Category: Navicular Disease

Posts related to “navicular,” navicular syndrome, or navicular disease

I’m definitely embarrassed that it’s been three years since I last posted anything, but, in my defense, it’s been a very busy time with a lot of exciting changes! Since that last update, we’ve taught several hoof care clinics, done a number of presentations for veterinarians and chiropractic doctors at the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association‘s annual conferences, recorded video classes for the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association‘s first-ever virtual conference, were interviewed for a couple more White Stallion Ranch Cowboy Up! podcasts, and become regular consultants to a major zoo regarding the hoof care of their ungulates (mostly giraffes). And those are just the highlights!

But the most exciting news of all is our establishment of Enlightened Equine Workshops, with our flagship offering being the Hoof Care for Horse Owners Workshop — a four-day workshop aimed at the horse owner, hoof care professional, and other equine-related professionals who want to better understand the why of hoof function & form from a whole-horse perspective. Held at the White Stallion Ranch in Tucson, Arizona, this Workshop consists of morning lectures on hoof care theory, anatomy, trim evaluation, boot fitting, hoof pathologies, and a whole host of other topics. Afternoons are reserved for trim practicums using cadaver legs, combined with a number of demonstrations including horseshoe removal, leg & hoof dissection, and tool sharpening, plus live training and trimming demonstrations — all in all, the most comprehensive Workshop offering we could envision. You can see the Workshop schedule here. Note that we limit new student enrollment to a maximum of twelve (12) to ensure adequate one-on-one time in the practicums.

And there’s more news as well! For the past several months, we’ve been working on putting a hoof care certification program together: coming up with the format of the program, contacting various subject experts to teach some of the more advanced topics classes, figuring out the best way to tie it into our existing Hoof Care for Horse Owners Workshop — all the things you’d imagine would be involved in creating a high-quality, comprehensive hoof care education program. What we’ve come up with is a three-level certification program model structured after the bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate degree concept. That’s to say that the first level is the foundation level, where the student learns all of the basics of hoof care; the second level is the specialization level, where the emphasis is on a deeper understanding of hoof care principles; and the third level is a research-oriented education where the student pursues research into a particular area of interest in hoof care.

We’re confident this certification program will set a new standard in hoof care education. It focuses on the whole-horse aspects of hoof care, with the goal of producing the highest-caliber hoof care professionals, and is intended to be an affordable alternative to more traditional methods of learning hoof care while setting and maintaining strict quality standards. It will be taught by industry-acknowledged experts, with all first-level content delivered in-person. And all in-person classes will be held at the award-winning White Stallion Ranch in Tucson, Arizona, which is a fantastic facility with absolutely everything we need to ensure a convenient, comfortable, and safe learning experience.

The certification program starting point is the Hoof Care for Horse Owners Workshop, and we’ve already added a day to the May workshop schedule called the Advanced Practices Day: Core Classes. Although this six-class day will be a requirement for those seeking certification, it’s open to everyone. Topics covered will be: Trimming the Laminitic Horse, Understanding Navicular Disease, Basics of Equine Behavior, Equine Lameness Identification, Equine Foot Radiography, and Fundamentals of Equine Nutrition. These are the subjects we believe to be absolutely crucial to the success of the professional hoof care provider.

We’ve also established an Enlightened Equine Workshops YouTube channel, and created twenty (20) brief videos (so far!) covering a number of topics, with more to come. Check them out.

Thanks for listening! My goals for the Enlightened Equine blog for the next few months include updating the entire site to make it more mobile device-friendly, and providing more content on some key hoof care issues I’ve started writing about but not yet finished. And if you’re truly interested in understanding the details of proper hoof care, consider joining us in Tucson for one of our Workshops; I guarantee you won’t regret it! And if you have any questions, please be sure to let us know…

Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control

Without a doubt, COVID-19 has slowed down – or stopped dead in their tracks – many of my typical chances to “spread the word” about proper hoof care these past two years. From cancelled local speaking engagements and university classes to national conferences, it’s definitely been much quieter than usual. But fortunately, the latter part of last year turned out to more than make up for many of the absent events, and 2022 promises to be even better!

