Down to Earth Hoofcare

26/03/2020

Due to animal welfare considerations, hoof care and farriery is still considered an essential service at this time, and I'll be doing my best to continue providing care as long as I safely can.

Please consider taking some of the below precautions to keep you and your hoof care practitioner as safe as possible during these difficult times. Limiting cash handling by paying via EFT and providing hand washing facilities are particularly appreciated. Stay safe and well everyone!

📷 Australian Association of Equine Podiotherapists

26/11/2019

Their patience, their forgiving nature, and their willingness to keep trying for their human partners is just some of what keeps me inspired by the horses I get to meet and work with every day 💕

Most horses pass from one human to another - some horsemen and women are patient and forgiving, others are rigorous and demanding, others are cruel, others are ignorant.

Horses have to learn how to, at the minimum, walk, trot, canter, gallop, go on trails and maybe jump, to be treated by the vet, all with sense and good manners.

Talented Thoroughbreds must learn how to win races, and if they can't do that, they must learn how to negotiate courses and jump over strange obstacles without touching them, or do complicated dance
like movements or control cattle or accommodate severely handicapped children and adults in therapy work.

Many horses learn all of these things in the course of a single lifetime. Besides this, they learn to understand and fit into the successive social systems of other horses they meet along the way.

A horse's life is rather like twenty years in foster care, or in and out of prison, while at the same time changing schools over and over and discovering that not only do the other students already have their own social groups, but that what you learned at the old school hasn't much application at the new one.

We do not require as much of any other species, including humans.

That horses frequently excel, that they exceed the expectations of their owners and trainers in such circumstances, is as much a testament to their intelligence and adaptability as to their relationship skills or their natural generosity or their inborn nature.

That they sometimes manifest the same symptoms as abandoned orphans - distress, strange behaviors, anger, fear - is less surprising than that they usually don't.

No one expects a child, or even a dog to develop its intellectual capacities living in a box 23 hours a day and then doing controlled exercises the remaining one.

Mammal minds develop through social interaction and stimulation.

A horse that seems "stupid", "slow", "stubborn", etc. might just have not gotten the chance to learn!

Take care of your horses and treasure them.

Written by Jane Smiley

🌟We are their caretakers...let's do it kindly & with compassion!🌟

09/08/2019

Days like today, and horses like this are the reason I love my job - knowing I can make a difference, however small.

This little guy is an elderly pony, bought sight unseen from the sales, and I was asked to come and help make him comfortable to start his new life out on the right foot ... or hoof!

We took our time and worked gently, aware that he seemed stiff and uncomfortable with arthritis and upper body issues. After the first hoof he stood patiently however, and I like to think he knew we were trying to help.

Underneath all that overgrowth he had beautiful little feet waiting to be uncovered 🐴

24/07/2019

29/05/2019

11/12/2018

GOING IN CIRCLES

When horses roamed the plains, they did exactly that: they roamed. They drifted along, grazing and mostly walking in straight lines. When horses worked for a living, they continued to walk those straight lines, pulling a plow from one end of the field to the other, pulling a milk wagon from one end of town to the other, or pushing cattle from one end of Texas to the other. As they transitioned from work animals to recreation vehicles, they generally continued walking, jogging, or cantering in reasonably straight lines, going from one end of a trail to the other.

Of course, not all work or recreation involved strict, straight line movement. They were asked to cut cattle, which often required them to work laterally, with sudden starts and stops and jolts and jerks. They were asked to perform military/dressage maneuvers, with significant lateral movement and transitions. They were asked to foxhunt, which required them to work over fences and around obstacles. They were asked to participate in sport, such as polo, which ag*in required stops, starts, bursts of speed and lateral work. And, of course, they were asked to race, which required speed, but generally on straight line tracks or long ovals.

