Hoof Care Provider/ Farrier Services
Hoof Care Provider/ Farrier Services
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One Minute Discussions #66 Discussing Natural Hoof & Horse Care LEAVE OR REMOVE THE LAMELLAR WEDGE? The lamellar wedge is the adaptation of the hoof to internal problems. And although it’s a sign of inflammation, it may still serve a purpose during rehab. It’s still responsible for “glueing together” the wall and sole, but that “glue” is not as strong as it’s supposed to be. So how do we address it in the trim. Everything depends on the horses comfort level and the condition of the lamellar wedge. It won’t be a wise decision to totally remove the lamellar wedge if it is soggy, weak and not fully keratinized. But in a lot of cases it is safe to remove most, if not all of it, if the lamellar wedge is keratinized, dry and sturdy (especially if we’re putting the horse in therapy boots). In some cases it is a good idea to trim the bottom, flared growth evenly with the well connected top growth in order to reduce leverage on the lamina as much as we can. Denys Antonenko
One Minute Discussions #65 Discussing Natural Hoof & Horse Care WHAT CAUSES LAMINA SEPARATION Yesterday on my group I posted a question… what causes lamina separation? And although we’re used to hearing the most common things that separate the lamina, such as poor diet, metabolic problems, excessive toe leverage, etc, we don’t often hear about the less common things that can lead to a path of lamina failure without us noticing it. You’ve heard me say it many times before that lamina failure is not a result of just one thing. There’s always multiple factors contributing to the problem. As an example, bacterial and fungal infections weaken the foot, and that can result in lamina separation. Mental and physical stress can increase hormone levels which may result in poor hoof health. Many different problems happening elsewhere in the horses body (skin issues, allergies, dental problems) can be a factor that leads to a weak lamina. Denys Antonenko
One Minute Discussions #64 Discussing Natural Hoof & Horse Care WHAT IS A BALANCED HOOF? Yesterday you shared your ideas on Facebook on what balance is and now I’m sharing mine. T o me it’s very simple. A balanced foot is a functional foot. A foot that is appropriate for the current situation the horse is in. It doesn’t matter how pretty it looks, how much pathology a hoof has, how crooked or straight it is, as long as the external structures are in alignment with the internal structures and the hoof is trimmed according to the alignment of the bones above the hoof. The biggest critic of a farrier/trimmer is the horse. The horses comfort level, movement pattern and posture will all indicate if the problem is getting correctly managed or not. Denys Antonenko
One Minute Discussions #63 Discussing Natural Hoof & Horse Care WOULD YOU LET YOUR HORSES EAT POISON? It’s getting warmer, which means you have to watch out for the poison that’s in your horses pasture! Early, green grass is extremely dangerous, especially for those horses that are obese, for easy keepers, those with metabolic syndrome and those with sensitive feet. Grass is safe to eat for some horses, but don’t risk finding out if the obese pony, that has been footsore all winter, will be sound from eating spring grass… it won’t end well. Your solution to controlling your horses grass intake? Dry lots & grazing muzzles! Denys Antonenko
One Minute Discussions #62 Discussing Natural Hoof & Horse Care DOCUMENTING TRIMMING PROGRESS One thing that I regret not doing when I first started out trimming is not taking good progress hoof photos. I’m trying to improve But honestly, good progress photos are a gem! Why do we need them? It’s always beneficial & satisfying to see improvements and track how the horses feet are developing. If we’re trying to do the best job we can with horses, how would be know if the hoof improved from the last trimming/shoeing job? We can’t know if we don’t have before and after pictures. And especially for beginner trimmers, there would be a lot of times when you would take good quality hoof photos, then come back home and while scrolling through the photos you’d notice that you missed something in the trim! It can happen, that’s how we learn. Also, a lot of people ask me about my little blue pill bottle in the photos. I place it in a specific place near the hoof in order to have an idea how big the hoof is and to keep track of the changes, size, length, etc. So taking good quality hoof photos, from different/proper angles and with good lighting, is a very powerful tool in hoof rehab! Post a before and after picture that you’re currently working on! Denys Antonenko
One Minute Discussions #61 Discussing Natural Hoof & Horse Care YOU’RE HERE TO JUST TRIM THE HOOVES, RIGHT? It’s true that I’m just a trimmer/farrier, but in my mind this word represents a person that doesn’t just trims and shoes horses, but the person who looks after the horses health and pinpoints anything that’s going wrong, or could go wrong in the horses life. As an example, I stopped counting the amount of horses in my practice that had improvements due to the diet recommendations I give. If I notice that the horse is bothered by something higher up the hoof, somewhere in the body, I mention it to the owner. If I see how we can improve the horses lifestyle, paddock, mental health, etc, I speak up. Of course we can’t and not trying to substitute a professional vet. On the contrary, we’re always trying to improve the way we work and communicate with them. Farriers and trimmers constantly educate themselves, and we see our clients’ horses on a regular basis, very often, and can mention what changes we see and whether they’re for the best or worst. So being a farrier/trimmer, in my mind, is not just focusing on feet. It’s focusing on the whole horse. Denys Antonenko
