Brittle hoof walls

These photos show a front hoof that has brittle hoof walls. Hoof dressing, Rainmaker and Hoof flex, had been applied for many months, hoping to improve hoof wall quality.  This horse also has some thrush issues and Thrushbuster was applied liberally and often to get rid of the thrush.

Hoof wall quality will only improve with a better diet, not the application of products. Think of your own nails, do they improve when you apply nail products? The natural barefoot trim helps the horse that is on a balanced diet, grow in a healthier hoof wall.

About half way down this hoof wall you can see a ring, this is when his diet was changed, Omega Horse Shine, and then a bit later, California Trace minerals, were added to his diet. From this ring up to the coronet, this horse is growing in a tighter, better connected hoof wall. In the mean time he needs to be trimmed so the wall will not continue to flare, crack, chip and basically fall apart.

This is a mustang roll. The hoof wall can no longer pull away from the laminae and weaken the attachment because of the roll. The thrush and fungus that were also causing hoof wall separation are being treated with Thrush off, once or twice, and then daily apple cider vinegar as a sprayed on wash. Products like Thrush buster do kill the thrush bacteria, but they also kill the good bacteria and set the horse up for more thrush. Chemicals are not a bad thing, but the right chemicals are needed to kill the fungus and bacteria in horses feet.

If your horse has poor hoof wall quality, take a look at his diet, environment, and the type of trim. All of these factors, addressed in the correct way, improve a horses hoof.

The Barefoot trim - the sole

An important part of the natural barefoot trim is how the sole of the hoof is trimmed. This horse was in shoes, I should say a shoe as only one was still on, and I am going to do a natural barefoot trim.  As you can see in the photos, the sole was not trimmed as there was no reason to take any sole. Live sole should be left intact, any cracking powdery sole can be removed, but live sole should not be removed as the horse needs it for protection, support and proper hoof function. I trimmed the hoof wall and bars, balanced the heels and rolled the entire wall. I set the horse up to heal and for the hoof to change from long toe and under run heels to a correct, balanced hoof. 

Again a long stretched toe, you can see the stretched white line, the heels are too far forward, look at the heel and then look at the back of the frog, the heel bulbs are sticking out, also notice one is bigger than the other. The next photo is the same hoof three trims later. Again, only trimming hoof wall and bars, balancing the heels, rolling the hoof wall and not removing live sole. This horse is starting to develop a calloused sole and instead of being flat its starting to have concavity, the contracted forward heels have come back to where they should be aligning with the heel bulbs. There is more happening inside that we can't see, the changes on the outside show us the inside is realigning for correct bone alignment and a correct balanced, functional hoof.

This oblique view of the hoof shows us the toe callus that is building and the concavity this horse is developing as he grows in a new healthy hoof. The weight of the horse is supported by the frog and heel bulbs combined as he lands heel first, then the combination of the hoof wall, and the sole that is along the hoof wall. You can see in this photo where the horse is landing and building that calloused sole around the outer rim of his hoof. Again, there is no reason to remove the live sole, if I did I would make the horse sore. 

Think of your own feet. If you were to take off your shoes and start walking around barefoot, at first you would be tender footed, then you would start to develop callouses and soon you would be able to walk around on most anything. If you then went in for a pedicure, had all  your callouses removed plus a few layers of skin, your feet would hurt and you would have to rebuild all that skin and callous before you could walk on most anything again. This is how it is for the horse. To remove live, and or calloused, sole will make a horse sore and require shoes. 

Makes you wonder, why are we trimming and thinning the soles of horses when they need that sole? There is an old saying that form follows function. The form of a healthy, balanced, bare sole has some concavity, thickness and callus. The function is to allow a horse to move in comfort and is an integral part of a healthy bare hoof.

White Line Disease: What it looks like and how to avoid

Right Front (RF) Lateral view.

RF Medial view crack to left of toe

RF Oblique  WLD at heel/quarters

RF Solar WLD at quarters to heel

White line disease (WLD) is not a disease but a fungus that can be treated and grown out. It needs to be addressed by both owner and trimmer as a team. The photos of the above hoof show WLD in the right front hoof. This horse has had a crack. That, along with environment and diet factors, allowed the fungus to enter the hoof laminae and take hold.