As they transitioned into show and competition arenas, however, they shifted away from straight line activity. We changed the game and asked them to become focused athletes and runway models. In doing so, we put them into smaller and smaller spaces and asked them to perform more and more patterned behaviors. Basically, we put them into patterned, repetitive movements—mostly in circles... little, tight circles. And they started to fall apart, experiencing more and more issues with joint problems, soft tissue injuries, and general lameness concerns.

We blamed their failures and breakdowns on bad breeding practices and poor genetics; we blamed their failures on bad farriers and inadequate veterinarians; we blamed their breakdowns on poor training and conditioning, poor horse keeping practices, bad nutritional practices, and any number of other things. And, while none of these should be disallowed, the fact remains that we changed the game and put them into those little, tiny circles and repetitive activities. So, let’s look at equine anatomy, and specifically, let’s look at that in relation to athletic maneuvers and activities.

First and foremost, the horse is designed to be heavy on the forehand. We fight ag*inst that concept, asking them to engage their hindquarters, to “collect,” and to give us impulsion. And they’re capable of doing so… but they’re not designed or “programmed” to sustain such activity for any length of time. When they do this in “natural” settings and situations, they’re playing, they’re being startled or frightened, or they’re showing off. None of these are sustained activities.

Likewise, when they do engage, they’re generally bolting forward, jumping sideways, or leaping upwards. And they're typically doing that with a burst of speed and energy, not in slow motion. Ultimately, their design is simply not conducive to circular work. Each joint, from the shoulder to the ground is designed for flexion and extension—for forward motion, not lateral motion. In fact, these joints are designed to minimize and restrict lateral or side-to-side movement.

07/11/2018

26/08/2018

Is your horse getting enough Vitamin A and E during the drought?

Go on any social media page about horses and it won’t take you long to find posts talking about the drought, sourcing feed and people asking how to feed the most economical way. With many people on dirt now and with hay in NSW, VIC and SA on the verge of being depleted (if not already) it is important to give our horses a little extra support on the vitamin and mineral front.

Many horse owners are already feeding a vitamin and mineral supplement, but it is worth checking the levels of vitamin A and E. Horses would normally get these vitamins from fresh green grass or fresh green leafy hay. However for many owners these are no longer a part of their horses’ diets due to the drought.

"What is so important about Vitamin A and E anyway?"

Vitamin A is an antioxidant and plays important roles in vision (particularly night vision), reproduction, the immune system and the development and maintenance of bone and connective tissue. Vitamin A is stored in the liver for up to 6 months and this normally considered enough to get the horses through winter, however with the feed availability as it has been the last few months this vitamin is worth looking out for. Horses that are deficient in vitamin A may develop night blindness, weepy eyes, reduced fertility, dull or staring coat, and reduced immune function.

Vitamin E is also an antioxidant, it is important for nervous system function, muscular function and the health and maintainace of the immune system. Horses can store vitamin E for up to 4 months, however many horses in Australia have relatively low levels to begin with, due to poor quality grazing. It is important to note that foals born to a mare that has low levels of vitamin E will likely have very little vitamin E themselves.

Horses suffering from vitamin E deficiency may develop: trembling and muscle contractions, difficulty standing resulting in prolonged periods of recumbency (either on the ground or ag*inst structures), muscle atrophy, weight loss and low energy levels.

Horses suffering from bad vitamin E deficiency may develop: Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy (NAD) or equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM) these are neurological degenerative conditions. Symptoms are: symmetric ataxia (lack of muscle control and co-ordination) eg. g*it abnormalities more common in hind legs than front; a base wide stance (not caused by the conformation of the horse), lack of normal reflexes and proprioceptive deficits (a lack of awareness of the horse’s body in space causing abnormal body positions and / or movements).

Horses with prolonged vitamin E deficiency (18 – 22 months) may develop Equine Motor Neuron Disease (EMND). Symptoms are: muscle wastage, muscle twitching, low head carriage, recumbency and shifting of weight between the hind legs.

In extreme cases foals can develop Nutritional myodegeneration (NMD) and display the above symptoms which may also include cardiac involvement resulting in depression, rapid heart rate, difficulty breathing, foamy nasal discharge and sudden death.

