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Pat Wagner is a twice-certified natural hoof care practitioner. Her journey into saving equine hooves started when her own mare could no longer tolerate the damaging affects shoes had on her hooves and spiraled into a life of pain and lameness for many months.
When she realized that traditional hoof care was no longer
a viable method for keeping her horses sound, Pat traveled
to Georgia to train with one of the foremost authorities on
natural hoof care, Pete
Ramey. Pat recommends Pete Ramey's book, "Making
Natural Hoof Care Work for You", as well as articles
found on his website and his latest DVD release "Under
the Horse".
Since that time, Pat has spent over five years training with, and teaching, practitioners around the country and attending clinics with experts in their field such as Dr Robert Bowker, Professor of Anatomy and Director of the Equine Foot Laboratory at Michigan State University.
All their horses are barefoot sound now, so Pat and her husband Rich are busy rehabbing less fortunate horses at their farm, Rainier Hoof Recovery Center, in Washington State. Pat is currently a member of the American Hoof Association.
Before getting to the questions, we asked Pat if she had any introductory comments.
Pat: If we have a question about our horse's hoof health and
the response is a firm "yes" or "no",
we should ask someone else's opinion or do our own research.
The correct response to nearly every hoof-related question
is, "It depends..."
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Why is it critical for a horse's hooves to land heels first?
If you consider the biomechanics of the horse, you can understand why heel first landings are natural to the hoof in most instances.
A hoof landing correctly is critical to the tendons and ligaments
of the horse's lower leg. Of the horses whose hoof landing
patterns are perpetually toe first, the tendons and ligaments
are operating exactly backwards.
When horses climb hills, descend steep slopes or negotiate uneven terrain, their hooves will land how they need to in order to start their journey and arrive at their destination. So when we speak of perpetual landings, we are referring to hoof landings as horses traverse flat ground.
From the side, watch a horse walk past you. What you should
see are front hooves coming down on the back of the hoof first
(the heel). As the horse's body moves over the hoof, the hoof
will pitch down onto its sole, bringing the entire hoof into
play. As the horse's body moves over and past the hoof, it
will break over the toe as it leaves the ground to prepare
for the next heel-first landing.
That was my attempt at describing a healthy stride. Unfortunately,
this isn't the stride you will see on many domestic horses
and certainly not often on shod horses. If you do see heel-first
landings on a shod horse, hang onto the farrier.
So you might be wondering what the big deal is about a hoof landing heel first? Maybe your horse lands toe first every stride, you ride her every day and she does just fine…or so you think.
Why don't you try it yourself? Walk around for five or ten
minutes coming down toe first on your foot then drop onto
your heel. With every step you will begin to feel your calf
muscles becoming tense and your tendons and ligaments will
feel stressed. It is not painful, but even after a few minutes
it is fairly uncomfortable and your legs will tire quickly.
Now walk that way for a bit longer, out to your barn, as you
move around to do chores.
Imagine being forced, because of improper foot wear, to walk around like that all the time!
When you switch back to landing on your heels first and roll over the ball of your foot, you can you feel the difference in your legs. Heel-first landings are much more comfortable. Am I right?
Toe first landings, for you, might be a great way to tone
up your calf muscles, but horses do not have any muscles in
their legs below the knee - it is all tendons and ligaments.
I certainly wouldn't be asking a horse to work hard for me
if I knew his body mechanics were not functioning properly.
Imagine constant locomotion day and night with toe-first landings. Not just walking, but jogging and running and sending yourself, with someone on your back, over jumps. Ouch!
Horses whose hooves land chronically toe first are not truly sound. While they are working with backwards mechanics, those same horses are usually dealing with other defects in their hooves as well - such as run-under heels and long toes, which force an incorrect break over on their hooves. It is frequently these horses who are labelled navicular.
Horses live with this discomfort until it becomes painful.
They live with the pain until they just can't cope any more.
This is when we begin to see chronic lameness for which we
begin purchasing all sorts of pricey supplements until we
retire the horse, or have it put down and go in search of
a younger healthier horse - and the cycle goes on.
