Gower Equine Podiatry - Gabby Wilcox

11/08/2026

I'm very lucky to have had Christian as one of my mentors!

Today's post has been kindly submitted by equine podiatrist Christian Egeler

Many people have discovered the increased sensation, better circulation and improved foot function when going barefoot.
So, what about horses?
Metal shoes or barefoot?
After a career applying principles of physiology, anatomy and function in the medical profession, it has been a fascinating journey to discover the wonders of the equine hoof. The adaptation over centuries of evolution towards a propulsion system that maximises energy efficiency, whilst ensuring blood supply to structures that have a high metabolic demand, doubling as an efficient temperature regulation setting, and ensuring an exceptional feel for the ground horses travel over, is still not fully understood.

Feral, or wild horses, travel vast distances over varied terrain, sculpting hooves that can carry them and keep them out of danger, and all barefoot.

The domestication of horses for human needs over the centuries, and more recently for breeding practices as well as general husbandry 'ideals' have impacted on general health and hoof health as a result. Too many horses being overweight, having prediabetic issues (EMS) or Cortisol dysfunction (PPID); fed on grass that is too rich. Most are not given the movement they need. As a result, laminitis is all too common, and significant hoof pathologies are frequent.

So, what is the key to improving foot health?
As an Equine Podiatrist, after a 2 year diploma course (Lantra level 5) I don't just focus on trimming the hoof into a pleasing shape.
As the saying goes:
'No hoof no horse' - but more importantly:
No gut, no hoof, no horse.

So, I start with nutrition, ensure a healthy gut biome, which in turn provides for good hoof health, which ensures a strong hoof ready to take on what comes their way. Trimming is part of this, mainly to encourage graded stimulation to bring hoof structures back to health.
Frequent trims in situations where the foot is unhealthy (flaring, cracks, seedy toes, white line disease, central sulcus infection, contracted heels, chronic laminitis) centres around balance, with good alignment of joints and optimising biomechanics. And, because domesticated horses don't get the movement they need to wear their feet naturally, the trim has to simulate that wear .
Using boots with pads to reduce wear when needed, to build up a strong sole and allow movement for recovering laminitics.
Working with equine bodyworkers to bring the whole body into balance is another aspect of my work.

So, can a horse always be barefoot?
Some ideologically minded barefoot trimmers will say absolutely, always, and never to use shoes. That however is not the reality. Some of my clients horses perform at high levels barefoot, but some horses, depending on the demand put on them and their genetic makeup, are better with glue on shoes or metal shoes.

As an Equine Podiatrist I am passionate about providing the best possible advise and trim, and have seen very satisfying outcomes in sometimes very difficult situations. I have also seen some of the horses under my care improve significantly with application of shoes.

As Hoof Care Professionals we must do what is best for the horse under our care, not what is best for our ego, so we have got to keep an open mind.

A last thought: Trimming horses means slipping in mud and breathing in dust, being covered in horse hair and dirt. It means rain, wind or heat exposure, shivering, thoroughly wet or sweating
It means cuts and bruises, being stomped on, kicked, bitten and headbutted.
A hard graft at the best of times, trimmers have a limited work life expectancy, and back pain, arthritic hands and injuries are common.

So, why do I do it; leaving a clean, dry workplace for the above?
Because I get a cuddle from the horses, a friendly lick on the head.
Because I see improvement of hoof shape and function coupled with a trim that gets ever easier. Because I meet wonderful owners, passionate for their horses and get to be a part of their journey.

It is, after 30 years treating NHS patients, a way more satisfying job.

25/07/2026

Diet Doesn’t Cause Laminitis – Insulin Does. Read Dr. Kellon's latest blog here: https://drkhorsesense.wordpress.com/2026/07/19/diet-doesnt-cause-laminitis-insulin-does

10/07/2026

I’m so lucky I was able to learn from Jayne- a true legend ❤️

Today marks three years since the passing of Jayne Hunt.

For many within the equine podiatry community, Jayne was far more than a teacher. She was a mentor, an inspiration and a driving force behind the development of so many practitioners who continue her work today.

Her passion for horses, commitment to education and willingness to challenge conventional thinking left a lasting impression on everyone fortunate enough to learn from her. The knowledge she shared and the values she instilled continue to influence the way we approach equine podiatry every single day.

