A Barefoot Journey Part 2

    My pony is now through his 14 weeks of barefoot trimming and seems to be feeling good! I trimmed myself quite a few times now and also supervised at the start, my barefoot trimmer has nothing but praise when she comes to check. How awesome is that, I can do my own trimming and it is not rocket science? My pony is still sore on gravel and his heels are not completely de-contracted. Going barefoot is really a journey and I have been getting a few very frustrated moments and got very close to picking up the phone and ringing my farrier to put some shoes on.

So what is barefoot trimming all about? How to achieve it? What to look out for?

First of all, the term "barefoot trimming" is very misleading. It reminds people of an alternative fringe group, walking around in wool tunics with little halos above their head, possibly even smoking quite a bit of cannabis. I guess that is what really put me off barefoot trimming. Or the words "Natural Hoofcare". Shouldn't all hoof care be natural? The importance is too distinguish between a farriers shoeing/trimming and a shoeless performance trim. The reason most horse seem flat footed and sore with regular trims, is because the traditional farrier will trim the feet to prepare them for the next time showing. Meaning he won't be trimming along the white line very closely, thus causing some flares, and will keep the hoofwall level with the white line and some sole, to fit the shoe on a flat surface. A shoeless performance trim will eventually enable the horse to develop a hoof that is capable of bearing all weight on all surfaces without shoes on. So, for myself, I'd like to call my trimming "Shoeless Performance Trims". That might be because I'm afterall still narrow minded but I just don't agree with all that natural talk. Good horsemanship is good horsemanship and why call it natural? It just makes it sound oddly alternative for most of us tunnel-viewed traditionals.

So after telling all of you my very specific opinion, I think it is important to understand the hoof before you can attempt to work it.

The hoof is build up of different parts. To start slow, we will start from outside in. The heelbulbs are what shows underneath the coronet band on the back of the hoof. They are two rounded bulb looking mounts. Most horses with white legs are prone to mudfever above the heelbulbs, they're also where the little bulk of a no turn bellboot rests. The bulbs usually look like they are touching the ground when the horse stands even. You do have horn and frog in between though. Then there is the frog, a squishy horn growth shaped like a triangle with the narrow part pointing towards the horses toe. This structure is the area that allows for contraction and de-contraction when the horse walks. Much like the elastic on maternity jeans to allow room for the expanding belly bulk. The frog hast three groves called the central and collateral sulcus of the frog. They should never be deep! If you can put the entire length of the metal on your hoof pick in either, your horses heels are either contracted or your horse has severe thrush. Thrush will make the frog look like someone took a razor to it. A healthy frog is usually dry and spongy with small groves in the middle and on either side. The frog will shed and it will peel off in thin strips. Cutting a frog too deep can be very painful for a horse. The tip of the frog is called the apex, which sort of marks where the coffin bone comes "down". You can usually tell from the concavity at the apex how close the coffin bone is to the sole. A horse with a seriously dipping coffin bone will have the apex on the ground and be making really little painful steps. The sole is surrounding the entire frog and usually forms little bars on the larger end of the frog triangle. The sole is attached to the outer and inner hoofwall by the laminae which act like a Velcro between the wall and the hoof inside. The laminae of the outer hoofwall are considered "dead" as they don't do much but stick to the inner ones. The inside laminae is extremely sensitive tissue with a high blood flow. A flair on the hoofwall causes those laminae to separate and causes the horse extreme pain when without shoes. Any horse will feel more comfortable with the flares removed. The laminae can be seen as the so called white line that runs between the sole and the wall. Not to be mistaken for the water line which sort of nests between white line and hoof wall.

Working our way inside, past the laminae and sole, we have the digital cushion underneath the frog, heel and to the apex. Above the digital cushion lies the deep digital flexor tendon which attaches to the coffin bone at the end of the digital cushion. The coffin bone reaches forward into the toe and ends on the life side of the laminae, the top of the coffin bone, at approximate height of the coronet band, attaches to the common digital extensor tendon. Above the Digital Cushion and the DDT lies the Navicular bone and navicular bursa, which causes many horse owners headaches and makes most shod horses useless as riding horses. Next  the coffin bone sits the lateral cartilage and above sits the short pastern bone and the long pastern bone and thats really as far as we need to go. What I have to mention really quick, is that a horse should always do a heel first landing with a little toe flick unless it's going up steep hills. If the horse's toes are too long, it will have to pick his feet up quite high and do short steps as it is like walking in flippers. This toe first landing will cause the deep digital flexor tendon to irritate the navicular bone and can cause the next steps towards navicular syndrome. A horse doing a healthy heel first landing for most of his life is unlikely to develop navicular syndrome. The other thing that causes sore feet is feed and grass high in sugars as they cause the laminae to separate. It is advisable to only keep your horse on long growth for a few hours, preferably at night and avoid spring/autumn growth and overeaten pastures.

So what does this have to do with performance trims? The performance trim will "trick" the horse into thinking it's "using" hoof and will start rebuilding it, making healthy hoof grow. The trim also encourages the healing of the frog and not to mention encourages the right tilt of the coffin bone and a heel first landing. All this will cause the horse to build up his digital cushion and lateral cartilage which acts like a "natural cushion" between the live parts and the sole/ground. A healthy calloused frog and sole is vital but will be build by the horse in time. Most shot horses have hardly any digital cushion as the contracting and de-contracting of the hoof fills it with blood and encourages it to "grow". A shoe will disable the mechanism and not much blood will run through the digital cushion causing the horse to be sore without the shoe. It is advisable to use hoof boots while riding in the first stages of your transition to keep your horse pain free. My little pony has Easyboot Gloves and he absolutely adores his boots.

The trim also encourages the horse to sue the weight bearing structures of his hoof, ie the frog, toe callous and parts of the sole. The horse is not designed to be walking on its wall, which really is "just" a protective barrier to keep the inside working and healthy. Walking on the wall will cause wall cracks and in some cases contracted heels, which in turn might tilt the coffin bone into the toe and cause lameness.

So I'm still talking and haven't said anything about the actual trim. The trim is a white line trim. Meaning the trimmer takes the white line as a guide, trims closely around it, and uses its shape to maintain the overall hoof form. If trimming from above, ie using a hoofstand, the sole will be one plain a draw and imaginary line and at the toe, come up vertically to create a 90degree angle. Your rasp should half that angle into 45degrees. From there, you rasp downwards until the little flakes all around the hoof start "sticking" which means your reached the desired shape. Using the less evasive side of your rasp, gently roll and smooth the edges. That is all you have to worry about. Never cut sole or frog unless absolutely necessary.

I know this sounds really easy but you have to have someone who's qualified and a professional over seeing your work, especially as a hoof novice. Also very important, inform yourself and only chose hoof carers that are updated on the newest information and seem to be competent and knowledgeable. As with everything, there are a lot of "scam artists" out there, who can hurt your horse quite bad.

Although I'm still frustrated with my performance trim and the time it takes, I think my pony is very happy. My next project to start will be my Big Hanoverian x thoroughbred mare, because really, who has ever heard of a barefoot thoroughbred that can actually walk? Well I haven't, but I'm very curious! My little pony did his first ever ODE barefoot and it didn't seem to bother him at all? I'm still learning and my trimmer has a lot of convincing to do!

While you are still getting your head around all this, check out those pages, they supply valuable information and encourage me all the time if I feel like nailing shoes back on!

http://www.hoofrehab.com/

http://www.naturalhoof.co.nz/index.html

http://www.barefoothorse.com/index.html

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