Footloose Barefoot Hooves

05/06/2026

In the last few days, I've been talking about geographical and seasonal changes; so what if two horses live in the same climate, same environment, same feeding regime - should they have similarly functioning feet?
Ah, you say. What about history, breed, overall health? Indeed.

Four comparisons. Three track/equicentral systems. Similar time on the track, similar ages. (I have picked tracks because environmental variants are a bit more limited, even if the track isn’t 100% grass free).

First up: TB/Welsh D. Same amount of time on the track, same age. Similarly low workloads, though both had been very active in their past.

Second up: Cob/Welsh D. Both feet on the track since being 7 months old, both feet at age 4. No significant workload at this point.

Third: Highland/WB. Both feet on the track since youngster age, both feet at age 5-6. Some road work, some schooling.

Fourth: WB/Appaloosa. Both feet on the track for the same amount of time. Similar workloads.

Then come the differences.
- GI challenges.
- Metabolic issues. Past laminitis.
- Differences in personality/anxiety levels, other stress events having affected them.
- Shod or barefoot past
- Other health blips. Injuries somewhere in their body affecting them.

And as a result, every foot looks different. Amount of concavity, the health of frogs, digital cushion, size of feet, thickness of walls, comfort levels over the grounds. Sometimes what looks like the weaker foot in these side-by-side images, isn't necessarily any less strong or functional, or any less sound than the other one.

So owners look at pictures of online, then the feet of their horse and go "Why can't my horse have feet like that?"

Sometimes we have an issue that we can work on improving.
Sometimes there is something we haven't worked out yet.
And sometimes we have e.g. genetic differences that will affect what kind of hoof a horse can grow.
Doesn't mean it can't be functional and strong, but it doesn't need to look the same either.

So next time you think "but his bro gets exactly the same, and yet they are so different...." remember that every horse is their own little world 🙏🌎

03/06/2026

Recovering, but not recovered yet.
Small metabolic pony. One of the ones I sat in the stable and cried with.
We are determined to make her better and hopefully we will get there 🙏

NB: some of these pictures are with the hoof held up, so not weight bearing. That will make palmar angles look weird, sorry about that!

02/06/2026

Hind feet development 🤯
Trims made her more comfortable in her front feet.
Regular physio made her more comfortable and balanced in her whole body.
Top and bottom pictures are two years apart (simply because I took the first set of pictures and the most recent ones and lined them up).
She is one of the favourite girls on my books and I am SO chuffed to see her improve like that! 🤗

02/06/2026

Dear HCP's of a shouty accusatory disposition.

Want to know what we do with laminitic ponies?

We look at the horse in front of us.
We do a blood panel to investigate metabolic issues and medicate if necessary and prescribed by the vet.
We make sure the pony has a suitable environment where it can thrive. And yes, that could mean taking them off the grass.

We look at how the pony moves.
We document before and/or after the trim to build up a record; pictures, notes, x-rays, and use that information for future visits.
We walk them up to see how they agree with our trim decisions and if we can do further adjustments.
We go away and may discuss the case with colleagues and/or veterinarians, pooling knowledge and skills.

We do not just randomly chop toes, but will make an informed decision on where we should bring breakover at this moment in time.
We may drop heels, but just how much will depend on what the horse is most comfortable with.
We have a plan in our head of how our care continues and one picture may not tell the full story.

We bl**dy care how the pony does and we put our egos aside to make sure they get the treatment they deserve.
Most of us have had more laminitic horses in our care than our hearts can take, and have quietly rehabbed them without shouting and pointing fingers, while sometimes sitting in those stables crying, hearing our hearts break.

Because it's hard enough having your horse diagnosed with laminitis and having the feeling you failed them at some point.
Because it's hard enough watching your horse be in discomfort.
Because it's hard enough picking up that foot and knowing you need more recovery time before things turn for the better.
Because it's hard enough navigating management choices that are available to you, metabolic curveballs, and all the other issues that can come along.

So please stop shouting and pointing fingers, and sit down for some polite discourse.

Signed, a hoof care provider that is here to help horses.

Pictured: a lovely old man that has come into my care. His laminitic event is already a few months back and adjustments have been made. I'm just getting to know him and my trim reflects that. He is feeling much better and I'm very glad about that.
Spoiler alert: farrieritis wasn't the reason for his laminitis. PPID was.

01/06/2026

Resharing to go with today's post!

Leading on from my previous post, I’d like to go a bit deeper in on the subject.
So, the wider implications of these sad frogs…. let’s take a step back for a second.

I have previously noticed a north-south difference between hooves up in the North of Scotland, to what I see myself in central Scotland, to feet in England (the feet I’ve seen in Germany, yet further down south, are a completely different ballgame).

Frogs and digital cushion strength goes hand in hand. Small frogs that aren’t in ground contact, can’t help stimulate the digital cushions, and often those frogs hurt enough for the horse to avoid landing on them/heel first, which also doesn’t promote a healthy digital cushion. Digital cushions that never receive stimulation on hard grounds, will also not develop in the same way that feet that spend at least some of their time on hard ground.

See where I am going? Often, digital cushions deteriorate in winter, when the ground is soft and there isn’t as much stimulation from firm ground. When the ground dries up in summer, and also when the horses get ridden more on firm grounds, they pop back up again. I’ve seen it time and time again that a dry spell with hard ground has really brought on those feet.

