TLC Hoof Trimming

08/23/2025

Pete Ramey: One Foot For All Seasons?
New posting: timeless article from The Horse’s Hoof Magazine, Issue 25. Pete Ramey discusses how the sole shape is affected by the terrain of the season. Hard, flat dry ground, versus deep and yielding terrain? These details matter!
https://www.thehorseshoof.com/pete-ramey-one-foot-for-all-seasons/

08/13/2025

Do you know how to spot negative plantar angles (NPA) in your horse?

I have been rehabbing NPA all over town lately! How?! Proper bony column alignment is what hoof care should be about. I have truly been enjoying bringing these horses back to soundness and restoring their posture to a neutral balance.

While some horses don't mind or even like being slightly negative, they are the exception and most do not.

NPA leads to excess strain on the horse's skeletal system, and also disrupts proper posture. While it may take years, abnormal compensatory posture will eventually lead to breakdown.

In horses with proper hoof angles, if you draw a line through the coronet band of a rear hoof, the line should angle to the back of the knee of the front leg.

Be sure to check your horse's hooves to ensure they have proper plantar angles!

08/11/2025

How it started vs. How it's going

These hooves belong to Cory, an older mustang gelding who struggles with long toes and underrun heels.

The techniques used to correct these hooves seem to have become demonized by social media warriors. These include "toe chopping" and "top dressing", oh my! 😱 I'm not quite sure how these techniques have become vilified (almost to the point of being portrayed as cruel), but they are incredibly handy tools to have in a farrier's tool chest to restore balance back to hooves sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately for the horses that are trimmed without using these techniques, pathologies and imbalance become a persistent issue, rather than something that could be resolved with a few trims. Those horses spend months (and even years) imbalanced, and deterioration ensues.

Notice how the hoof capsule on this hoof is now ROUND and not oval, how much healthier and well-defined the frog is, and how much more ROBUST that digital cushion is! 😍

To learn more about these techniques and proper hoof balance, consider enrolling in one of my online courses:

https://tlchooftrimming.com/services/

08/07/2025

Which hoof looks healthier to you?

What?!!! A radical veterinarian in the 1800s said all horses need to be kept and ridden barefoot?!!! Yes, that's true!! Bracy Clark "was a veterinarian working at the Royal Veterinary College in London, a scientist and member of several international scientific organizations. He discovered, researched, and, beginning in 1809, published a number of scientific papers about the ill effects of the horseshoe, the anatomy and physiology of the hoof (already chronicling the circulation in the hoof, and how a metal shoe compromised it), and among other things, discovered and named the periople."
Read the full article here:
Barefoot Hoof Care Beginnings: Bracy Clark
https://www.thehorseshoof.com/barefoot-hoof-care-beginnings-bracy-clark/

07/22/2025

This buckling made sure my hoof stand was up to s***f for today’s trims

07/17/2025

Baby’s first trim 😍

07/15/2025

An interesting case in heel play

Working from the top down of these photos, we can initially see what appear to be level balanced heels (black line). Upon further inspection, however, one heel has curled tubules that fold into the hoof. This is flare, and indicates excessive length.

The purple arrows indicate that there is heel length disparity relative to the coronet band (left, and in this case medial, heel). The corresponding coronet band is then "jammed" farther up on the left side to compensate for disparaging heel lengths.

In the after photo, the left heel is left "lower" relative to the ground (black line), BUT the purple arrows are more even in length. We can also see coronet band relaxation (faint green line).

After a few trims, the higher heel will relax, and the pressure along the coronet band will be more evenly distributed allowing for greater digital cushion function.

https://tlchooftrimming.com/services/

01/19/2024

I have a HUGE but SMALL favor to ask 💗! And if you’re following my page already, THANK YOU!

Go to my business’ page TLC Hoof Trimming and press on the 3 little dots … on the right side of page

- Hit “Invite Friends”
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Copied but wanted to share as this is an amazing way to help us small business owners for free.

*I highly encourage my small business friends to copy this and use it!*