20/07/2025
Look at the gorgeous hooves on this Fell Pony, living in its native environment!
Throwback Thursday - what is a natural barefoot hoof and where does hoof care go âwrongâ?
And how do pathological postural changes come about?âŚ.
Here is another photo from a post on Facebook from a few years back. This is a lightly handles, healthy, 5 year old Fell pony, who has never been trimmed. He lived in Cumbria, on a fell - where he was bred to live and thrives in this environment.
This hoof has been shaped since birth, through thousands of miles of roaming and wild foraging. Cumbria is the wettest part of England, and the terrain he has adapted to is extremely varied, hilly, stony, boggy, earthy, mostly wet, and sometimes dry.
This is WILDLY different to the Mongolian steppes, the African Plain or any other truly wild ecosystems of the modern horses wild ancestors.
I dont believe we truly have sufficient studies of actual wild horses to claim we humans know what a natural hoof really is. And even if we did, is it appropriate to shape the domestic horse into this shape? The pictures and videos I have seen of truly wild horses look more upright and taller than the ones claimed to be healthy, which tend to be feral populations turned loose and dont represent truly wild horses due to genetic variations and the natural constraints of their environments . Bun they DO show us how the hoof adapts to the environment, which is useful.
Is this fell pony demonstrating hooves which are âhealthyâ or âhealthy adaptation?â Or both?
What stands out to me is this - in the UK, our largely wet and mild climate, damp soil and less than ideal managment and diet would suit a robust hoof like this. Instead, I tend to meet horses with low heels, this soles and long toes. Why is this? Is this genetics? Is this trimming imposed? Is this management? Is this diet?
I feel the answer is yes.
Whatever you feel about this hoof shape, it was abundantly clear to me that this hoof shape was suiting him, for his posture and muscular development was incredible. There wasnât any tension, in his shoulder, neck, back or hind quarters. there wasnât evidence of compensatory posture. The limbs were loaded evenly and he carried himself beautifully.
If all my clients horses looked like this, I wouldnât change a thing about their hoovesâŚ.
Food for thought?
I invite you to check in with your feelings and thought when reading this post and looking at the photos. If you disagree, what exactly are you disagreeing with and why? You cannot disagree with this horses lived experience, can you? If you have been told a hoof should look a certain way, why is this? And do you have truly objective evidence this shape actually supports the horses welfare state?
What matters is the horses lived experience, which can be described as their welfare state.
I imagine, from what I have observed and documented over the decades is this - if i made this hoof look a certain way - lets say a long toe and low heels - this horses welfare state is going to be impacted, and not in a good way.
I would anticipate first of all, a subtle shift in his posture, as the proprioceptive feedback kicks in and his teeth, jaw, soles, frogs, joints, ligaments, tendons, fascia and muscles sensed a change and would reorientate themselves in accordance to the new forces sensedâŚ
He would feel as though he were standing on a hill and would lift the head, lean over the front legs, and to counter act this imbalance, he would shift his hind legs further under himâŚ
Then, the fascia would tighten in places, to help hold this new position⌠this, along with altered blood and nerve flow, would alter the tone, balance and morphology of the individual muscles⌠with postural changes comes changes in the orientation of the entire skeletal system..
Soon, the angle of the back would change, getting steeper⌠the croup would become higher relative to the wither, and the stifle would become higher relative to the elbow⌠the horse would look downhill!
I would anticipate to see overdevelopment of the muscles on the underside of the neck, around the poll, and under development of the shoulder and pectoral muscles⌠in other words, the thoracic sling muscles would atrophy and shoulders and soon, the entire front end would become closer to the ground⌠I KID YOU NOT!
To counter act this, the hind end would brace and attempt to lift the horse up, placing emphasis on the hamstrings and iliopsoas group⌠the back would be used entirely differently now and there would be atrophy of the back and wither pocket muscles. The quads, used to help stabilise the hock and stifle (the âreciprocal apparatusâ) would also atrophy and the gait would be very much altered.
The changes in the body as a result of changes in hoof morphology then act upon the hoof itself, altering the load, wear and growth⌠the result is a negative cycle which is hard to break out of and now barefoot is no longer a viable option and an additive intervention is required to break the pattern and allow for correct load, growth and protection from inappropriate wear.
And if youâre anti-booting or even worse, anti-shoeing, and if either of these is the only intervention left to reverse the negative welfare state, then the horse is screwedâŚ.
Prevention is ALWAYS better than cure. Provide the horse with what it needs for its individual optimum welfare state and there actually isnt much of a need for human hoof care intervention, or not much at all. The vast majority of issues I encounter, if you take the time to investigate the history, is humans providing inappropriate environmental stimulus (management, diet, care, trim, training, etc, etc) and poor breeding.
And for the love of horses, please DONT tell me this ISNT a ânatural trimâ because it doesnât fit your current believe system. They donât get any more natural than this.
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