So, if you have a horse in chronic pain when it moves, and
it's a mystery to you, your farrier and your vet, one of the
first things I would look at is how the hooves are landing.
What does the term "break over" mean?
When I arrive at a barn to trim a horse for the first time, whether it has been receiving pasture trims or whether shoes are removed, the most common problem the hoof has been living with its elongated toes. Typically, when toes run forward, the rest of the hoof (frog and heel) follow.
After toe-first landings, a long toe is the most common and damaging fault domestic horses live with.
To get a feel for what horses living with excessively long toes have to deal with, put on a pair of shoes or boots that are three or four sizes too big for you and wear them for a while.
A hoof with toes that are much longer than they should be
cannot "break over" at the correct place.
One flawed tactic that many hoof care professionals use to correct long toes is to allow the heels to become long (high) in an effort to balance the hoof.
How do you compare natural trims to shoes and traditional trims?
A hoof is a progressive unit which has an amazing capacity
to adapt to its environment. If you want to see your horse
develop hooves that are comfortable on rocky terrain, bring
rocky terrain into your horse's environment. This doesn't
mean forcing a tender-footed horse to walk on rocks, but rather
find ways to work up to a horse that is comfortable on the
rocks.
The main point to remember is that the hoof changes and adapts to the conditions it lives in and works on. It is not an inanimate object, like something made up from a woody substance, as many perceive it to be.
A hoof horn is keratinised (hardened) protein, the same substance as your own fingernails. The hoof horn is attached to the coffin bone by two layers - epidermal (insensitive) and dermal (sensitive) laminae. These two layers of laminae are zipped together in a Velcro-like manner. Improper diet, neglect, injury and shoes can all have a negative impact on this lamellar attachment.
Horse shoes Nailing steel to a hoof causes a multitude of problems for the horse. Here follows a short list.
The shoe locks the internal structures of the hoof into the state it was in when the shoe was applied and takes the outer structures out of function.
The bars, sole and frogs will overgrow in a vain attempt to remain functioning by making impact with the ground. These elements of the hoof need intermittent (not constant) pressure for healthy circulation and to resist atrophy. Constant pressure kills living tissue, like that of a shoe nailed onto a hoof.
Each time a shod hoof lands, the concussion is more excessive
than the horse's anatomy was meant to withstand. A few good
filmed examples of this can be found on You
Tube.
The trimming method that has to be done on a hoof for the application of a shoe has to be different than a natural trim. There needs to be excess hoof wall to nail the shoe onto.
Traditional trims The main problem I see with traditional trimming methods is that very often hoof material, which should have been removed, is left behind, and hoof material, which should have been left behind, has been removed.
Backwards trimming methods won't promote healthy, sound-on-gravel,
bare hooves. So by design traditional trimming methods promote
the necessity of horse shoes!
When leaving hooves deshod, a common trimming technique is to leave the bit of hoof wall length past the sole - the notion being that the extra wall length will replace the shoe.
That logic has always confused me. Why would we need to replace
a shoe on a bare hoof? It's not like the hoof was born with
a shoe attached and we removed it so we need to put something
in its place. Also, that particular trimming method causes
some of the same issues that shoes cause for the hoof.
Incorrect trimming methods are directly responsible for the need for shoes - and shoes perpetuate the need for shoes.
What can we do to condition our horses' hooves to riding barefoot?
Most of us still like to use a term "gravel crunchers",
which Pete Ramey coined, to describe the type of hoof that
can traverse over any kind of terrain.
The horse owner who owns a gravel crunching horse is to be applauded for getting all the elements of a great bare hoof correct - diet, movement, environment and trims.
However, because we cannot expect all hooves to become sound on gravel at all times, we need to protect those horses from becoming sore footed on long rides over unforgiving trails, or even just being led around the barn.
Some horses live with conditions that promote a sound hoof, while other horses are not in a situation conducive to sound healthy bare hooves and likely will never be.