How to prevent WLD and create a healthy hoof.

• Nutrition: A balanced diet with plenty of good quality grass hay along with a Vit./mineral supplement balanced for your area. The PNW soil is low in selenium, the hays are high in iron and manganese and deficient in copper, zinc and lysine. High levels of iron block the absorption of copper.  Signs that your horse is nutritionally deficient are poor hoof quality, a dull hair coat and an overall lack of condition. The best way to have your nutrition program balanced is to have your hay tested. If your hay comes from multiple sources feed a supplement that balances the minerals deficient in your location. Mineral blocks are very high in iron and should be removed and replaced with a white salt block or loose salt.

• Environment:  Too wet, mud, too much rich grass, over grazed stressed pastures, lack of movement, all key factors that can lead to WLD and other problems with your horse's hooves. Keeping it all in controlled BALANCE and being aware of your horse's condition will help better your horse's body condition and hooves.

• Hoof care - Regular (4-6 weeks) correct trims, cleaning the hooves, diligent treatment of thrush/cracks/WLD and booting when needed.

Over time, if any of these factors are deficient or neglected, they will start to show in the horses hooves, their hair and their overall condition. The trim is a small but important factor in hoof care, the other key factors need to be provided by the owner. Nutrition, Environment and Hoof Care, keeping all in the correct balance will lead to healthy hooves.


Same horse, left front hoof, seam is a former crack, no WLD.

Left Front (LF) lateral

LF oblique

Setting goals with our horses

As we look back upon the year and look forward to the new, thoughts of goals and more riding are swimming through our heads. Did you accomplish your goals with your horses this past year? Give up after a few months? Thought you rode quite a bit but its not reflected in your riding? How about your horses behavior on the ground and in the saddle, see any improvement?

One way to keep better track of how often we work with our horses, and what we work on, is to make a simple Excel spreadsheet. Here is what I do. For each month I have a new sheet, across the top are the names of the horses, down the left column are the dates .  I use a simple legend, R=Ride, TR= trail ride, GW= ground work, GD= ground driving,  TW= trailer work, W= worming, S= shots, T= trim, etc. Each day that something is done with a particular horse, I put the appropriate letter under their name on that date. If I did something noteworthy, or reached a certain goal, I will write a little note over in a column to the right called 'Notes'.

I also have a separate packet of papers that has a list of the tasks I would like to complete with each horse that comes in for training. With most horses I have three months to complete these tasks, and all might not be complete because it depends on the horse, but small goals lead to the bigger goal of turning out a nice, safe riding horse.

Having a record of our training program makes it really easy to look at the facts of how often we are working with our horse. It can be a reality check of how little we work with our horse and why we are not achieving our goals.  At the end of the year we can look back over our spreadsheets and see if we reached those goals and if not, what becomes part of the future goals, what needs to be broken down into smaller goals, maybe add a new goal.

Keeping a written schedule helps to see the reality of how much we work with our horse, and helps to develop and keep track of a well schooled training program. I hope this idea, and a new year, helps you start your own horsemanship program so you can improve your horsemanship and the relationship you have with your horse.

Happy New Year and God Bless!

Amy Allen

Transitioning from shoes to barefoot- The second trim

Left front solar view before trim

Left front side view before trim

Its been 6 weeks since I pulled the shoes off this horse and trimmed her hooves.

Right hind solar view before trim

Right hind side view before trim

In the solar view of her left front (after trim), you can see her toe is starting to shorten and hoof widen. This horse is also building a toe callus. Currently the area where the toe callus is building is very smooth and pretty wide, from the apex of the frog all the way to the toe, however as her hoof starts to change its shape from long and narrow, to shorter and  wider, the toe callus will be located closer to the hoof wall at the toe and she will start to gain some concavity. The concavity will allow the coffin bone to be suspended higher up in the hoof, which will lead to less sensitivity to rocks and other uneven surfaces.  

