KH Barefoot Trimming

08/22/2025

In the late summer and early fall, some horses seem to have hoof issues "out of nowhere." With no changes to their care, diet, or management, some seem to suddenly struggle with stone bruising and abscessing, hoof sensitivity, chronic thrush or white line disease, and even laminitic issues or founder.

Often, owners and even professionals can blame this on the season - dry weather leads to hard ground, and a breeding of flies that leads to fly stomping and sore feet. Makes sense, right?

But some horses are much more sore than your run-of-the-mill fly stomping pain. Some owners see their horses in pain and think they might even have to make a decision about letting their best friend go before winter hits.. and they just can't seem to figure out where things went wrong and why their careful management isn't working.

In this "mini episode," Alicia, host of The Humble Hoof podcast, talks about hoof issues going into fall, and one possible cause: undiagnosed or unregulated PPID (Cushing's). This episode dives into what PPID is, how to diagnosed and treat it, and how it can help your horse- especially this time of year.

You can hear the entire episode on any podcast app under "The Humble Hoof," or directly at this link: https://thehumblehoof.com/2025/08/22/late-summer-hoof-issues-ppid-mini-episode/

Edited to add: ECIR recently had a discussion about utilizing TRH stim tests year round. This study was referenced (not that it was done in Australia, hence why the results look swapped from the Northern Hemisphere). I am keeping an eye on this information for future testing!

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jvim.16017

Thank you to our amazing sponsors:

Cavallo Hoof Boots is offering 15% off a pair of Trek hoof boots at cavallo-inc.com with code HRN

A special shout out to Grid as New, Mud Control Grids – they are a game changer for any mud issues, big or small! – mudcontrolgrids.com

Also be sure to check out HayBoss Feeders – haybossfeeders.com – for all your slow-feeding needs. I get my Hay Boss feeders from Mountain Lane Farm in NH!

08/09/2025

TMJ injections.

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the joint that acts as the pivot point for the jaw. This unique joint is vital for equilibrium, whole body balance, and is associated with performance and the overall sense of wellbeing. TMJ pain will be observed in various ways and can originate from trauma, poor conformation/structure, or from dental problems.

I often hear of an automatic treatment of TMJ pain (or “supposed” TMJ pain) by many veterinarians is to inject it…because why not? In light of a commonly low level of dental education within the veterinary community, it makes sense why they’d want to inject the TMJ to compensate for pain of unknown origin. Sometimes you can still hit the dart board if you close your eyes before throwing the dart!

With over two decades of dental education and experience, I can attest to the occurrence of TMJ pain relief from proper dentistry. A good dental education, good equipment, and better-than-average technique should be the first step when attempting to relieve TMJ pain. Maybe injecting synthetic solutions into the TMJ should wait until after proper dental equilibration. If this is not the order of treatment, the pain will reoccur after the results from the injection wears off. However, if proper and educated dentistry comes first, injections may not be necessary and the results are long term and maintainable with regular dental work.

Of course, your vet will make recommendations and your dental practitioner will do the same. As the horse owner it is your responsibility to understand a little bit about all of the care that your horse may require. If your horse seems to be experiencing TMJ pain, maybe it’s time to look for an educated dental practitioner.

07/04/2025

My fees are increasing:
Draft horses $165
Standard horses $80
Minis will remain at $65

06/23/2025

I had a fantastic time this weekend at the advanced anatomy and reading radiograph clinics hosted and taught by PHCP mentor Philip Himanka.

Getting to dissect two wildly different hooves, meeting many fantastic trimmers and bounce ideas off of has my mind buzzing.

06/08/2025

03/19/2025

I’m kind of shocked at the progress made with this leg in just one year, I wasn’t expecting much but this is pretty cool!

03/18/2025

Fungal infection of the hoof wall (white line infection/seedy toe) can be quite a pain to deal with, especially if it’s not caught early and resected out.
When the fungus is closer to the solar surface it’s easier to clean out and open up with a hoof knife, and easy to pack things like Artimud into the crevice.
However if not caught early enough that fungus can eat its way up the hoof wall and require more aggressive treatment like wall resection and chemical treatment with White Lightning.
When thrush or white line fungus is reoccurring even with treatment, the next suspect is lack of Zinc and Copper in the diet, and sometimes is a symptom of PPID.
Pictures of unfinished resection on one horse, all 4s affected.

White Lightning treatment: https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=47a6a240-0bf4-413e-957c-93dbe75f0b9a&itemguid=a4a314e5-e479-4faa-a018-5503ff56f4ae&sfb=1&grp=4000&grpc=4200&grpsc=4240&sp=e&utm_content=47417&ccd=IFH003&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjws-S-BhD2ARIsALssG0ZarbsyKTcv_RIHpwN2vKH2LmQ5PbagOrmIQgVPbxyOWHMAyeu_It8aAmOZEALw_wcB

Copper& Zinc supplement: https://customequinenutrition.com/products/copper-zinc-blend-free-shipping?variant=30719150751830

More info about this infection: https://www.hoofrehab.com/WhiteLineDisease.html

03/14/2025

Thank you Gracie for giving me the opportunity to finally make a TikTok using this song!

For everyone else who missed it: I educated the comments of a hoof trim video that poorer countries don’t have the opportunities and access to good quality farrier tools or farrier schools, and Gracie took that quite personally for some reason.

Check out KH Barefoot Trimming’s video.

03/12/2025

Navicular Rehab and Hoof Adaptability

Looking at these photos, which are of the SAME FOOT by the way, you think I’d be ecstatic with the change in the back half of the foot (and corresponding progress to soundness for this horse).

But to be honest, I almost get a little angry.

I get angry that so many navicular cases like this case are given up on or told to be euthanized just because they have such a weak foot, without attempting to strengthen it or take the time to grow in a healthier hoof.

I get angry that the navicular bone damage or DDFT/collateral ligament/other soft tissue damage is blamed for lameness, without the health of the frog or hoof capsule taken into account.

I get angry that people constantly blame genetics or conformation for things like low heels, long toes, thin soles.

I get angry that people say that the digital cushion and back half of the foot “can’t improve” once it has atrophied.

I look at these photos and see this beautiful gelding trotting by soundly, rehabbed back to ridden work last year walk/trot/canter after so many gave up on him, and want to scream it from the rooftops: diet and movement can mean the difference between crummy feet and rockcrunching feet, proper hoof rehab can mean the difference between, quite literally, life and death.

That’s my drama post for the day.

Photos both show the same untrimmed foot mid-cycle (first was after shoe pull, before hoof rehab), which was the previously lame foot on a navicular case with bone damage and corresponding soft tissue damage, as well as other body-wide compensations. Apologies for the dirty mud season foot 🙃

(If you want to learn more about how we rehab navicular cases, I have an entire ebook on it here - print copy is sold out and on backorder currently) - https://thehumblehoof.com/product/navigating-navicular-disease-an-optimistic-guide-for-a-pessimistic-diagnosis-ebook/

03/06/2025

If your vet is only spending 10-15 minutes in your horses mouth, they’re probably missing important things like tooth fractures, mobile teeth, mouth ulcers and abscesses.

Thank you to Dr Miller at Fort Lupton Animal Clinic for taking the time to show me and explain everything going on in my horse and donkeys mouth.

Picture of a tooth fracture in Bucks mouth.

03/01/2025

02/21/2025

The biggest red flags when a provider is performing a float on a horse is: not looking in the mouth with good light, not checking their work as they go, blindly floating or floating “by feel”, not assessing jaw motion, not assessing or floating the incisors or canines.