Although she is no longer with us, her legacy lives on through her students, her teachings and the countless horses whose lives have been improved as a result of her work.

Today we remember Jayne with gratitude, respect and admiration.

We miss you Jayne. Your impact on our profession and our lives will never be forgotten. 🐴💜

10/07/2026

🚨 MASSIVE LEGISLATIVE CHANGES AHEAD FOR UK FARRIERS: What you need to know 🚨

The government just published a major White Paper ("Our vision for a thriving veterinary sector") that outlines the biggest overhaul of animal healthcare and veterinary law in 60 years.
While the headlines are focusing on vet fees and pet clinics, this directly impacts us as farriers.

The government is replacing the old 1966 Veterinary Surgeons Act. For the first time, farriers are officially being recognized under the law as part of the broader "allied veterinary professional" team.
Here are the fast facts on what's coming:
🔹 "Licence to Practise" System: The current registration system is being modernized. Moving forward, everyone in the equine healthcare loop including farriers will operate under a formal "Licence to Practise" framework to legally perform specific hoof care and animal health tasks.
🔹 Protected Titles & Defined Roles: The new Act will protect professional titles and give a single regulator the power to clearly map out what tasks each profession is legally permitted to do. The goal is to let everyone work to the full extent of their training while keeping things crystal clear for owners. Farriers will have the title RAVP (Farrier). This stands for Registered Allied Veterinary Professional.
🔹 Barefoot trimming will eventually come under full regulation.
🔹 New "Fitness to Practise" Rules: Disciplinary structures are shifting to a modern "current impairment" model. Instead of just penalizing past mistakes, the focus will be on whether a person currently poses a risk to welfare, opening up better pathways for support and rehabilitation.

🗓️ The Timeline:
Defra and the British Veterinary Association have stated they are actively targeting parliamentary time to get a draft Bill introduced to Parliament next year (2027). Farriery will be amongst the first professions to be implemented along with Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Nurses. This is likely due to the fact there is existing legislation framework available.

This is going to completely reshape how our industry interacts with veterinary regulation. Keep your eyes peeled as the industry associations start consulting on how our specific scope of work will be defined under the new board.

Read the full government paper here if you want to dive into the fine print:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-vision-for-a-thriving-veterinary-sector/our-vision-for-a-thriving-veterinary-sector

Thoughts on this? Let's discuss below. 👇

02/07/2026

Trimmed my smallest customer this morning 🐴😍

19/05/2026

LAMINITIS PREVENTION

It’s not about body fat. It's not even about grass.
It’s about insulin.

Yes, body fat and "lush" grass intake are often seen in laminitic horses - but they’re not the cause. Hyperinsulinemia is. I’ve seen this with my own eyes, during professional experience in undergrad with the Pollitt research group—where laminitis was experimentally induced by high insulin alone, in lean STB horses, with no access to grass. If you want to prevent the most common form of laminitis, you need to focus on what’s driving it.

Fat is more often a symptom or indicator in insulin dysregulated horses—not the root cause. Some overweight horses stay metabolically normal (and therefore laminitis-free), especially on low sugar/starch diets (and there is scientific evidence to support this). Some lean horses are insulin resistant and suffer terribly with laminitis despite perfect condition. That tells us fat is a risk marker, not a reliable trigger. The research around adipose tissue (fat) and inflammatory products is very contradictory in horses and there is no clear link between inflammation and insulin in horses to date - so let's stick to what we DO know.

Based on what we currently know, reducing insulin usually means keeping sugars and starches low across all parts of the diet, which will often result in fat loss also. Lower sugars --> lower insulin --> lower fat NOT the other way around.

Grass can be a factor, yes—but it's just one piece of the puzzle. And if you follow this page, you'll know that grass is not always high in sugar. I personally caused a flare up in Hakon's first bout of laminitis by assuming the grass the problem, taking him off it and feeding more hay. Turned out the hay was too high in sugar, and the grass was fine.

In most cases, keeping the diet low sugar/starch will do the trick, but we also have to acknowledge that not all cases respond to diet. Some horses remain laminitis-prone with high insulin despite doing everything “right”—which means there are other triggers at play that we don’t yet fully understand. It’s likely multifactorial, especially for these outliers. There are many other things that raise insulin (transport, stress, corticosteroids, pregnancy, hormonal conditions and season are among those we know of) who knows what other environmental/plant components might do the same?

