb or have the farrier out.

PC- Andi Patzwald (the whole team has worked incredibly hard for and with this horse to be able to be comfortable to stand for the farrier)

10/12/2024

ProSix is not a "one trick pony". Check out the many ways ProSix can help you and your horse. Learn more at www.eagleprosix.com or reach out to us by phone or email with any questions.

10/05/2024

Still remarkable for me to watch what she did while on the pads

10/05/2024

Getting my PHCP on! Progressive Hoof Care Practitioners Conference

09/12/2024

Below, two lumbars and sacrums with two very different stories.

The top specimen is from a standardbred/welsh 13.2hh pony who despite having ECVM made it to 25 with only a few minor symptoms. She was put down for laminitis and arthritis getting the better of her. Her lumbar and sacrum are the normal anatomy for this area.

The bottom specimen a 8 year old Thoroughbred returned from racing in Hong Kong shows a very common finding among my dissections. 60 percent based on my dissections across breeds but very common in mainly thoroughbreds. This guy has what’s known as a sacralised lumbar aswell as sacral spurs. The sacralised lumbar I believe is a heritable trait although there has been no study it is in humans inherited through genetics from parentage. In my opinion the sacral bone spurs are from early hard work when the growth plates between S1 and S2 are still open. The sacroiliac joint is made of two parts and if under load grows osseous bone to strengthen the area and can fuse to the pelvis.

In my opinion sacralised lumbar is a major limiting factor for performance as it appears to compromise the function and mobility in the hind end. These horses are very stiff and do not track up. They can’t take weight through the hind end joints well and have trouble engaging the pelvis. Secondary compensation is often an issue that goes along with this.

I’ve heard multiple stories now that insurance companies are not paying out on horses diagnosed with ECVM because it’s not an injury but an inherited trait that can limit performance. So it leads me to ponder….. how many heritable traits will strike off insurance claims in the future with further study into skeletal variations/malformations. Will this push breeders to think more seriously about skeletal conformation? Will insurance companies lead the charge on researching the limitations of these skeletal variations? Will genetic testing for heritable skeletal traits be the future of breeding horses for optimal soundness? Don’t forget that the gene for kissing spines has recently been found, will horses with kissing spines now be considered a heritable trait and not an injury.

Will this void insurance claims?

I have put together a video on my patreon page to explain further.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/skeletal-in-hind-111909060?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

09/05/2024

09/03/2024

08/31/2024

UPDATED

You have likely heard of the tragic death of over 70 horses at the Buetler Ranch in Elk City, Oklahoma. Horses that are descendants of over five generations of legendary rodeo horses perished when accidentally fed horse feed that was contaminated with Monensin, an ionophoric antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections in cattle and sometimes mixed with cattle and livestock feeds. In cattle, it can improve feed efficiency and average daily gain.

However, in horses, tiny amounts of monensin causees damage to the mitochondria in horses, and disrupts the sodium potassium ion fluxes in the heart, leading to cardiovascular failure.

Attached is a list of horse feed mills that are ionophore free - no ionophores are on the mill property and risk of contamination is eliminated. Ionophone "safe" mills have separate facilities and equipment for livestock and horse feed production, however, ionophores are present and the risk of contamination is not eliminated.

This list is not exhaustive. In California, Stable Mix made by Elk Grove Milling and Integrity Feeds made by Star Milling are both ionophore free facilities.

If in doubt about a feed manufacturers ionophore status, call or e mail them. Unfortunately, some small local mills may not be able to guarantee ionophore free status.

UPDATE! Dr Rachel Mottet of Legacy Equine Nutrition has updated their list of ionophore free equine feed mills. Her team contacted all the mills listed to verify their ionophore status, a huge task!
Here is the link to that document.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17IVu88GVlLU04C3uitCTPHQ5Q2cB-khka_-eMJaMSCY/edit?fbclid=IwY2xjawE-069leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZsDAwMxkfCeS5Oq4osuGzIi2GXrhepntpC1ObUyxrlHRqjBQTAgPdrLug_aem_-mb63idLfO55NZmTqeKnVw&gid=0 =0

And,Bluebonnet was spelled incorrectly, in the photo - Bluebonnet is named after the flower, not a hat!

08/30/2024

“There’s barely anything out there” and “ the grass is so short and eaten down” are phrases I hear often this time of year

🌾 The grazing season is slowly drawing to a close and the vegetation in most pastures is becoming thinner. For many stable managers and horse owners, this is a sign that horses that have a sensitive metabolism and are at risk of laminitis are now allowed to stay longer on the previously fat pasture, because ‘there's nothing left that could trigger laminitis’. Unfortunately, this assumption is totally wrong!

🍄 Because what is often forgotten is the fact that grazed pastures are no less problematic - only that the problems stem from other causes.

Why is that? Read it now in our article!

https://wissen.sanoanimal.de/en/2019/09/09/laminitis-from-grazed-down-short-grass-fields-is-that-possible/