What then? Shoes? As of now, shoes are the most convenient apparatus, but my hope is if you go to shoes, you search for and find a certified farrier who understands the natural hoof and how to apply as natural a trim as possible that can be shod.
Again, look for that heel-first landing. Then seriously consider removing the shoes for at least part of the year.
Or consider alternative shoes, like the lightweight glue-on shoes.
Hooves adapt to their environment If you have a horse that lives in a stall on fluffy-deep shaving for the majority of its down time and you decide to pull the shoes and take off riding barefoot down a rocky trail, how well do you think that horse is going to do?
As dumb as that sounds, it has been tried. No wonder we hear comments like riding a horse barefoot on the trail is cruel. Yes, it is cruel in that scenario.
You have to help the hooves adapt to the environment you're
going to be riding it on. And no, that doesn't mean forcing
a tender-footed horse to walk on abrasive surfaces until it
stops limping.
"Mamas, don't let your babies grow up on soft
bedding" Get those babies out of the stall!
Get them into an area where they can move around over varied
terrain - just like babies born in the wild. We're seeing
too many clubbed hooves on young horses. I believe a soft
hoof being conditioned on soft footing is partly, if not completely,
to blame for this condition.
Second, bring the gravel in and spread it around the areas
your horse has to navigate every day, for example, in the
gateways, around the water troughs, in the paddock and so
on. If horses start out this way, it won't have a negative
impact on the hoof and cause sore feet.
What size gravel? Because you will want to keep your expensive
gravel clean in order for it to do its job, the most important
factor, regarding size, is that it's small enough to drop
through your manure fork. You won't want to be tossing it
out with the manure.
Generally, when we bring abrasive material into our horses'
living area, we need a plan. Don't dump a truck load of gravel
into your paddock in the rainy season only to see it swallowed
up by mud. Wait until the ground is dry, then dig out the
area and remove a few inches of soil that generally turns
to mud and layer in different sizes of rock and gravel.
I always get asked about hog fuel. We've tried it. If you
layer it deep enough it's great for a year, maybe two, but
as it decomposes, it creates another problem. Not to mention
that you never know what you'll find in hog fuel that could
damage a leg or puncture a hoof or what chemicals could have
soaked into such a diesel.
What do your recommend for protecting our horses'
bare hooves while riding on rocky trails?
Wouldn't it be great if we could get a company like Nike to
patent a truly perfect athletic shoe, or boot - one that is
easy to put on and easy to remove? Marquis
is the boot that comes as close to that description as I have
found, but it still could use improvement.
There are glue-on hoof boots that many endurance competitors are using successfully, including the Marquis Glue on, by Stride Equus. And the EasyCare boots company has some great new products. One is the Easy boot Glove!
The glue-on type boots aren't as apt to fly off or cause rubbing
like the standard hoof boots, however, for the recreational
rider, glue-on boots are not as easy to put on and remove
as the regular hoof boots.
As more and more of us are going barefoot and expecting to ride on rocky trails and rugged terrain, the demand for manufacturers to get serious about providing us with a great boot may happen. However, for now, we have to use our best judgment when choosing hoof protection if we need it.
Since we must choose from the boots available to us now, it is important to understand that certain boots work better on hooves of different shapes. For instance, some boots will stay on an upright hoof better and without rubbing than others. So you have to experiment a little to find the right boot for your horse.
An interesting note is that a couple boot manufacturers are distributing identical boots under different brand names - exact same boot, different brand.
Are you opposed to ever putting shoes on a horse?
I'm opposed to ever putting shoes on my own horses. Most horse
owners will tell you that shoes remain the most convenient
type of hoof protection we can put on our horses today. That's
true, with the exception of the all-terrain barefooted horse
that needs no protection.
Although it happens and often at the very worse times, there
is less worry about the horse losing a horse shoe on the trail
than a boot - and shoes don't rub soft tissue. I get that.
However, shoes do bruise the walls and soles of the hoof.
