Barefoothandouts

Barefoot-n-it

Natural Trim Hoof Care

Audrey Salisbury

FASTTRACK Distributor

Beginning with a different point of view

Horseshoes seem to have been invented in the Middle Ages in Europe, to keep the feet from falling apart when knights' horses had to live for months in slop-filled tie-stalls while the castle was under siege. At that time, the modern study of Anatomy and Physiology did not exist. There was no way to study what the shoes did to hooves and legs.

Horses today are high-priced performance animals and valued companions, and are not kept in unsanitary conditions that rot their feet. A long life and lifelong soundness are important to most horse owners. Therefore, it is time to re-think the use of horseshoes. There are more than a dozen ways that shoes are known to damage the feet, legs, and circulatory system of the horse.

Circulation: When the horse steps down on his foot, the cone-shaped hoof wall flexes wider at the bottom; when he lifts it off the ground, it returns to its narrower "closed" shape. This spread-and-squeeze acts like a pump, pulling blood into the foot with each step.

Horseshoes are nailed onto the foot when it is in the closed, off-the-ground position. With a shoe on, the hoof can't flex, so the pump doesn't work. Therefore, the quality of sole, wall, and frog is poor; injuries are slow to heal; and the white line deteriorates over time and becomes stretchy.

Shock absorption: In the tough yet elastic barefoot hoof, the flexing of the weighted hoof can absorb as much as 2,000 lbs. of concussion. But the horseshoe holds the foot inflexible, canceling out 75% of its ability to absorb shock. Instead, the concussion goes on up the leg and damages joints and tendons that were not designed to take so much shock.

A third type of damage is that shoes contract the hoof. The hoof naturally grows in a cone shape; as the hoof wall grows, the base (the part that touches the ground) gets wider. But shoes hold the base to the size it was on shoeing day. The shod hoof changes from a cone to more of a cylinder shape. The heels are forced to curl inward, which puts incorrect mechanical stress on the hoof wall.

For these and many other reasons, the barefoot horse has a lot of advantages over the shod horse, both in health and in performance. It takes about a year of special care to re-build good feet; we call this healing time the "transition year."

Transition is the reason why so many people have said, "Barefoot doesn't work for my horse." Some horses are described as having "bad" or "weak" feet that "would not do well barefoot." It is admittedly a time of inconvenience for the rider. However, once we understand that horseshoes do weaken the hooves, we can do certain things to make the horse ride able while it grows out a new, better hoof.

The rehabilitation period may range from several months to well over a year, depending on the amount of internal damage in the foot. Increased blood flow starts to rebuild internal structures that were damaged by the shoes or incorrect trimming. The transition period is over when the sole regains concavity.

Horses are good healers. The horse can recover just fine with bare feet, a plain wild-horse trim, and lots of walking around. The horse doesn't need "orthopedic" shoes; he doesn't need fancy drugs that confuse his system and overload his liver; and he especially doesn't need "stall rest". The more we interfere with high-tech treatments, the harder it is for him to do his healing process.

A diet of no sugars (such as pellet feeds), low protein type grain such as whole oats, beet pulp soaked adds fiber and grass hay (no alfalfa) available 24 hours. FASTTRACK Microbial supplement provides enzymes to the digestive system, that assists with the proper utilization of food to help combat stress, lack of appetite during changes, boosts the immune system as well as re-building hoof tissues. With a good feed program you are helping your horse from the inside out.

As the foot begins to heal, you will see the hoof wall growing down from the hairline, at a new angle to the ground. This new wall is firmly attached to the upper part of the coffin bone by a strong laminar connection. As the new wall gets closer to the ground, the coffin bone becomes better suspended, and finally the sole will become concave.

Most horses can be ridden lightly after their first trim. Other may need to begin a few minutes of daily riding, at the walk. Ride on firm ground and avoid doing circles and corners for the first few days/weeks. Increase the distance, as the horse is able. Don't ask for a trot; let him offer it on his good days. Likewise, he will eventually offer a canter when his feet feel good enough. Riding helps increase the circulation in the hooves. Before you know it your horse will be trotting over gravel without flinching.

Hoof boots or Hoof Armor (which is applied to the sole of the hoof) help the transition to barefooted riding. Especially if your horse needs protection on his hooves in the beginning. They Hoof Boots can be used for riding and exercise then taken off your horse when finished. Hoof Armor remains on for a period of approximately 4 to 5 weeks and wears off. Hoof Armor is very convenient and time saving (versus putting on boots that may fall off in mud) allowing you to ride and the hoof to mend with protection.