So if you want two ways to prevent laminitis...

1. Reduce insulin.
2. Reduce insulin.

How you do that depends on your context.

17/05/2026

‼️ LAMINITIS WARNING ‼️ The weather is cooler, the Laminitis Risk app says the risk is low, and yet horses are dropping like flies. I’ve had half a dozen calls in the last few days letting me know of a laminitis diagnosis, and most of them are big warmbloody, finer types. Samson (pictured) is fine with careful management by the way.

I’m no grass geek, but I know that sunshine and rain along with mild temperatures make the grass grow extra fast. I also hear that last year’s drought forced the grass to send its roots down deeper looking for moisture. And the deeper you go, the more nutrients you find. Then when the conditions are right for growth…. Disaster.

Laminitis does not just affect horses with metabolic disorders or insulin resistance. The change from dry hay cut last summer to what’s growing out there now is drastic. The gut biome is set up for fibre and is suddenly being fed sugar which causes uproar on the inside. It’s a very easy trap to fall into, so please check pulses, supraorbital fossa (the concave place above the eyes) and crests daily. Be watching for discomfort when turning, footiness, fat pads, swollen sheath/underside, and puffy fetlocks. Please please don’t be caught out

09/05/2026

NAILED

EPISODE 8: TRANSITION

Removing a horse's shoes is straightforward. What follows is not.

The gap between how transition is described in barefoot literature and what actually happens in practice is wide enough to be worth examining honestly.

WHAT TRANSITION ACTUALLY IS

Transition is the period during which a previously shod foot adjusts to functioning without a shoe. It is not a single event. It is a process — biological, mechanical, and management-dependent — with a timeline that varies between individual horses and is not reliably predictable.

The foot that comes off a shoe is not simply a bare foot waiting to express its natural function. It is a foot that has been in a particular mechanical environment for months or years. The bearing surface has been defined by the shoe. The sole has not been in direct ground contact. The frog may have had limited stimulus. Internal structures have adapted — or failed to adapt — to whatever that environment provided.

Removing the shoe changes the environment. How the foot responds, how quickly, and how completely depends on factors that shoe removal itself cannot determine.

WHAT THE RESEARCH SHOWS

Controlled research specifically on the transition process is limited. Most published work captures short-term morphometric changes — hoof shape measurements over weeks — rather than the full adaptive trajectory from shod to functionally barefoot. Longitudinal studies tracking horses through a complete transition to working soundness are scarce.

What the research does show is that hoof shape changes measurably when horses move from shod to barefoot conditions. Hoof angle tends to increase. Solar circumference increases. The proximal hoof circumference — the measurement at the coronary band — decreases less than in shod horses, suggesting the coronary band is under less compression. These changes begin within weeks and are measurable at seven weeks.

What the research does not show is a reliable timeline for when transition is complete, because completion is not a single measurable event. A horse whose hoof angle has normalised may still have inadequate sole depth for the work required. A horse whose sole has thickened may still show sensitivity on certain substrates. A horse that appears sound in the field may show discomfort under saddle on hard ground.

A full hoof capsule is estimated to take approximately twelve months to grow from coronary band to ground surface in many horses — a biological estimate that sets a general ceiling on how quickly structural change can occur, but one that varies with individual growth rate, nutrition, and season. It does not guarantee that twelve months produces a foot capable of any given workload on any given surface.

THE SENSITIVITY QUESTION

Post-removal sensitivity is one of the most contested aspects of transition.

Some barefoot literature has framed sensitivity as part of a detoxification or adaptation narrative — the foot recovering its sensory function. The research supports a more mechanical explanation: inadequate sole depth for direct ground contact, altered loading patterns the foot has not yet adapted to, and in some cases subclinical pathology that the shoe was masking. These are not mutually exclusive in every horse, and the picture can include pathology, substrate issues, and loading adaptation simultaneously. But the mechanical explanation is more consistent with what is measurable than framing sensitivity as a necessary phase of recovery.

The distinction matters practically. A foot that is sensitive because it lacks sole depth for the surface being asked of it needs protection — boots, surface modification, workload reduction — while it develops. A foot that is sensitive because something is wrong needs investigation, not the assumption that sensitivity is a normal and expected part of the process.