In late September, Liberated Horsemanship held its most successful Gateway Clinic to date. Evenly divided between new and returning participants, they all tackled the 5 days of lectures and 167 cadaver legs at the award-winning White Stallion Ranch in Tucson, AZ. Beautiful scenery, first-rate accommodations, food, and amenities, and an ever-helpful staff – what an absolutely perfect clinic location, which is why we’ll be back!

In mid-November, Dora and I were presenters at the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association‘s national conference in Albuquerque, NM. This professional organization is comprised of veterinarians and doctors of human chiropractic medicine who’ve received further education in animal chiropractic. I did a 2-hour presentation entitled “Equine Hoof Imbalances and Their Whole-Body Implications” on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday, Dora and I had the opportunity to lead three laboratory sessions where Dora trimmed horses while I explained what and why we do what we do. All three sessions were well-attended, with excellent questions from the doctors, and it was great to see the obvious improvement in movement in all three of the horses Dora trimmed! This was my second time presenting at the AVCA’s national conference, and we look forward to a long relationship with this group. More on that subject later.

As is often the case, we had a Christmas holiday at the White Stallion Ranch where an unusual opportunity to speak happened to present itself. Russell True, one of the ranch owners whom I’ve known since 2000, does a regular podcast with author and retired rancher H. Alan Day (brother and biographer of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor) entitled “The Cowboy Up Podcast”, and asked me if I’d be willing to be interviewed about natural hoof care on their podcast! And so the three of us sat for about an hour discussing hoof care as well as some of my “past lives,” as I like to call them. You can listen to the podcast here.

On to 2022…

The Equine Affaire will return to Columbus, OH this April 7th – 10th, and yours truly has once again been asked to do a couple of presentations. The lecture is entitled “Cause & Effect in Equine Hoof Form: The Correlation between Hoof Shape, Conformation, and Movement,” during which I’ll discuss how proper hoof form is – or should be, if your hoof care provider is doing his/her job properly – the consequence of conformation and movement, and not the other way around. Dora and I will also be doing a hoof boot fitting demonstration, where we’ll show how to properly measure a hoof to get the best boot fit possible. Unfortunately, I don’t yet know when these presentations will be scheduled; the contracts arrived just this week! So stay tuned…

The very exciting news is that the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA) has approved Liberated Horsemanship as a Continuing Education provider, which means we’ll now be sharing our knowledge directly with veterinarians and animal chiropractors from around the country on a regular basis! Our first vet/chiropractor-only event will be held this October at the White Stallion Ranch, and will focus on the inseparable connection between hoof and body health. If you believe your veterinarian or certified animal chiropractor would benefit from a more in-depth knowledge of equine hoof health and disease (and who wouldn’t?), and how they affect the entire horse’s well-being, please help us spread the word. You can read more about the 4-day clinic here.

And, Liberated Horsemanship will also be returning to the White Stallion Ranch to hold our 5-day 2022 International Gateway Clinic. As I mentioned above, last year’s clinic at the Ranch was an enormous success, and we hope to have as many participants this year for this absolutely unparalleled event in the world of hoof care education. Registration is now officially open and space is limited, so register soon!

Meanwhile, the introduction of my new Hoof Boot Fitting Gauge has been going well. I keep trying to find the time to finish up the “official” Enlightened Equine Products website, but life seems to have a way of foiling my attempts thus far. Also, I’ve completely redone the product ordering process to incorporate the shipping costs at checkout, thus fixing an issue that’s plagued me (and some of you as well!) since I first began selling Heel Balance Gauges several years ago. You can find the new order page here. And note the current special I’m offering: a white boot gauge, a Hairline Angle Gauge (for Scoot Boot fitting), access to the web-based Hoof Boot Fitting Calculator (FlexBoots and Swiss Galoppers to be added soon), and a Carrying Bag with your or your company’s name on it – all for $115! If you’re a hoof care professional, this device is sure to save you considerable time and frustration when it comes to fitting boots.

More new information on the way…I promise!