"My feed is fortified with Vitamin A and / or E is this enough?"

Some commercial feeds and vitamin and mineral supplements have A and E added to them. In the case of Vitamin A this should be sufficient (providing they are receiving the recommended daily amount). However E oxidises quickly and often breaks down before it reaches the feed bin. With no recorded side effects of over supplementation for vitamin E it may well be worth adding. It is often recommended to supplement these in human capsule form as these prevent break down of the vitamins during transport and storage.

"How much should my horse get?"

The horse should consume Vitamin A as follows (according to the National Research Council U.S):

3,000 IU per 100kg of body weight per day for maintenance horses
4,500 IU per 100kg of body weight per day for working horses
6,000 IU per 100kg of body weight per day for pregnant/lactating mares

Over supplementation of Vitamin A can result in toxicity, be sure to check the feeds your horses are receiving before calculating what to supplement.

The horse should consume Vitamin E as follows (according to the National Research Council U.S):

5,000 IU per 100kg of body weight per day for maintenance horses
8,000 IU per 100kg of body weight per day for working horses
8,000 IU per 100kg of body weight per day for pregnant/lactating mares

The preferred form of vitamin E for horses is alpha-tocopherol as this is the naturally occurring version and is more bioavailable for the body. There is no toxicity level observed in Vitamin E and as such is considered safe to feed above recommended intake.

Both A and E are fat soluble and should be fed with some form of fat to facilitate absorption.

While horse owners continue to endure the drought extra care should be taken to ensure feeds are balanced and our hooved friends are meeting their daily requirements to stay healthy.

21/07/2018

How are your horse’s feet?

www.foxrunequine.com

(724) 727-3481

24/06/2018

Easy, inexpensive tip for applying sole soaks and treatments on those fidgety horses!

Tuesday Tip: Disposable shower caps for soaking horse hooves, for horses that won't stand in a bucket.

15/04/2018

What an exciting weekend at the 2018 Bowker Lectures! I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from so many internationally respected experts and researchers at the forefront of their fields.

Professional development and further learning opportunities are so important for equine therapists and care professionals in every field. There is always more to learn, new ideas to think about and new research to be shared.

A huge thank you to the Australian College of Equine Podiotherapy for organising and sponsoring such a great event for the equine community.

14/02/2018

The 2018 Bowker Lectures is an exciting collaboration of international equine therapists, industry leading researchers, experts and professionals spearheaded by the Australian College of Equine Podiotherapy. This conference provides a rare chance for equine therapists, Veterinarians and horse owners alike to come together and expand their knowledge, all with the aim of being better able to understand and treat our equine companions.

Registrations for this exciting opportunity are now open. For further information, registration form and program visit: www.barehoofcare.com

06/01/2018

With much of Australia baking in the summer heat, and heat wave conditions forecast over the weekend for NSW, the Central Coast is in for temps climbing into the 40s today. With no air conditioning to keep them cool, there are a couple of extra things we can do for our horses to help them get through these hot days.

Plenty of clean fresh water is a must, with access to enough shade for every horse in the paddock. The shade provided by trees is the highest quality as trees have a cooling effect. Feeding additional salt is important, (1 tbsp per horse per day, up to 2 tbsp on hot days or heavy work days) and for heavy sweaters or those in work an electrolyte paste may be helpful.

If available, provide access to a dam, creek, or other water source for the horses to play and stand in. If that's not possible, a mister hose or low sprinkler that the horse can walk over and cool their legs and belly will have the same effect. Be cautious however with hosing backs and all over as this can have an insulating effect as the water heats up and steams off.

Rugs are not recommended in high temperatures, however if you feel you need to leave a rug on for sun protection or insects etc, please use only a very light flag or mesh rug and be sure to check your horse's temperature under the rug throughout the day.