There are many people who have successfully brought their barefooted horses back to soundness, or who are currently in the middle of the process, who can be supportive of your program.

Keep it Natural!

Audrey Salisbury

From Shod to Barefoot

When we remove the shoes, nearly all horses are found to have substantial internal damage to the hooves. It takes from 6 to months to about a year of special care to re-build good feet; we call this healing time the "transition year." The occasional horse that doesn't have transition soreness generally had shoes for only a few months.

Horseshoes seem to have been invented in the Middle Ages in Europe, to keep the feet from falling apart when knights' horses had to live for months in slop-filled tie-stalls while the castle was under siege. At that time, the modern study of Anatomy and Physiology did not exist yet, so there was no way to study what the shoes did to hooves and legs.

There are more than a dozen ways that shoes are known to damage the feet, legs, and circulatory system of the. The worst damage comes from loss of circulation in the hoof, and loss of shock absorption.

Horsehoes are nailed onto the foot when it is in the closed, off-the-ground position. With a shoe on, the hoof can't flex, so the pump doesn't work; not enough blood and nutrients are pulled into the foot to build and maintain strong tissues. Therefore, the quality of sole, wall, and frog is poor; injuries are slow to heal; and the white line deteriorates over time and becomes stretchy.

A rough estimate is that a medium-sized, barefoot horse pumps a gallon (4 liters) through its four feet in about 20 strides.

Shock absorption: In the tough yet elastic barefoot hoof, the flexing of the weighted hoof can absorb as much as 2,000 lbs. of concussion. But the horseshoe holds the foot inflexible, cancelling out 75% of its ability to absorb shock. Instead, the concussion goes on up the leg and damages joints and tendons that were not designed to take so much shock.

The horse's feet keep growing till age 5, when he reaches his full adult weight. When shoes are put on a young horse, the coffin bone cannot grow wider, and the foot ends up small for the horse, and often contracted.

For these and many other reasons, the barefoot horse has a lot of advantages over the shod horse, both in health and in performance.

Here is what Marco Polo noticed on his journey to China:

"Afghanistan produces numbers of excellent horses, remarkable for their speed. They are not shod, although used in mountainous country, and go at a great pace even down deep descents, where shod horses neither would nor could do the like."

Can my horse go barefoot?

Many people ask me whether their horse "can go barefoot." Here are some considerations to help you make your own decision.

1) Since horses have succeeded as a species for millions of years without shoes, I believe any shod horse would prefer to go barefoot and feel the ground, if we had a way to ask them. A horse depends on his feet to escape from predators, and feels insecure if he can't feel the ground.

Very old horses have gone barefoot successfully. Yet a lot depends on the age and condition of the horse.

2) If you think about it, "Horses could go barefoot, except for the ambitions of their owner / rider." There are situations where the horse would be better off barefoot, in the long run, but the rider is on an unforgiving performance schedule that allows no "down time" in case the transition is a difficult one; for example, a teenager campaigning on the show circuit where there is a rider age limit.

When a horse goes lame, the schedule is no longer a consideration and the barefoot method would be the fastest route to complete soundness.

Hoof boots, Hoof Aromor and a natural trim make it possible for horses to transition with no difficulty.

There are situations where shoes are used to extend the horse's abilities beyond what nature provides. An example is stadium jumping, where the horse must have shoes with corks in order to get around sharp turns at high speed. The corks give the horse traction, but having enough traction for a tight course overstresses the ligaments and joints in the legs; no-one expects these horses to be sound and rideable to the age of 35 -- or even 15.

(The Swiss Horse Boot was designed for competition, and can be fitted with corks. This allows the hoof itself to remain healthy, though ligament and joint stress would still occur.)

3) Some horses work in situations that require hoof protection. Amish buggy horses are driven 20 miles a day on paved highways -- the abrasive surface wears the feet faster than they can grow. We can use hoof boots to protect the hoof; this is one situation where you would need boots on all four feet. A benefit of boots is that they can be used part of the time, such as three days a week, allowing the feet to self-trim on the other days and the boots to last longer.

4) Some horses are described as having "bad" or "weak" feet that "would not do well barefoot." But horses get "weak feet" in the first place, from reduced circulation in the shod foot; or, looking to their early life, from the foal not getting enough movement on firm footing.