There’s no doubt COVID-19 has impacted all of our lives, and Liberated Horsemanship has certainly been no exception. So when we started planning for our annual U.S. and U.K. Gateway Clinics for 2021, it became apparent we were going to have to make some changes — particularly in venues.

Enter the White Stallion Ranch. This award-winning, family-owned-and-operated guest ranch in Tucson, Arizona has been my “home away from home” vacation spot since 2000, and I’m extremely grateful to them for working closely with us to arrange special rates and accommodations so we can hold what will almost certainly be our only 2021 clinic offering – either here or abroad – at their amazing facility! And while the clinic schedule won’t allow us time to enjoy all of the ranch’s wonderful activities, we’ve arranged to have a slow mountain ride so everyone can experience the beauty of the Sonoran Desert from the back of a horse. Plus, we will have full access to all of the ranch’s incredible meals (special dietary needs accommodated) and their many and varied activities (heated pool, evening entertainment, recreation room, bar, fitness center, movie theater, and many more), all set against the backdrop of the most diverse of the U.S. deserts and home to the giant saguaro cacti that have come to symbolize the American West.

The clinic instructors will once again be Dr. Bruce Nock, Ann Corso, and myself (you can read a bit more about the various instructors’ credentials here), plus my wife Dora (Field Instructor, Certified Hoof Care Professional, and Licensed Straightness Training Instructor) will be joining us to provide support and translation assistance to any German-speaking attendees.

Make no mistake: If you’re serious about learning proper hoof care — as a career, as a horse owner interested in trimming his/her own horse’s hooves, or as a horse owner or zoo animal hoofstock handler who wants to be able to understand and recognize what constitutes correct hoof care and why — this is definitely the clinic for you. You’ll be learning from professional educators (not just “people who trim hooves”) with over 60 years of combined hoof care experience, and well over (dare I say it?) 100 years of combined experience as educators. This clinic has been attended by people from over 20 countries, and is constantly being updated. You’ll not only learn trimming theory, and spend lots of time honing your skills on cadaver hoof trimming, but you’ll also study all of the other management issues that affect the hoof form and function of all hooved animals: nutrition, environment, social setting, etc. And — especially important at a time when there is so much incorrect and unscientific information about hoof care available — we’ll discuss other trimming “philosophies” and their issues to help you sort out fact from fiction. You can check out a typical clinic schedule here.

One final and important note about the clinic itself: Liberated Horsemanship has always allowed anyone who has previously attended a Gateway Clinic to attend any future clinic offering — no matter where — for only our actual costs. In other words, once you’ve attended a clinic you’re welcome back any time for nothing more than what we have to spend to house and feed you. In my mind, this is an extremely valuable bonus; as I’ve mentioned, we’re constantly updating our material, and this gives you a low-cost opportunity to keep your skill set current and enjoy the company of other like-minded people!

So give some serious thought to joining us this September in Arizona; I guarantee you won’t regret it…

Thanks to COVID-19, most of us probably aren’t spending much time in restaurants these days. But many of our horses, on the other hand, may nevertheless be spending more time eating higher-calorie food than they should be! Yes, I realize I’m not an equine nutritionist, and I don’t pretend to be one. But I have spent a fair amount of time studying enough of the basics of equine nutrition with Dr. Jessica Bedore, my former equine nutritionist colleague at The Ohio State University, to feel competent talking about how to determine proper caloric intake.

My decision to discuss it now is being driven by three things: 1) the ever-increasing number of overweight horses we encounter on a daily basis, 2) the apparent lack of knowledge by horse owners and barn managers about how to determine how much a horse should be eating, and 3) the usual annual increase in the incidence of laminitis in the area because of the rapidly-growing (and sugar-laden) grass. And because truly comprehensive hoof care involves a great deal more than just proper hoof trimming (which, by the way, is why we spend a tremendous amount of time discussing other contributing factors to hoof quality and form in the Liberated Horsemanship Gateway Clinics), I feel compelled to share this knowledge in a sincere effort to help horses avoid the health issues that result from obesity.

