04/20/2025
I have been asked this weekend why some trimmers leave long toes on laminitic ponies and what the methodology is behind this approach.
The truth is, i don’t do that myself, i don’t personally know anybody who does, but apparently there are trimmers out there who do. I don’t understand the logic, and can find no published research papers or studies to support or explain this methodology. Not saying it isn’t out there, but i searched for several hours today and couldn’t find anything. If this paper exists and you have a copy i’d be grateful for a link.
What i DID find, however was a plethora of university and vet studies, peer reviews, articles, lectures and books that reference the importance of bringing the breakover back on a laminitic foot. All over the planet - vets, farriers, equine podiatrists, universities, research centres, and world leading experts talk about the biomechanics of breakover, because it doesn’t just affect the toe, it can also impact bone alignment, the position of the navicular bone, and the deep digital flexor tendon etc. There is a much bigger picture surrounding breakover, whether the hoof is laminitic or not.
I was trained to study hoof biomechanics, and this is the approach that i, like most hoof care professionals understand and adopt. Therefore, rather than trying to explain a theory that makes no sense to me, i will gladly explain the science that i do understand.
Firstly, have a quick look at this link. It is a scientific study and the full document is not free, but read the intro (which IS free) and then come back: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0737080602700622?fbclid=IwAR0XMkYLI3WXah3sD2gYfVttPYY7A_-oOZ_awPZ458Psv_t25IqNOa4IMqo
So hopefully, if you read the intro you’ll see the breakover isn’t just about the toe.
To explain what breakover is: “The act of lifting the foot from the ground (heel coming up first) and rolling over the toe. The breakover point is *the portion of the hoof that is last to leave the ground*”, which would be towards the toe.
If you are interested in the bigger picture, just ask google to show you some other articles on “breakover ddft”, or “breakover navicular”, or “breakover laminitis”. There’s a ton of information from all over the world. Don’t forget to check the sources are reliable and reputable (that part is just as important as the information they provide).
Anyway, going back to the laminitis perspective, first lets talk about what is happening inside of a severely laminitic hoof. You all know that we have a hoof wall, some vascular tissue that acts a bit like velcro, and that velcro basically holds the hoof capsule in place around the pedal bone. Lets assume that in a case of laminitis where the pedal bone rotates or sinks, something happened within the body that caused the velcro to fail. So where all that velcro has torn apart, there is blood and chafing, and if the tip of the pedal bone is pointing down it is probably stabbing/damaging the blood vessels and solar corium underneath it. Excrutiatingly painful, right? All that tissue is inflamed, and the hoof wall cant expand to accommodate the inflammation, so on top of all that velcro failure and stabbing, the horse feels like its hoof capsule is a few sizes too small for everything inside it. In a low grade or less severe case, you might *only* have the inflammation (it still hurts, please dont ignore raised pulses), but for the purpose of explaining how professionals approach trimming laminitics, lets assume worst case scenario;
The hoof is catastrophically damaged on the inside. The body’s response is to try to mend the velcro. So repair horn is spewed into that gap between the wall and the bone. It seals the hoof from infection, it acts a bit like glue (the texture is much like a hot-glue-gun stick before you heat it up) and that emergency repair is what you are looking at when you see a laminar wedge.
So before long you end up with a distorted hoof wall, a wedge that is usually thickest at the toe, and mechanically, every time the hoof *breaks over*, the last part of the hoof to leave the ground is that laminar wedge/wall. There are no two ways about it, you cannot change physics, the breakover is going to be the wall at the toe, and every time that horse takes a step, mechanically that WILL apply pressure to that damaged velcro behind the wall above it. Not only is this excrutiatingly painful, it is also detrimental to the healing process. The reason you see laminitic horses leaning their weight back onto their heels, and/or moving with a short choppy action is because the toe is so sore. So it makes sense that this posture/action is because they are trying to avoid the pain of the pedal bone stabbing into solar corium, and the pain of the wall at the toe being in contact with the ground.
Standard trimming protocol, whether you are a farrier, a vet, or a barefoot trimmer is to 1) lower the heels. In doing so, you change the angle of the pedal bone so that it isnt pointing down so much. It is less painful, and it prevents further damage to the tissue/blood supply. You do not have to trim the heels OUT of the foot. Just di whatever you can within reason to change the angle of the pedal bone. 2) apply a really strong bevel to the toe. That *brings the breakover back*, and thus removes any force from being applied to the wall at the toe. Primarily, this reduces pain. It helps healing. It changes forces on the ddft and other structures within the foot. It can save lives. Again, you DO NOT need to butcher that toe, but you do need to get it off the ground, leaving the toe pillars on the ground at 10 and 2, and making sure, again, you are not dropping the horse on the sole at the toe.
Important: Don’t let anyone tell you that physics and ground force reactions do not exist.
There are many other ways in which hoof care professionals can apply additional methods to help, and that will vary depending on their skillset, but we all know the absolute essentials: lower the heels and get the dorsal wall off the ground. Make that horse as comfortable as you can and in doing so, give it a fighting chance to heal. That’s what we do, and why in a nutshell.
I will add a disclaimer at this point to say if you suspect your horse has laminitis, call your vet. You can call your HCP too if you want, thats fine but ALWAYS call the vet, not only because they are the ones who can prescribe painkillers and do xrays.
As a side note, this article isnt really about all the stuff an owner needs to do when they suspect laminitis. There are loads of other places and posts which cover that aspect, and i am forever going on and on about diet on my fb page… but I read something this morning which suggested that changing the diet is more important than the trim. I’m not here to talk about the diet aspect, but i WILL say if your horse is rotating through his soles and his life is on the line, your priority should always be to call the vet, discuss pain relief and request xrays to assess the damage. Yes, you will need to make nutritional changes, yes you need to do that FAST, but you can soak a haynet while you’re waiting for the vet and deal with the actual hoof first.
Again, there are thousands of resources out there. Credible, scientifically backed sources, studies, peer reviews and articles written by universities, veterinary schools, people who are pioneering research into their fields and have done the maths. These people are world leading experts who dedicate their 9-5 careers to research. They can’t all be wrong… Please don’t take my word for it, see for yourself: www.google.com
