21/02/2025
Yogi Sharp’s Post, The Science Debate, and Why The Industry Is Getting It Wrong
Over on Yogi Sharp’s Equine Documentalist page, there’s been an ongoing debate about Wex’s rehab. This is a horse who has been superbly rehabbed by Bethan Thornicroft and her team at Gawsworth Track Livery.
The confusion in the comments on Yogi's page reflects a dogged belief in outdated science, where people are desperately clinging to theories that do not hold up when tested in the real world.
One of the biggest misconceptions being pushed? That Wex improved only because of diet and management, and that trimming played no role in his recovery.
Let us be very clear here: that assumption is completely false.
What Happened to Wex?
When he arrived, Wex was severely lame - despite already being on a hay diet and confined to a stable. His previous hoof care professional (HCP) had trimmed him based on conventional thinking: maintaining a “correct” in-line hoof-pastern axis (HPA) by allowing the heels to rise.
But instead of helping, the HCP's approach:
* Allowed his heels to rise unnaturally
* Reduced sole depth in front of the frog
* Removed dorsal wall length, which meant that the dorsopalmar balance was always going to be off
* The hoof could never align with what the horse actually needed, because the true balance point of the toe pillar had been removed
* Led to P3 rotation and laminar tearing
This is key: Systemic issues did not cause Wex’s rotation - incorrect trimming did.
Instant Stability: What Actually Happened When We De-Rotated P3?
As soon as P3’s palmar angle (PA) was reduced to de-rotate it, this was instant - and it remained de-rotated from that moment on. P3 never moved again.
What wasn’t instant, of course, was the reduction of hoof wall separation. That had to grow in painfully separated, meaning it had to now grow out.
There are people who still believe that when P3 rotates, it instantly moves away from the dorsal hoof wall. That is incorrect. There has never been, and never will be, a single X-ray proving this in a hoof capsule that has not been tampered with.
So, when P3 is de-rotated, it does not suddenly “ping” back into place - because it was never in that place relative to the hoof wall in the first place. The hoof wall grew away from P3 over time because it was unable to remain parallel, this therefore painfully tore the connection - leading to the label "laminitis".
When we lowered Wex’s heels (which are always synchronized with the palmar angle (PA)), it put P3 into a better, more normal position - where it remained. The only adjustments we made were minor tweaks to his heel height as we worked through the unnatural compaction at the back of his foot.
But through all of this, P3 remained STABLE.
No DDFT Pull - Not Then, Not Now
We cannot emphasise this enough: There was absolutely no pull from the DDFT at the start, during, or now in Wex’s rehab.
Wex has progressively become sounder and more comfortable despite his 'long toe' - watched by 1000s almost every day on social media. Nothing was hidden.
The Science Said This Shouldn’t Happen - But It Did
According to accepted peer-reviewed science:
* A long toe should cause more laminar tearing due to lever forces
* A long toe should increase strain on the DDFT and worsen rotation
* A long toe should destabilise P3 within the hoof capsule
Yet in Wex’s case, and in the many hundreds of cases that we deal with, none of this happened. The exact opposite occurred.
Why Is the Industry So Resistant to Change?
The evidence is overwhelming, yet instead of reevaluating their outdated theories, the industry is digging its heels in. The same people who insist on evidence-based research are refusing to accept real-world evidence when it contradicts their assumptions and flawed beliefs.
And why? Because much of modern hoof research is based on:
* Studies of dead hooves, rather than live, functioning hooves, with live functioning tissues
* Theoretical models that have never been tested in long-term rehab cases
* Clinging on to old, erratic, non standardised hoof care methods
* Assumptions that have gone unchallenged for decades
Expand Your Thinking - Stop Defending Flawed Science
This isn’t just about Wex. This is a global problem.
Hoof care professionals are still trimming based on theories that were never proven with real, in-field evidence. They impose personal preference trimming (PPT), forcing hooves into artificial “balance” rather than respecting the horse’s natural constants.
The result?
* More pathology
* More suffering
* More unnecessary euthanasia
We now have hundreds of horses proving that:
1. Rehabbing this way is safe, humane, and effective.
2. The lever force theory, DDFT strain theory, and SADP theory do not hold up in real-life rehabilitation cases.
The Phoenix Way follows the hoof’s natural constants. We do not trim for aesthetics. We do not impose artificial “corrections.” We listen to the hoof and trim accordingly.
If you want to keep defending outdated science that was never backed by real-world evidence, that’s your choice.
But if you truly care about horses, then expand your mind, stop blindly believing flawed science, and start seeing what’s happening with your own eyes.
The evidence is right in front of you. The only question is - will you accept it? Wex did.
HM.
Join our free rehab and help your horse escape the dogged old-fashioned flawed science - and fix P3 rotation - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health