With the help of hoof boots during the transition year, these horses are showing us that they grow new, tough hooves just like any other barefoot horse. If you look at a "weak" hoof several months after pulling the shoes, you'll actually see a line where the new hoof wall at the top is suddenly thicker than the older wall below.

5) A few horses get a thin, soft sole -- squishy to thumb pressure -- due to a very wet year. They get sore and in fact there is danger of breaking the coffin bone should they land hard on a sharp rock. They will go sound again when the weather dries out. Thankfully today there is a product to assist barefoot horses, Hoof Armor. It is an epoxy coating that is applied to the sole area of the hoof. It contains Kevlar and it take the average horse 5 to 6 weeks to wear it off. Hoof Armor is also great to assist horses coming out of shoe that have thin soles.

What is "Transition?"

After you pull the shoes, there is a rehabilitation period of several months to well over a year, depending on the amount of internal damage in the foot. Increased blood flow starts to rebuild internal structures that were damaged by the shoes. Until the rebuilding is complete, most horses are "sore on gravel" and will need hoof boots to ride on gravel roads, rocky trails, or frozen ground.

Transition is the reason why so many people have said, "Barefoot doesn't work for my horse." It is admittedly a time of inconvenience for the rider. However, once we understand that horseshoes do weaken the hooves, we can do certain things to make the horse rideable while it grows out a new, better hoof.

The transition period is over when the sole regains concavity (due to the white line tightening up completely) and the horse walks on gravel as if it were grass.

Being realistic about transition

The "white line" is a layer of interlocking laminae. Like a sort of living Velcro (hook-and-loop tape), it connects the hoof wall securely to the coffin bone. (See photos on Hoof Shape page.) The white line carries the entire weight of the horse when the foot is weighted. It takes an enormous supply of blood (nutrients) to keep the white line strong enough to handle this awesome job. Horseshoes reduce circulation inside the hoof; the "starved" white line becomes weak and stretchy.

The majority of all horses that have been shod for more than a year have white line damage to some extent. Anyone who helps lots of horses return to a barefoot condition, comes to recognize that horseshoes (plus infrequent trimming due to shoeing) do damage the feet. Most feet are going to be sore for a while after you pull the shoes; fronts much more than hinds, because they carry more of the horse's weight.

It can be very hard to admit to ourselves that we have caused this much damage to our beloved horses' feet by doing what we thought was best for them, e.g. keeping them shod. I know how hard it is from personal experience, as well as from "holding the hand" of horse owners while they go through the early part of Transition. The truth is, we made them sore; and so we get to live through the recovery time with them, including not riding for a while if necessary.

In general, it takes from 6 months to a year of correct care before the de-shod hoof returns to the complete soundness it had before-shoes. The issue when you pull the shoes is not "Can I take him on a long, rocky trail ride tomorrow?" but rather "What's a good program to rehabilitate his feet?"

Hoof boots or Hoof Armor are an important tool for the transition to barefoot; the comfort they provide will help your state-of-mind as much as they help the horse.

Another tool is your decision to be patient and trust the horse to heal. They do heal. They get better than you can imagine. I get email from people happily reporting on "my horse's rock-crunching hooves."

All the de-shod horses I know of became barefoot-rideable within a few days to about a year, given these conditions of care:

-- a non-invasive, "natural" or "wild-horse" trim;

-- "white line strategy" used wherever there is white line separation (flaring); stretched white line is painful;

-- a consistent trimming schedule so that the walls never get more than "the thickness of 2 credit cards" longer than the sole;

-- hoof boots or Hoof Armor used on front feet. This is especially helpful for horses with a more serious problem to recover from as well as when riding on gravel, rocks, pavement, or frozen ground;

-- the most turnout you can arrange; 24 / 7 is most effective;

-- a lot of hand-walking (if unrideable) or riding on firm footing; many miles per day is most effective.

Eliminating transition soreness

A good trim strategy for getting horses out of shoes and back to work is to do the "first trim" in a way that when the shoes are taken off it can go to work within a few days.

Here are the trimming steps:

-- Scrape out chalky, flaky, or crackled "dead " stuff until you get to solid (so-called "live") sole. This should not be done with a knife. Use a blunt object like your hoof pick.

-- Use the sole itself as the landmark or guide for trimming the hoof wall. Trim excess wall and heel length to the edge of the sole, no farther. Balancing the foot side-to-side is included in this step.

-- Shorten overgrown bars down to the level of the sole, or until there is no dirt line between the bar and the sole.

-- Rasp off flares with a vertical cut; be sure to round-in in so that there are no bulges or corners in the outline of the footprint.