And just for fun, why not make your horse an ice block to enjoy? Put apple slices, carrot pieces, watermelon or other treats in an ice cream tub with a handful of salt, top up with water, freeze until solid.

If you have any great tips on helping our horses stay cool, please share!

10/12/2017

All horse owners over 18 years of age are invited to share their experiences and expectations of hoof care in this study conducted by The Animal Welfare Science Centre. Please consider participating!

The Animal Welfare Science Centre is looking for people to complete a survey on horse hoof care expectations and experiences. You must be an Australian horse owner over 18 years of age. https://www.surveyanyplace.com/s/AWSCHorseHoof/

09/11/2017

White line disease, or seedy toe, is all too often a mystery to many horse owners, and ignored by attendant hoof professionals in a mistaken belief that it's not a common or serious condition.

White line disease is caused by opportunistic bacteria and which g*in hold, often in a pre-existing crack or weakness in the hoof wall, and eat away at the inner wall and laminae, or 'white line'. These bacteria operate anaerobically, meaning that the initial course of treatment is to simply cut away or 'resect' the infected hoof wall and open the area to light and air. The initial resection is closely followed by regular applicant of an antibacterial agent to treat any remaining infection.

This hoof presents with several chronic issues, including signs of long-term nutritional deficiencies, poor form and malfunction, all of which would have contributed to the occurrence of this WLD.

07/10/2017

A good overview of the changes hooves undergo during wet and dry seasons, and includes a brief look at hoof wall physiology.

A couple important questions are: why does this occur, and, what to do when wet hooves become problematic? In order to answer these questions it is important to take a closer look at the hoof capsule.

14/09/2017

Lettuce or Coke

According to our latest research findings on the sugar analysis of grass species this might give you some food for thought...

Perennial Rye has the equivalent sugar content as a fizzy can of drink with 140 calories.

Yorkshire Fog (considered to be an inferior grass species) has the equivalent sugar content as a lettuce leaf and 14 calories.

Given a ponies sweet tooth and love of food which grass type do you think he would prefer if both were on offer and what do you think his waistline and feet would look like at the end of the summer and into the autumn flush of grass?

21/08/2017

With Spring upon us, many horse owners caring for sugar-sensitive horses will be frantically trying to adopt different management strategies to reduce the intake of sugary pastures to avoid weight g*i

15/08/2017

Horses engaged in strenuous exercise display physiological responses that approach the upper functional limits of key organ systems, in particular their cardiorespiratory systems. Maximum athletic performance is therefore vulnerable to factors that diminish these functional capacities, and such impa...

03/08/2017

The ecirhorse.org website is complimentary to the Equine Cushing's and Insulin Resistance outreach group..

22/07/2017

Feet or Hooves: the Fascial Connection

Movement is the foundation of life and without it, we and all other vertebrates would perish. We move our feet to get us to where our hands (or a horse’s hooves) need to be, in order to eat or do other tasks essential to our survival and well-being.

If we agree that movement is the essence of our lives, this foundation might very well lie where you might expect it: at the bottom of our feet, or in the case of the horse, the hooves. Thus, understanding body alignment starting with the feet, together with the extensive intricacies of fascia, holds unbelievable untapped potential.

Unfortunately, most of 21st century humans will not tap this potential, having trapped their feet in shoes along with the rest of their bodies. As soon as we could walk, our parents put us in shoes, and because of our shoe-wearing culture, most people never get to feel the array of sensory information that the earth has to offer. Most conventional footwear is narrower than the natural foot. Shoes can be rigid, thick-soled or have elevated heels which make it impossible to access the full range of motion of many joints. Perhaps, the same may be said of the shoes that horses wear.

Are we trapping our horses in shoes that restrict movement of structures within the foot?
(In no way does this question determines whether horses should be shod or not. Some horses will never hold up to barefoot for conformational or pathological states. This is an issue for a later discussion.) However, if there is any contraindicated restriction in the foot, the body then, by way of the fascia, has to make constant adjustments to the pelvis and spine to try to maintain functionality.