I couldn't put shoes on my own horses, but I understand a
rider's situation and the convenience of horse shoes. There
isn't anything as good out there yet as a nailed-on shoe for
carefree riding.
So, for summer riding, if your horse's hooves are correct,
sound and healthy, a few months spent in protective shoes
applied by a certified farrier (check for that, certification
is important and many are not) typically won't destroy a horse's
hooves. But give them a rest out of the shoes for most of
the year. Nearly every farrier reference book includes that
statement.
Having said that, I have to explain that the type of shoeing
I take issue with for many reasons is "corrective"
shoeing. In my opinion, there just is NO SUCH THING as corrective
shoes. If the hoof itself is incorrect, you cannot correct
it with a shoe.
You may have a horse that doesn't limp - for a while. I feel
that most often hooves heal themselves in spite of the shoe,
not because of it. I've dissected many cadaver hooves of horses
that were put down wearing corrective shoes.
If a bare hoof isn't sound, it won't be sound shod - you just
won't see as much limping. If you're going to shoe to ride,
fix the hooves first.
There is something to bear in mind regarding the roulette of horse shoes. There is a large percentage of unqualified horse shoers in the field. Even the best farrier is going to have an off day. So consider the likelihood that at some point in time your horse will fall victim of a poor-quality shoeing job, just as my mare did.
I was given a valuable reining horse who was retired at the age of ten after coming lame from the shoes attached to his feet. He has never completely recovered and likely never will. For him, it took only one set of shoes to ruin his career and devalue him completely.
Is it true that on working barefoot horses, the hoof wall will wear off faster then a horse can grow it?
Yes and no.
Yes, that is true when the hooves are trimmed in the traditional manner and infrequently - leaving the walls longer than they naturally should be, allowing walls to flare, and cutting out live sole material.
In other words, on a flat, flared, incorrectly-trimmed hoof, which goes for two months between trims, the walls might wear faster than a horse could grow them, if you really used the horse hard. However, the horse would then probably develop split, chipped hooves and a pronounced limp long before it could wear the walls down.
And no! Hooves that are frequently and correctly trimmed, are not flat or flared, but are sound going into hard work, will typically not split, chip, or wear faster than the walls can grow. Healthy, well-trimmed walls can stand up to what wild horses test them on, which is much more severe in most cases than what the majority of us ride our horses on.
How often should hooves be trimmed?
One of the key differences between traditional hoof care and natural hoof care is the length of time between trims. The more frequently we can simulate natural abrasion of the hoof, the healthier the hooves.
If I could get to my horses and trim them as often as I'd
like, the longest they would go between trims is three weeks.
My customers who keep their horses on a four-week trim cycle
are the ones always bragging about how well their barefoot
horses perform on the rocky trails. However, five weeks between
trims still works well for most horses.
Even pasture ornaments shouldn't go past six weeks because
that's when we typically start to see stretched white lines,
which will eventually lead to separation in the white lines.
It is then that we see the hoof wall abscessing, white line
disease and other issues. It takes a number of trims to get
their hooves back to sound health.
If your horses are going eight to 12 or more weeks between
trims, they are unlikely to ever develop sounds hooves. There
are exceptions to that rule, as with all rules about horses
and hooves - such as horses constantly on the move and living
on terrain similar to that of wild horses. I've seen amazing
hooves like this on trail horses in California wine country,
but even they need a touch up now and then.
I have met one horse, over 20 years old, who never had her
feet touched. Except for some flare in the lower half of her
hooves, her feet functioned as well as she needed them to,
roaming around her pasture. But typically, when a domestic
equine's hooves are left to their own devices for many months
or years, there will be pain and extensive damage.
Do barefoot hooves seem to develop abscesses more often than shod hooves?
Hoof abscess are a conundrum. It sure seems like unshod horses
are more apt to develop abscesses, but I don't believe that
is the case.
I hope to write a paper about hoof abscesses one day. They
are a mystery and not much research has been done on that
topic, so I'll try to keep my thoughts on abscesses as brief
as possible here.
