Posts filed under “Hoof form & function”
Hoof Angles – Part 3
“I cannot end the story of the horse without writing with regret that the health of this useful and precious animal has been up to now surrendered to the care and practice, often blind, of people without knowledge and without qualification.” – Georges-Louis Leclerc (1707-1778) Leclerc De Buffon was a French naturalist known for his […]
Hoof Angles – Part 2
In Hoof Angles – Part 1 we touched on the basic parameters of movement that veterinarians and farriers attempt to alter through trimming and shoeing. In this installment, we’ll examine a fundamental misconception about cause and effect as it relates to equine anatomy: the notion that the shape of the hoof causes the horse to […]
Hoof Angles – Part 1
NOTE: This particular subject is of great interest to me because its exploration leads the logical person to question the very foundations of modern farriery. Foolishly, I began the writing process thinking I could say what needed to be said in a single post. But after I started putting my thoughts down, it quickly became […]
Hoof Care Clinics in May
This is one of the real joys of my life – sharing knowledge with others. After some prodding from various clients, coupled with a student from the far east coast of Canada coming to study with me, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be offering two clinics in May. And it’s useful to know that […]
Off His Rocker(s)
When the owner led the horse out of the stall, my heart sank. This poor gelding was wearing a type of shoe known as a rocker, banana, or convex shoe, and although I’d read about them before, I’d never actually seen them “in action.” I wish I could have maintained that ignorance, because what a mess! […]
The Land of Enchantment
Last weekend’s trip to Santa Fe proved to be an interesting one. I met some very nice people and some very nice horses. I also worked on some rather unusual horses with respect to conformation and movement, which I may comment about in the future. Most of the horses I saw, like many I see […]
Mistaken Identity
Over the past several years, I’ve seen a considerable number of lame horses that have been diagnosed as having one problem or another but in reality have a very different one. And a visit a few weeks ago was no exception. I went out to trim a horse who’d been diagnosed with sidebone – the […]
A Closer Look at Breakover
If you’re around the horse world long enough, you’re bound to hear people talking about breakover. What, you may ask, is breakover? Well, there are two definitions. The first, as defined by Dr. Hilary Clayton in The Dynamic Horse, is – Terminal part of stance phase during which the heels of the hoof rotate around […]
In Better Form
This is just a quick post to share a couple of photos of one of my client’s new horse’s hooves. Both hooves started out looking like the one on the left (his right front), but the one on the right has now been trimmed. It’s always great seeing a beautiful hoof form emerge! With respect […]
The Shape of Things to Come
One of the many benefits of proper natural hoof care, as I’ve touched on in the past, is the way the hooves tend to retain their shape as they grow. The majority of my clients comment that before beginning natural hoof care, they knew when their horse was due for a trim by the presence […]