Have you ever witnessed the power of fascia, and its utter ability to change for better or worse?
As an experiment, try this neat party trick!

Ask a friend to do a forward bend or “Uttasana” as it is called in yoga practice, and evaluate their range of movement. Most people will have difficulties touching their toes. Now, ask them to slowly and firmly roll their plantar fascia with a tennis or golf ball for one minute on each foot. Re-test the forward bend. For most people, you will find at least a moderate to a profound increase in the range of their forward bend and relief of the tightness in the posterior line of the body, from hamstring to lumbar spine to neck. How is this possible?

The answer can only be found within the fascial system. In this case, the tennis ball underfoot massage has released the superficial fascial back line (as identified by Tom Meyers in his book, Anatomy Trains).

Did you know that the human foot, has 33 joints and up to 7,000 sensory nerves, without counting the foremost fundamental fascia? It turns out that fascia is one of our richest sensory organs, with between six to ten times higher quantity of sensory nerve receptors than the muscles. In fact it is possible that fascia may be equal or superior to the retina, which has been considered so far, the richest sensory organ.

All of this neurological information would get mobilized, if we were walking on natural varying terrains and surfaces. Because shoes are restrictive and our feet, most of the time, are only exposed to a flat and smooth ground, the joints become immobile, the muscles atrophy to a certain extent and the fascia stiffens.

Proprioception in feet or hooves is indeed, essential for correct functional movement. Proprioceptors are the sensory organs located in muscles, joints and fascia that provide information to the Central Nervous System (CNS), regarding posture and function of the body. All of the tendons, ligaments and joint capsules in the feet or hooves are technically fascia and anatomical science has proven that fascia is richly endowed with proprioceptors.

So, when there is biomechanical dysfunction, there is inaccurate neurological information that is sent to the CNS from the feet. This can have a detrimental effect on coordination and balance through the spine and pelvis.

For example, when people wear thick cushioned shoes, and there are a few inches between the foot and the ground, the likelihood of twisting the ankle increases dramatically. This is because, by the time the proprioceptors in the foot realize it is twisting, it is already too late and damage is done. Whereas if barefoot, the proprioceptors would have acted instantaneously in correcting the balance and avoided injury.

Most footwear changes the natural shape of our feet, and by extension, changes the function of our entire body. However, even if we were barefoot most of the time, the artificial surfaces we usually step on, are flat, predictable and unchallenging for our proprioceptors.

Our bodies have lost both the ability to adapt to different terrains and the physical competency to achieve the natural skills of walking, running (for our lives), lifting, crawling, throwing, catching or climbing. All of these innate movements demand high levels of adaptability. Our bodies have sadly become a prime example of our cultural lack of movement!

Horses are suffering from the same issues, in as much as, they are not allowed to roam over a wide variety of terrains, the way feral horses traveled. Horses spend most of their time in stalls or manicured paddocks. We try to work them on the best surface available and without much change in terrain, or g*its. Hence, the critical importance of riding them outside the arena, and also doing work through mazes, cavalettis, TTouch exercises, etc, to wake up their somatic abilities.

We find that many performance and even a lot of pleasure horses are shod in a way that severely decreases the proprioception of the feet. In our practice, we see too many bad fitting shoes being put on horses feet without proper posture and g*it analysis, and not paying enough attention to the medial-lateral balance. By the end of the shoeing period, the fascia has locked in the postural defects, only to be repeated over the months or years to come, unless the feet balance is corrected. The fascia, should then normalize. However, if the problem is long standing, there is no point in correcting the feet without addressing the fascia concomitantly! This may also require straightness training and postural rehabilitation to bring the fascial structures back into balance.

