Posts filed under “Shoes & shoeing”
Unnatural Practices
The natural hoof is uniform in terms of its fundamental front and hind shapes throughout wild horse society, but it is also uniquely endowed with endless subtle variations in angle, size, and color that set the hooves of one horse off from those of the next. – Jaime Jackson, The Natural Horse Back in the […]
The Hoof Landings Tower of Babel
This isn’t even remotely what I expected to be writing about right now. In authoring my recent series on heel-first landings, I assumed that everyone likely to read them was familiar with the definitions of the various types of landings – probably because what the different landing types are called are, in themselves, accurate descriptions […]
The Myth of the Heel-First Landing – Part 2
In the first article in this series, I started us down the path to understanding why the proper landing for a horse at the walk has to be flat-footed by describing the anatomical differences between humans and horses, and pointing out the limitations of our ability to perceive fairly significant differences in how the horse […]
The Myth of the Heel-First Landing – Part 1
Yes, I know it’s been far too long since I’ve posted an article, but life seems to have a way of interfering with my writing! The good news is that I now have several articles well under way, and so will try hard to keep the gaps shorter. I had to laugh when I saw […]
Problem/Solution
It’s a constant struggle. The other night I gave a 2-year-old mustang born in a BLM holding facility his first real trim. I say “real” because he surely must’ve been trimmed at least once or twice in the holding facility, but almost certainly either in a squeeze chute, tranquilized, or both. As you can see, […]
Because Breaking Up is (Apparently) Hard to Do
This youngster looks really upset, doesn’t he? But his contentment with me is only part of the hoof-care story, which brings me to the subject of this post: the following email I received from a brand-new client the other day – Steve, I just wanted to take a minute and thank you for the work […]
How Do You Know?
Hello Steve, Hope you can help me out. I own a thoroughbred racehorse, and want to know that he is being properly shod. I read parts 1,2 and 3 of Hoof Angles, but I’m still not sure how I should proceed to make sure my horse is properly shod. Do I need to measure before […]
It’s Clinic Time (Again)!
First and foremost, I want to remind everyone, particularly my European readers, that the registration deadline for the Insights from World Leaders in Hoof and Horse Care conference and natural hoof care training workshop is upon us. I would encourage every horse owner to consider joining us next month in Barcelona, Spain for this important […]
An Interview with The Vet
While in Tennessee recently, I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Dr. Neal Valk, a board-certified veterinary surgeon, friend, and fellow clinician in Liberated Horsemaship’s hoof trimming training program. I’ve known Neal for six years now, and continue to respect and appreciate his contributions to my knowledge base when it comes to […]
Anna’s Journey
A year ago last summer, I received this email entitled “Help!” from a woman named Christine – I have a beautiful draft cross mare named Anna that just turned five. She got her first pair of shoes, but the farrier put on too-small shoes, set her too upright (she has a very draft foot), and […]