Treating all post-removal sensitivity as transitional and temporary is one of the places where barefoot management has sometimes failed horses. Some sensitivity resolves as the foot develops. Some does not — and the difference is not always apparent without objective assessment.

WHAT DETERMINES TRANSITION OUTCOMES

The research and clinical experience are reasonably consistent on what predicts a successful transition.

Existing foot quality matters most. A horse with adequate sole depth, reasonable wall thickness, good horn quality, and no underlying pathology before shoe removal has significantly more margin than one with thin soles, compromised horn, underrun heels, or a history of pathology. Removing shoes from a foot that was already struggling does not address what the foot was struggling with.

Environment is the second most important variable. Horses with access to varied, firm substrate — track systems, gravel, mixed terrain — tend to develop faster and more robustly than horses maintained on consistently soft or wet ground. The stimulus the foot receives directly influences the adaptation it makes. A horse standing on deep sand or wet grass for twenty-three hours a day and ridden for one on tarmac is not being given conditions in which the foot can develop.

Nutrition affects horn quality and growth rate. Diets high in non-structural carbohydrates, or deficient in copper, zinc, and biotin, compromise the quality of horn being produced. A transition attempted on inadequate nutrition is working against biology.

Workload and surface must be matched to where the foot actually is, not where the owner hopes it will be. Gradually increasing contact with varied surfaces is consistently supported in clinical practice. Asking a recently de-shod foot to perform the same work on the same surfaces without protection is not a transition strategy — it is an assumption that the foot is ready when it may not be.

WHERE THE NARRATIVE HAS OUTRUN THE EVIDENCE

The transition narrative in barefoot literature contains several assumptions that deserve scrutiny.

The first is that all horses can transition successfully given adequate time and management. Some horses do not develop adequate foot for the workload required of them, regardless of management quality. Genetics, conformation, and pre-existing pathology set limits that management cannot always overcome.

The second is that the timeline is predictable. Figures of six to twelve months appear frequently in barefoot literature. Those figures reflect clinical observation rather than controlled research, and they describe general patterns rather than individual outcomes. Some horses transition faster. Some take longer. Some do not reach adequate function for their intended workload within any reasonable timeframe.

The third is that sensitivity during transition is always temporary and always resolves. It frequently does. It does not always — and treating the assumption as a fact has led to horses being pushed through periods of genuine discomfort rather than protected from it.

THE ROLE OF PROTECTION DURING TRANSITION

Hoof boots and temporary protective measures are part of a rational transition strategy, not a sign that transition is failing.

A foot that needs time to develop sole depth and horn quality benefits from protection on surfaces that would cause bruising or discomfort before that development is complete. Using boots during transition allows the horse to remain comfortable and in appropriate work while the foot adapts — which is preferable to either restricting work entirely or pushing a sensitive foot through surfaces it is not yet ready for.

The goal is not to achieve barefoot as quickly as possible. The goal is a foot that can do what is asked of it comfortably and sustainably. Protection during the process of reaching that goal is not a failure of the approach. It is good management.

WHAT GOOD TRANSITION LOOKS LIKE

It starts with an honest assessment of the foot before the shoes come off — sole depth, horn quality, wall integrity, presence or absence of pathology. That assessment determines whether transition is appropriate at all, and what conditions and timeline are realistic.

It proceeds with matched management: environment that provides appropriate stimulus, nutrition that supports horn quality and growth, workload that stays within what the foot can currently handle, and protection where needed.

It is monitored objectively — not against an expected timeline, but against what the foot is actually doing. Is sole depth increasing? Is horn quality improving? Is the horse comfortable on the surfaces being asked of it? If the answers are no over a reasonable period, that needs to be acknowledged and the approach reconsidered — including the possibility that shoes are the appropriate tool for this horse.

And it is honest about outcomes. Transition is not a commitment to barefoot regardless of what the foot does. It is a process with a goal. If the goal is not being reached, the process needs to change.

03/05/2026

As you may be aware there have been equine flu cases confirmed in our area. I want to reassure you that I will be implementing the Equine Biosecurity Protocol between yards by disinfecting my hands and boots, and relevant equipment, and changing gloves and outer top layer.
However if you have vulnerable horses (very young, very old or unvaccinated) and would rather postpone your visit please let me know, and of course if your horse or another on the yard has symptoms please let me know ASAP so we can implement extra precautions.
Thank you for your understanding, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.

29/04/2026