Posts tagged “natural hoof care”
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 […]
A Matter of Conscience
This started out as what I had envisioned as a fairly straightforward post, written in response to some comments made by a reader and by a local horse owner. Instead, it turned into an extremely challenging one to write – I suppose because I have so much to say on the subject that the difficulty […]
Chipping Away
I’m always trying to better understand, and therefore help clients understand, the horse and hoof issues that cause them (the horse owners) any sort of stress. So when I received a call from a client the other day who was concerned about a chip in her horse’s hoof, I decided I’d take the opportunity to […]
Natural Hoof Care Revisited (or “Promises, Promises”)
Some further reflection on my last Post, coupled with conversations and comments from several readers and clients, has made me want to add a few other thoughts regarding what constitutes genuine natural hoof care. In this case, I think it’s important (and, given the plethora of folks pretending to provide natural hoof care, becoming increasingly […]
What Makes it “Natural Hoof Care?”
It’s not unusual these days to hear horse owners, farriers, and even veterinarians talk about so-called “natural” approaches to a wide variety of equine health and management topics, including vaccinations, deworming, feeding, and hoof care. Since (as I explained in my first post) my equine expertise lies primarily in the area of hoof care, that’s […]
Laminitis Risk Calculator
This is an especially exciting and important post for me. Last April, while in Warrenton, MO to do my Special Topics/Advanced Trimming workshop for Liberated Horsemanship, we all had the privilege of hearing Dr. Don Walsh of the Animal Health Foundation give a presentation on a very real and very serious threat to our horses […]
Functional Form
I certainly wasn’t thinking of a comparison when I took some photos of a client’s hooves the other day. As a product designer, I’m admittedly drawn to the form of a well-functioning hoof, and this older Warmblood has great feet! But as I was cropping the photos, I came across some pictures I’d taken years […]
The Emperor’s New Shoes
I happened across an article entitled Polymers replace metal in horseshoes for added benefit in one of my many engineering trade magazines the other day (Design fax, Volume 7, Issue 26). I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked by its contents, but I continually hold out hope for more legitimate science in this field, and […]