Proprioception in barefoot horses is indeed much better. But if the feet are not trimmed evenly and the hoof-pastern axis and medial-lateral balance are not addressed, we will find the same postural problems than in shod horses. As a result, they develop a system of compensatory patterns that will bring the dreaded domino effect into a very clear perspective.
Examples of such problems abound in the horse world: wobbly hocks, destabilized or tight pelvis, sacroiliac joint and ligaments problems, soft tissue injuries of the lower legs, etc, etc…

Medical science for better or for worse, is finally catching onto the importance of fascia, as a major player in every movement that the body makes. If under tension, physical or mental, it will create knots, restrictions or pain that will impede your horse’s ability to exercise its full range of motion. It will thus enforce the body tendencies to either restrict itself and shorten, or lengthen and destabilize.

Remember, that the horse will react to trauma, repetitive physical strain or mental stress and create muscular or structural rigidity in its fascia. We know that it will lead to impaired functional movement.
On the other hand, when the fascia is normalized, and of proper viscosity and tension, the body then can align with gravity and joints can move freely.

Next time you are at the barn, stand your horse on a flat surface and pay attention to every detail from the tip of its nose to the bottom of its feet. Stand back and observe its posture. Check the alignment of the hoof-pastern axis and the medial-lateral balance of each foot. And last but not least, make sure that its barn and work environments are stress-free!

21/07/2017

20/07/2017

Nuchal ligament, is a large elastic structure in the dorsal neck region, that supports the horse's head and the neck. It consist of about 80% of elastin fibres (it is yellow in colour) and some of collagen fibres.
It has two parts: a cord-like funicular part (funiculus nuchae) and lamellar part (lamina nuchae). Both parts are paired (left and right connected by connective tissue).
Funiculus nuchae attaches to the skull (external occipital protuberance) and the spinous processes of cranial thoracic vertebrae. Lamina nuchae attaches to spinous processes of C2-C6 (C6 is very weak) and caudally is interwoven with the funicular part.
Elastic strain energy stored in the nuchal ligament contributes 55% of the work of moving the head and neck at the walk and 33% and the trot and 31% in a canter.

19/07/2017

Saddle fit is so important! An ill-fitted saddle can do untold damage in a relatively brief period of time.

Did you realise that your horses kidneys move?
That with each breath, they move approximately the length of a vertebral segment?
That in a single day, with your horse breathing normally, they will move on average 1.6km?

Why? Because they are connected to the diaphragm (as well as other things) via fascia and ligaments.
Look where they are located.. right under the back of your saddle. Poor saddle fit, unbalanced riders (any rider really but unbalanced is worse) will put pressure on this area and because where they are innervated from this can cause the restriction.

A classic sign of kidney restriction is the fidgety horse, that won't stand still. They are reactive and sore to pressure over the tops of the last ribs and it's firm, no give.
Combine that with restrictions at TH 15, 16, 17 and 18, and a change in pelvis angle.. and you will have issue with movement and attitude.

That sore back may have nothing to do with the muscles....
Something else to think about....

Photo: Merck Veterinary Manual (not motivated enough to draw my own tonight sorry).

17/07/2017

14/07/2017

What should a hoof look like at the end of a trimming cycle?
The photos below are of a healthy, well balanced hoof at the end of an eight week trimming cycle.. As you can see, there is no capsular distortion, no cracking and a nice straight hoof pastern axis...
I've been trimming this horse for the last 18 months and in the beginning she had long toes, low heels, flares and associated cracking... Diligent trimming to bring the toe back and move the whole hoof capsule back under the limb has resulted in a hoof that looks like this after eight weeks... Of course, diet and management by the owner and the luck of good genetics plays an important role, and not every hoof is going to hold up this well regardless of how good the maintenance is.. Having said that, if your horse is trimmed regularly for balance and good biomechanics, has a decent diet and there are no extenuating environmental factors or previous hoof pathologies at play, your horse's feet should still look balanced at the end of a trim cycle...

13/07/2017

Aim of this study was to compare glycemic and insulinemic responses and feed intake patterns in sport ponies after feeding isoenergetic quantities of low‐starch muesli feed high in fat and fibre (FF) or...