Left front solar view after trim

Left front side view after trim

After 2nd Trim

Also, as she continues in her transition her sole will gain thickness, which will also add protection and less sensitive hooves.
What are some key elements to transition and healthy bare hooves? The trim, diet, exercise to promote circulation which promotes healing, hoof protection and time. 
Can I ride my horse during barefoot transition? Absolutely, but be aware of stride and movement. If your horse is showing signs of pain, put on some boots and most likely your horse will move right out, this will increase circulation and healing.
The owner of this horse reports she has some sensitivity to rocks, which would be expected, but under saddle in the arena there is noticed improvement in her movement and she is now doing roll backs comfortably.

Merry Christmas!

Long toe and under run heels - transitioning from shoes to barefoot

Left front solar view

Left front side view before trim

Add caption

Long toes and under run heels are very common in shod horses. You can see in these photos a good example of long toes and under run heels. The heels should be not be so far forward, they should be back, aligning with the back of the frog, or very close to it. Shoes do not allow the frog and heels to expand and get wider as they grow, so they grow forward and contract.

Right hind solar view

Right hind side view

This side view of the hind hoof, if you can imagine it before it was filed off at the toe to fit the shoe, that is a very long toe and under run heel and has affected the way this horse travels.

How is a horse trimmed to correct a long toe and under run heels? In this case the farrier was trying to grow a longer heel, but when you try and grow a longer heel, you get even more long toe and under run heel, especially if a horse is shod.
A heel will chase a toe, so you trim back the toe then the hoof gets back under the horse. Eventually the horses heel will get back in alignment with the back of the frog and the angle will change. Instead of being forward and low, it will be back under the horse and the angle will be correct.

Left front side view after trim

solar view after trim

This was the first trim of many for this horse and I am setting up the hoof to change and heal. All can not be corrected in the first trim because the bones in the hoof and leg have to change. You can see in the solar view, there is more toe in front of the widest part of the hoof, the heels need to widen and the heels will come back and align with the back of the frog.

Over time, as I keep trimming this horse, and backing up her toe, and balancing the rest of her hoof, the anatomy of the horse will change and she will be more comfortable. In comparing the  before and after photos, you can see how the the toe has backed up a little and the heel is a little more under the horse.

Right hind side view after trim

Right hind solar view after trim

In the solar view you can see there is more toe in front of the widest part of the hoof and the heels are too far forward. The cracking is more sole that will exfoliate, I did remove some, the horse will continue to remove it on her own.  After this horses next trim, I will post updated photos and you will see even more changes to achieve a healthier bare hoof.

Two little girls

Tonight was the last night of lessons for the season, here on the Allen Acres lesson horses.
I'm very proud of these young students, Emily and Sagel. They are both friends and share the common love of horseback riding and learning all about horses.

Emily, she is a returning student and this year she wanted to learn to canter. Raven has a great canter, and Emily, although little, especially on this big mare, has a lot of courage, try and a huge amount of determination.

 

 Tonight, I stepped out of the round pen and said, "She is all yours Emily, you know what to do, pick your spots for your take off and go for it." And Emily did. She cantered and cantered and cantered, both ways of the arena, and did a great job. We all had a laugh towards the end as Raven walked to the mounting block and stopped, she was done.  Emily took Raven to the outdoor arena to do her cool down walking exercises.

A happy little girl, who just loves to be on the back of a horse, around horses and has the confidence to go for it

 

....and a mare who gives her all for Emily. 

Sagel has been taking lessons once a week since May 2010. Sagel has a natural confidence with horses, and likes to have lots of fun while learning.  She can catch up Bob from the pasture, get his halter on, drag his head out of that grass (he LOVES food), bring him to the barn, groom, saddle and round pen him, bridle, get on him, lateral flex and do all her warm up circles before I even start her lesson. And she is 10.

Bob would rather stop than go, and makes his rider learn how to be a rider and not a passenger. Sagel learned the aids, timing and feel and she gets Bob going and keeps him going.

Sagel wants to have a horse of her own some day soon. With her level of responsibility, and her confidence with horses, I believe that dream will be fulfilled.