Yes, I’m well aware many people find the idea of having to do any sort of calculations intimidating and even frightening. But the good news is the math we need for diet planning is extremely simple and straightforward, and can be done by anyone using even the lowliest of calculators, including the one on your phone. So let’s get started!

Part 1 of this series is aimed at teaching you to recognize whether your horse is too fat, too thin, or just right, and how to calculate how many calories per day he needs to maintain a proper weight. Probably the most standardized way of starting this process is to figure out your horse’s Body Condition Score, or BCS. This method of assessing the amount of fat on a horse’s body was developed in 1983 by Dr. Don Henneke at Texas A&M University, and the Henneke System has become the de facto standard for describing a horse’s condition.

For many, this will undoubtedly be the most difficult part of our task, simply because we horse owners can’t seem to look at our horses with an unbiased eye. But there’s no upside to convincing ourselves that our horse isn’t overweight if, in fact, he is – only a potentially horrible downside. Just make certain whoever does the evaluation is as objective as possible: someone with a discerning eye who’s willing to put aside all feelings and opinions and honestly assess your horse. And if you or your chosen evaluator isn’t reasonably familiar with the process of calculating BCS, I strongly suggest you both familiarize yourselves with this very useful process; you can find a good step-by-step article on Body Condition Scoring here, although there are a number of articles and video guides available. To help you with the actual process of Body Condition Scoring your horse, I’ve created the following worksheet and guide –

Incidentally, to make all this information a bit easier to read, use, and share with others, I’ve created a PDF file containing all of the tables, charts, and worksheets in this article for downloading and printing here!

Once you’ve determined the BCS, the next step is to find out how much weight your horse needs to lose or gain. The following chart should help; just look up your horse’s BCS in the column under his height, and compare it to the weight given for the same height with a BCS 5. For example, a 15-hand horse with a BCS 6.5 (extremely common, in my experience) has an approximate weight of 1,133 pounds and a target weight of 1,014 pounds; therefore, he needs to lose about 119 pounds. Of course, these are approximations, and are presumably based on average-build i.e. riding horses. But the numbers should be accurate enough to give you a solid feel for how much weight change your horse requires. This table is in hands and pounds –

This is the metric version, with the hands heights converted to centimeters and the weights in kilograms –

At this point you may be wondering why we don’t simply use the ubiquitous weight tape instead of bothering with figuring out the horse’s BCS. A couple of reasons: 1) we know weight tapes aren’t particularly accurate, and 2) we want to actually look at the horse’s body fat to assess his condition, and not base our diet decisions solely on a string of numeric approximations. Still, the weight tape is a useful tool when it comes to tracking changes in our horse’s weight, so knowing what your horse weighs in addition to calculating his BCS is useful. However, Texas A&M University has developed a far more accurate method of estimating a horse’s weight than with a weight tape, using an ordinary cloth tape measure and some simple math as described below. I’ve discovered, by the way, that most of us will need some assistance to measure the Body Length on the average-sized riding horse; my arms just aren’t that long!

Again – here’s the metric version, with lengths in centimeters and weight in kilograms –

So you now know approximately how much your horse weighs, and how much he should weigh. Now it’s time to figure out how many calories per day are necessary for your horse to maintain his target weight, which is probably not his current weight. And just as with the BCS, determining caloric requirements requires you to be absolutely honest about how much you actually ride (or drive) your horse, because the amount of work he does is key to calculating caloric needs.

This is really the easiest and most straightforward part of the process;  all we need is some accurate information about your riding or driving habits. You’ll need to collect some information about how much you ride, and then do some simple calculations using the worksheet below to figure out how many calories per day your horse needs to maintain his target weight –

Here’s the metric version, with the target weight in kilograms –

As an example, suppose I ride my 15-hand horse with a target weight of 1,014 pounds for 20 minutes every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Just for the record, I’ve not counted the 10 minutes it takes to collect my horse from the pasture, the 10 minutes it takes to clean and tack him up, the 5 minutes each of a leisurely warm-up and cool-down walk, or the 10 minutes to get to and from the arena and untack and put him away when I’m done.  So, following through the worksheet:

Steps 1 & 2 –

20 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 80 Total Minutes Ridden per Week

Step 3 –

80 ÷ 7 = 11 Average Minutes Ridden per Day

Step 4 –

11 = Less Than 15 = 15 Work Load Factor

Steps 5 & 6 –

15 x 1,014 = 15,210 Required Calories per Day

And now we know how many calories our horse needs to maintain a healthy weight! So take an objective look at your horse’s body and your riding or driving patterns, and figure out how many calories your horse should be consuming in preparation for the second part of this series.