Where the white line (yellowish) is tight, bevel or "mustang roll" the bottom of the wall as far as the water line (white layer of wall).

Why horses in transition are "sore on gravel"

The transition from shod to barefoot is not about "toughening up" the sole. It is not the sole that is sore, it's the corium -- a layer of living tissue on the bottom of the coffin bone that grows the sole. Iodine or other drying treatments do not speak to the actual problem. Putting gravel in the horse's turnout to "toughen the feet" will work against you; wait until after transition is completed.

When we have a stretched white line -- due to the lack of nutrition in a shod hoof, or due to the mechanical forces of a flare -- the coffin bone sinks away from the hoof wall and presses down onto the sole corium. The corium gets inflamed by the constant pressure of the bone. When the horse walks on gravel or rocks, it hurts. It's like when you have an inflamed finger; you'd rather not bump into sharp corners with it.

Here is a cross-section diagram through a hoof with a tight white line (left), and a hoof with a stretched white line (right). Notice that the coffin bone actually hangs lower inside the hoof capsule; it sits down onto the sole corium and inflames it; and the sole is flatter.

The horse will not go sound-on-gravel (or other hard or uneven terrain) until the white line has healed and tightened up, and the coffin bone is held firmly up inside the hoof wall. This should generally happen within 6 months to a year, with a consistently renewed mustang roll.

Other reasons for transition soreness

Several structures in addition to the white line are damaged by shoes:

-- The unpigmented, inner layer of hoof wall ("water line") is a tough, shock-absorbing structure. Horseshoes weaken it, reducing shock absorption in the entire hoof wall. In the barefoot hoof, the water line gets more concussion and gradually becomes denser and stronger.

-- The digital cushion is a shock-absorbing structure just above the frog. Made of fatty tissue with a "hammock" of fibrous webbing, it supports the descending pastern. It loses condition in shod and confined horses. Increased use of the digital cushion rebuilds its fibrous toughness.

-- The typical "long-heel, toe-pulled-forward" trim makes the front feet land toe-first and leads to "navicular" pain at the impar ligament. A natural balanced trim with a rockered toe changes the stride so that the foot can land heel-first

-- Where shoes have pressed the heel together, resulting in a crease between the bulbs, a fungus infection can become chronic in horses living in rainy areas. Fungus shows up as heel lameness, and prevents widening of the frog and heels.

Abscessing should be unusual after pulling the shoes. Most often it is the result of thinning the sole, or invasive trimming of other hoof parts. To avoid abscessing, do not thin the sole in any area, other than scraping off chalky/crackled material.

Lifestyle changes that support barefoot

The horse living in an unnatural situation (which includes most domestic arrangements) loses health and fitness in his

-- metabolism (how the body uses food)

-- immune system

-- joints and ligaments

-- heart and blood vessels

-- structures of the hoof

-- social world (the skills and security of the herd)

-- mental and/or spiritual balance.

No matter how expensive or "well-bred" the horse, they are all "made of the same stuff" and they need the same conditions as a wild horse if they are to give us their best.

A "natural lifestyle" or "natural boarding" is the basis for healing any illness or injury. The horse's entire physical makeup is exactly "tuned" for a particular environment (for most breeds, dry plains and desert, with extremes of heat, cold, wind, etc; or for some, marshy areas). In a similar enough situation, horses are capable of healing nearly anything that happens to them.

An observer's estimate of what a wild horse does over 24 hours

-- 60% eating -- on the move, about 20 miles (30 km.) daily

-- 20% standing around

-- 10% lying down

-- 10% other (play, social activities, sex)

And here is what a stalled horse does over 24 hours:

-- 47% eating -- not moving

-- 40% standing around

-- 10% lying down

-- 3% other (play, social activities)

We can make changes in our horse's boarding situation so that his activities shift as much as possible towards the wild-horse lifestyle. Begin with what you can provide easily; this might be not-blanketing, or providing 24-hour hay rather than large feedings of grain. Then tackle the harder parts, such as 24-hour turnout or riding lots of miles daily. For me, the hardest is that I still haven't arranged for the "bare minimum" of 10 miles per day of movement, though my horses live outdoors and can move around freely.

Flares

Most of the problems we see in the hooves of domestic horses are related to flaring of the hoof wall.

-- transition pain is due to flaring which allows the coffin bone to settle down and bruise the sole corium;

-- founder is essentially a big flare;

-- contracted heels are due to a forward-flared toe;

-- navicular pain is related to a forward-flared toe causing the foot to land toe-first.