Now in Scotland, the ground is never really firm for long. The further north you go, it is even less so. And this summer, the ground in Central Scotland has basically been what my colleagues up north experience year after year. How jealous me and my Scottish colleague were recently when we got a chance to palpate digital cushions down in England!

Where does that leave our horses when we try to develop good digital cushions? In the last article I’ve already mentioned some points with regards to frog health.

Now think of the digital cushion as a muscle.
Your field is the couch.
Standing on hardstanding is like standing at the bus stop.
Moving comfortably and biomechanically correctly over hard grounds (booted if needed to encourage both of these) is like going to the gym.
Going there once every Saturday morning won’t give you the desired physique, but going there 3-4x/week will help you get there.

Makes sense? Now let’s build some healthy digital cushions!

01/06/2026

Seasonal changes and regional differences!

At this time of year (ie when we've just had a dry spell in Scotland) I am regularly reminded of regional differences in hooves.
All of a sudden, Scottish hooves start looking more like their southern counterparts. Frogs aren't mushy and sad anymore. Digital cushions wake up. Palmar angles change.
And when we return to softer and wetter ground we sadly lose the improvements.

I don't mean to be negative or shatter all your hopes, guys. But I think it's important to understand what seasons and climate does to hooves and that expectations may need to be different.

I will never forget shadowing an English EP a couple of years back and me and my fellow Scottish EP broke out in (mildly manic) laughter when palpating a digital cushion - we simply do not get DC's like we felt there in Scotland.
(I wrote an article about Scottish frogs a couple of years back; I will repost it alongside this one)

Here is a comparison from a fantastic book, Monique Craig's A Modern Look At the Hoof. It is a great example of how changeable the hoof is in different environments.

Should we stop aiming for the perfect hoof, the perfect angles, the best version of them? Absolutely not.
But we should also be aware that environment plays a big part in what is possible, and we simply cannot look at the hoof in an isolated way.

31/05/2026

I do like a "One of every horse" compilation after a week of trimming.
A variety of hoof shapes, sizes, stages of progress, and the struggles they face. Some have been with me for years, some are very new to me.
We are trying to keep them sound and improve them, and we experience ups and downs.
There is also one horse who absolutely didn't see the point in letting me take pictures. That's ok; she had better things to do. I love her for her spark and sass, so she finishes off the compilation by simply looking beautiful 😃

29/05/2026

Have you considered pain?

From time to time I trim a horse and something is off. I may not know what it is, but something isn't right. And most of the time it is connected to pain.

Pain can present in so many ways. There are a handful of signs I experience during trims that eventually almost always lead to a pain diagnosis.

The inability to stand on three legs.
Fidgeting, suddenly becoming really interested in sniffing something that has been in the stable for ages.
Snatching feet, not being able to keep a leg up for any length of time.

Horses are mostly very cooperative, and I meet very few where I would say they just can't be bothered with the process of standing well for their trim. Most of the time, it circles back to pain.

Bars becoming massive all of a sudden. If the foot is really overgrown or other structures within the foot are very weak (i.e. very thrushy frogs), bars will increase in size to compensate and stabilize. If neither is present, I have seen it time and time again that a pain diagnosis is just around the corner (I suspect the bars are trying to stabilize uneven movement, excessive loading, hard landing, etc, when pain makes a horse adopt compensatory movements or stance).

Horses getting worse with each trim, although nothing has happened that would be considered a bad experience.

You have probably been nodding all along, going "yeah, these are all obvious." But sometimes things need to be repeated before we see it in our horses. And in the majority of cases, the subtle signs are overlooked until something bigger emerges.

That's why my trim notes include random things like "reluctant to stretch right fore forward". Next time it may be something bigger. Last year, I had a horse with exactly that reluctance. We first thought it was discomfort in the shoulder, but a few weeks later she came down with laminitis. She is recovering, also thanks to the keen eyes watching her after we were aware something was off. And this isn't the only example; I see it again and again.

I do it too - I accept certain horses are tricky for certain parts of the trim or movements, and then something changes and they are all of a sudden so much better for their trim. Or we find out they had a reason to be tricky.

So let's think less "that's just her/him", and more "why is (s)he doing this". For our equines 🙏

26/05/2026

We have summer 🌞🥳 But that means rock hard feet and the polite request to soak feet.
I suspect this will only apply to feet this week since Scottish summer never lasts long 😬 but will update anybody who is scheduled in for the coming weeks.

Can't believe I'm writing this 🫢

Because the weather has been so dry, feet will be rock hard and with some horses with thick feet near impossible for my tools to get through!

Since I can't make my tools any sharper than they already are and magically double my grip strength, I would like to ask you all a favour - if you can, could you please soak these feet 30 minutes prior to my arrival, to soften them up a bit?

I know some horses stand better for that than others, so there's no limit to your creativity. You could:

- put a wet pad/rag/carpet cut-off in their boots and pop them on
- pop on a soak boot, kajak bag, or a feed bag (you'll need to secure that one with some vet wrap or similar) and fill with some water
- have them stand in a shallow tray/feed tub filled with a couple of inches of water (you can stand these underneath the haynet they are munching on, so they are less likely to walk out of them)
- have them stand on a soaked towel.

Your help is much appreciated.

PSA: unless your horse is a mini Shetland and needs only one foot soaked, you'll definitely need more water than in the above picture 😄

24/05/2026

When was the last time you said to yourself "I'm glad my horse isn't shod!"?

I'll go first 🤣

A few of my clients have already heard this story, but it's the kind of day when I can't resist sharing this image 🤦‍♀️😬