In the next installment, we’ll discuss the potential challenges of selecting appropriate types and amounts of forages and feeds to meet, but not exceed, this requirement. Why will it be challenging? Primarily for two reasons: 1) in the case of forage, the calorie content of all of them, including green grass, varies by a number of factors, including forage type, maturity when cut or consumed (in the case of green grass), time of day when cut or consumed, moisture content, and storage conditions, and 2) in the case of feeds, manufacturers don’t generally publish the calorie content of their products so you have to directly contact the company to get the information you need to plan the diet. But in spite of all these apparent obstacles, it’s fairly easy to ensure your horse is getting adequate, but not excessive, calories.

All for now…

LH clinics logo

Although I’ve discussed Liberated Horsemanship’s Gateway Clinics at various times in the past, I’ve never really taken the time to describe exactly what happens at the clinics, just how in-depth they really are, and therefore why I firmly believe they provide the most comprehensive and correct information on hoof care currently available. And since there are once again not one, but two, clinics scheduled for this year (June 3rd-7th at The Ohio State University ATI in Wooster, Ohio, US, and September 2nd-6th at Stonegarthside Hall in Nicholforest, UK), I’d originally intended to provide a more complete look at the clinics’ contents and this year’s presenters.

However, my plan to write a short biography of the clinic instructors, followed by a description of the topics each will be speaking about at the clinics, was quickly foiled as I started to put the biographies down on paper. Why? Because I was attempting to condense literally dozens of years of education and experience in hoof care into a few short statements, which would obviously be unsuccessful and of limited usefulness to anyone. So instead, I’ve decided to try to describe what I believe the strongest contributions of each of us are with respect to the clinics, and animal and hoof care in general, and leave the lengthier biographies to someone else. So here goes…

Bruce Nock badge photo

I met Dr. Bruce Nock in early 2006 when he was teaching an Advanced Horsemanship clinic as part of the certification program for natural hoof care pioneer Jaime Jackson’s organization called (at that point) the American Association of Natural Hoof Care Practitioners (AANHCP). Bruce is first and foremost a working scientist with an extremely impressive academic and practical background in animal behavior, learning theory, and stress physiology, and his current “day job” consists of ongoing research at Washington University’s School of Medicine which is funded by the U.S. National Institute of Health and focuses on the transgenerational and epigenetic effects of morphine. But Bruce is an avid horseman as well, and has used his extensive animal behavior education and experience to not only teach horse training and dressage for many years, but to author several books as well. In fact, his “Ten Golden Rules of Horse Training” is what led Jaime Jackson to require AANHCP students to study with Bruce, and later to make Bruce a member of the AANHCP’s Board of Directors. He’s also very actively involved in using his expertise in animal behavior and stress management to “give back” to the animals, through his efforts with The Kerulos Center and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. In 2003, Bruce founded Liberated Horsemanship as what he describes as “a diversion from the impersonal world of science and to put my background in the science of animal behavior and physiology to practical use helping people with their horses.” That mission greatly expanded in 2009 when he and many others decided to leave the AANHCP, and the Liberated Horsemanship Barefoot Initiative was born.