There are as many theories about the cause of hoof abscesses as there are hooves that have been afflicted with them.
Diet is one possible cause and I believe that is true, but neglected hooves allow separation of the white line (access), which can lead to environmentally-induced abscessing, as well as constant pressure from shoes.
First, there are several locations where abscessing can take
place in the hoof. One is inside the hoof wall. We've all
seen those after they've worked their way up the laminae tissue
and ruptured at the soft tissue of the coronet band. Separation
of the white line (too many weeks between trims?) allows debris
to work its way up the laminae, destroying both the dermal
and epidermal layers in its path up to soft tissue where it
bursts out.
Second is the sub solar abscess, which affects the solar papillae that attaches the sole to the coffin bone. When this type of abscess ruptures, often large sections of sole material will be lost and new sole will develop in its place, like a blister.
Thirdly is what I refer to as bar abscesses. These start under unkempt bars and will usually rupture near the heel bulbs or under the sole or throughout the entire hoof.
Interestingly, hooves frequently suffer from acute inflammation (laminitis) concurrently with abscessing.
As we discussed earlier, shoes tend to put the hoof into lockdown, so I believe a shod hoof can harbor an abscess or abscesses for long periods of time. I believe the reasons we commonly see abscessing in recently deshod hooves is that once released the abscesses are allowed to surface. That is just a theory.
What do you feel is a common trimming mistake that barefoot trimmers make?
Not addressing the bars correctly. Like the rest of the hoof, the bars adapt to the terrain on which the hoof is working and living as well as seasonal changes.
There have been a number of occasions where I've gone to trim
a lame horse and all I've done is take down the bars and the
horse walks off sound.
Bar trimming is very controversial. In the different natural hoof care camps there seem to be two extremes among the recommendations for trimming bars. One camp teaches students to cut the bars back radically into the live sole. The other camp teaches that we should never touch the bars.
I feel that both methods are flawed. If we take the bars too far back, we rob the horse of its most important horizontal and vertical support for the back of the hoof.
If we don't ever touch the bars, they become elongated, puffy
or flopped over onto the sole and the opposite problems arise.
Because the bars ARE the caudal support for hoof, if they are left unkempt long bars can lock the hoof into a situation where sole material is retained and the hoof capsule becomes elongated. I believe that overgrown bars can put undue pressure on the lateral cartilages, which can cause pain and therefore lameness. This could explain why taking the bars down to the live sole, not below live sole, can cause soundness in previously unsound horses.
Bars that have rolled over onto the sole are great places for hiding debris that will eventually cause abscessing. (Note: if your horse is popping abscess one after the other, especially out the back of the hoof, check the diet and the bar length.)
I feel, as trimmers, we need to avoid these two extremes of
gouging out the bars, or leaving them untouched. We need to
help the bars find their healthiest length for each hoof.
When the bars arrive at their happy place, we will know and
that's when we should leave them alone.
Summary There are many more questions about the proper care of equine hooves than there are answers. I could easily have elaborated on the responses to the ten questions above to create many pages of text.
I believe that proper hoof care - and learning to trim a hoof
naturally - is easy, but not simple. There is much more to
keeping a hoof healthy than just the correct trim, but I believe
the trim is the foundation for a healthy hoof. You can get
every other aspect - diet, movement and environment - exactly
right, but if the hoof isn't being trimmed correctly, soundness
may never be achieved.
So I ask you, how could Mother Nature have so completely dropped the ball with the horse and his hoof that we superior humans have the answer for where she messed up? Please believe me that there was no mistake in the hoof that was provided for the horse. It is a brilliant piece of anatomy. Our job is simply to assist the horse in maintaining their hoof soundness by making wise decisions regarding our horse-keeping practices.
"If a hoof isn't sound barefoot, it isn't sound."
If you are concerned about your horse's feet and would like an expert opinion contact Pat. Keeping your horse's feet healthy and comfortable are keys to a long, enjoyable life for your horse.
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