Except for laminitis, where inflammation of the laminae allows the white line to stretch or separate, flares are the result of incorrect mechanical forces which pry the wall away from the coffin bone.

What is a flare?

A flare is separation of the hoof wall, away from the coffin bone. Often the wall curves outwards at the bottom like the bell of a trumpet. You can feel even the slightest flare with your hand, and you can generally see a flare by looking at the hoof wall with your eye or camera at ground level, and moving around the foot to see all parts of the wall.

Flare tells us that white line stretching or separation has occurred and the hoof wall is not attached to the coffin bone in that area. Flare and white line separation are the same thing. When you look at the sole of a flared foot, the white line beside the flare is dirty (stretched) or makes a small groove (separated) between the wall and the sole. To say it the other way around, you will find a flare where the white line is dirty or grooved.

When the white line has pulled apart -- like pulling the two sides of Velcro (hook and loop fastener) apart -- the two sides cannot re-attach to each other. A new connection must grow down from the coronet (hairline) -- just as, if you tear part of your fingernail, you have to wait for the fingernail to grow out from the quick.

Most flares occur at the bottom of the wall, where ground contact mechanically starts to pry the wall away from the bone. Occasionally a hind foot that is overgrown in the toe but short in the heel, will form a bulge ("bull-nose") halfway up the toe wall. The white line at the bulge is stretched because the unusual mechanical forces in this shape of a hoof pull the wall away from the bone.

A founder is a flare so severe that the coffin bone falls away (rotates at the P2-P3 joint) downwards at the toe. Founder can result either from inflammation of the laminae (laminitis) or from mechanical forces in an overgrown or badly trimmed foot.

Flares are painful. The hoof wall is fingernail, and is attached to the bone by the same strong-but-tender material that holds fingernails on -- you can see the stripes of your own laminae through your fingernails. Flaring feels something like having your fingernail pulled off. Laminitis (inflammation of the white line) is so painful the horse will stand in the "founder stance." Even a mechanical flare is painful enough to make the horse noticeably unsound -- sometimes people think their horse is "being lazy" but the horse peps up again when you get the white line tightened up.

Wild horses don't often have flares. A horse living in "horse country" going 20 miles (30 km) daily on rough, dry ground wears its feet to an efficient "mustang roll" or rounded bevel that cannot flare. In unusual conditions -- a rainy season with lush grass -- wild hooves do get overgrown and begin to flare. The flared wall chips, cracks, and breaks away, giving the horse a rough-looking but workable hoof until dry conditions return.

A cross-section of the wall, showing how a mechanical flare develops. On a flat-bottomed wall, the ground forces the wall away from the coffin bone. The white line separates, the coffin bone loses some suspension, and the horse goes "sore on gravel."

To prevent repeated flaring, we will round off the bottom of the wall with a "mustang roll."

However, every time the wall grows down to contact the ground, it will flare again, and you lose several weeks' growth of new white line connection.

We need to renew the mustang roll weekly until the white line has completely tightened up and the flare is gone.

To rehabilitate a flare, mustang roll to the edge of the sole. Renew weekly until the white line is no longer stretched.

When the white line has tightened up, use the standard mustang roll, which stops at the water line.

For the immediate comfort of a flared foot, the top priority is to remove stress on the white line so that it is not painful and further stretching is prevented. Although the horse will be "walking on the sole" for a while, we see over and over that white line pain bothers horses more than sole pain. We can use protective sole pads for 2 or 3 days, if needed; after that, owners generally report that their horse is "running and bucking in the pasture."

In a transitioning horse, when the white line connection finally gets tight, three notable things happen:

1) Rather suddenly, from one trim to the next, the sole will gain concavity as the coffin bone is raised up inside the hoof capsule.

2) With feet that finally feel good, the horse is more lively.

3) The horse is able to walk on gravel, rocks, pavement, or frozen ground without pain.

"White line disease"

Most of what people are calling "white line disease" is not a disease but only a stretched white line, which can look strange and can be upsetting if you don't know what it is. The horse will be unsound -- by definition, a stretched white line is painful because it means there is a flare.

In true white line disease, fungus and/or bacteria become established in the stretched white line and travel far up under the hoof wall, destroying tissue. My understanding is that a hoof with white line disease sounds hollow when you tap it with a tool. The best treatment is to soak several times Sometimes it may be necessary to cut away part of the wall to get air circulation to the diseased area.