Given Dr. Nock’s background, his clinic contributions will focus primarily on health and management issues: the physiology of equine insulin resistance, Cushing’s Disease, and laminitis; understanding and coping with management and use issues that impact horse and hoof health; and the unnatural stressors that are inherent to life in captivity. This means that clinic attendees have the exceedingly rare (dare I say…unique?) opportunity to learn about these absolutely-crucial-to-the-well-being-of-every-horse factors that the overwhelming majority of horse owners, veterinarians, and hoof care providers are rarely even aware of, let alone educated about, from an acknowledged expert. In my opinion, that alone makes these clinics well worth attending for every horse owner! I will further add that one of the many other things I  greatly appreciate and admire about Bruce is his unwillingness to offer advice on subjects about which he is not an expert; that’s a rare quality indeed, particularly in a horse world fraught with self-proclaimed “experts” constantly teaching and dispensing advice about things in which they have no education, limited (if any) actual experience, and therefore very little understanding of the subject.

Ann Corso Badge photo

Ann Corso and I first met in 2005 at a Carol Brett saddle-fitting clinic in Kentucky. A trained educator, Ann studied natural hoof care with Jaime Jackson from 2003 to 2005, was a Field Instructor and Natural Trim Workshop Leader for the AANHCP, and eventually became its Director of Training and Certification during its heyday as the premier hoof trimming training and certification organization. She left the AANHCP in 2009 to co-found the Liberated Horsemanship Barefoot Initiative with Dr. Nock, of which she is the Director. In addition to her large and diverse hoof care practice, Ann is the logistical mastermind behind all of Liberated Horsemanship’s clinics, and coordinates the field instruction and certification efforts of the students as well. One of the things I marvel at, and most value about, Ann is her seemingly endless knowledge of most of the hoof research efforts going on around the world, as well as the problems with what I call the various “fad trim styles” being taught and advocated by so many; if you want to know why a particular trim “style” can’t work – just ask Ann!

Besides making certain everyone has a ride from the airport, a place to sleep, and enough to eat, Ann will teach the fundamentals of proper hoof form and its importance, the underlying foot anatomy, and the theory of proper trimming. She’ll also discuss the various barefoot trim “models,”  and specifically why others may do certain things we don’t do – or not do things we do do – and the rationale behind those differences. Ann will also conduct the cadaver trim workshops every afternoon, where students not only receive extensive and specific trim instruction through hands-on learning, but also learn about the very necessary and practical matters of tool selection & use, hoof boot fitting, and horse handling.

Steve Hebrock badge photo

I don’t really enjoy writing about myself, so I’ll try to keep it brief. My rather diverse background includes music theory & composition, sound recording, and electronics/acoustics engineering, and I’ve designed products and one-off technical solutions for a number of companies over the years. Paralleling my engineering vocation was a career in education; I started teaching electronics classes in 1978 as an undergraduate student, and have continued teaching various technical subjects at several different universities since then. Most recently, I retired from nearly 20 years  of teaching at The Ohio State University ATI – the agricultural campus of the university – where I taught electronics, computer-aided design (CAD), and many different computer applications classes. More relevant to the subject at hand, I taught equine facilities management, sales preparation, and – yes – hoof care (which I still teach). You can read more about my hoof care journey in Why Me? and Horseshoes: A Means to What End?, but the bottom line is that the last 25 years of my life have been shaped by my realization in the early 1990s that the vast majority of horse owners, farriers, and veterinarians suffer from some very large misconceptions about how horses should bear weight and move, which drastically and adversely affects their care of, and advice about, horses. And I believe that my many years as a technical educator, natural hoof care provider, and hoof care educator have equipped me to share my knowledge and experience with others in a straightforward, logical, and extremely effective manner.

At the clinics, I’ll be discussing one of my favorite topics and ongoing areas of research: how and why the hoof should make ground contact as it does, and the importance of a proper landing to the long-term comfort and health of the horse. I’ll also be talking about the causes, symptoms, and management/treatment of the most common hoof pathologies, and be co-teaching the afternoon trim workshops with Ann.

So there you have it: three educated, acknowledged experts, each with lengthy and intimate experience with both natural hoof care and their individual areas of specialization, who also have extensive experience teaching their subject matter to people of every level of education and from every walk of life from all over the world! Whether you ultimately intend to regularly trim horses, or just want to take advantage of this unique opportunity to get your hoof, horse management, and behavior questions answered by experts, please consider joining us. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. But…time and spaces are short, especially for the U.S. clinic, so contact me ASAP if you’d like to attend!