Barefoot vs shod vs composites vs boots. Out of these things, what should be chosen for your horse and how do you know if you’ve done the right choice? Like with many th ings it will depend on your current situation and the horses condition but I’ll mention a couple of examples to give you an idea of what might be a good option for your horse. 1. Your horse is sound and you don’t ride very often. Why not try having the horse barefoot? It’s a great option if you see that the horse is sound and doesn’t have any major hoof pathology. And if you do plan on riding more, buy some hoof boots that’ll fit your riding needs. That’ll act as an extra layer of protection for your horses hooves during trail rides and riding lessons. 2. Your horse is lame and has major hoof pathologies. This is where it gets tricky since there’s no cookie cutter method. If you notice lameness the first thing you should do is point it out to your farrier/trimmer and vet. Professionals should always work as a team to figure out the best solution. Sometimes they’ll agree in the need of therapy boots for acute phases of inflammation in the hoof. Other times when we’re trying to grow out pathology we need extra prosthetic on the foot in order to stabilize the weak structures and that’s where composites will come in handy. 3. Your horse is ridden a lot and seems to be sound. You could try traditional metal shoes but I would look into composite shoes. They’re a better shock absorber, they’re flexible and you can modify them based on the horses needs, add extra frog support, etc. There’s so many modern tools to choose from to help your horse! We just have to be educated on what will suit your situation best. Denys Antonenko
One Minute Discussions #60 Discussing Natural Hoof & Horse Care ACUTE & SUB-CLINICAL LAMINITIS When you think of the word laminitis what comes to mind? Perhaps pain or inflammation? Changes in the hoof from grain overload and poor nutrition? Those are all of the things that lead to laminitis, but what comes to my mind is “toxemia”… the initial cause of almost all laminitis. Things like grain overload and bacterial infection leads to acute laminitis, meaning the horse has sudden pain and inflammation in the hoof within days or even hours of eating too much grain or getting an infection. But we always tend to miss sub-clinical laminitis. This is a term used to describe laminitis that has been present for quite some time but didn’t show any dramatic signs. For example extremely thin soles, or event lines, or an occasional abscess. The problem is slowly developing and then one day something tips the horse over the edge into full-on pain. To illustrate, imagine you’re filling up a cup with water from the faucet. If you were to turn on the faucet to the maximum level, what would happen? The cup will overfill within seconds. This is what acute laminitis looks like… the toxemia levels in the horses system become sky high within a short period of time and the horse ends up with acute pain. Now what would happen if you turned on the faucet to a minimum level? Eventually the cup would still overflow, but it’ll take more time. The same goes with sub-clinical laminitis. There’s no dramatic signs, but the problem is still present and eventually the last drop will overfill the cup. Keep on the watch for sub-clinical laminitis! https://www.facebook.com/groups/403518701681330/permalink/592226792810519/
Ok, so I’ve given this topic a lot of thought since im constantly seeing both owners and professionals debate whether we should trim domestic horse hooves as mustang hooves or not. Here’s my five cents with what common phrases I agree and disagree with. 1. We should always trim domestic horse feet like wild mustang feet . Should we really? I rehab and trim so many horse feet that have so much pathology in them, that if we were to trim them in the shape of a wild mustang foot they’ll be dead lame. True, we should always have the natural mustang foot in mind and strive toward its function, but we should never force a foot a way it doesn’t want to grow. And it may not be because the horse doesn’t want to grow a foot like that… it may be because there’s so much pathology and damage that growing a “mustang foot” is impossible! So should we trim a domestic hoof like a wild one? I’ll get to that later! 2. All mustangs have good feet because of genetics. Making a mustang foot a model for the domestic horses is stupid. I think this kind of thinking is very “boxy” and “limited”. Sure wild horses have good genetics and the bad/weak horses get eaten, but have you ever wondered what they eat and how much they move compared to domestic horses? We can’t just limit our thinking by saying that the genes are the only thing involved in domestic hoofcare problems. We often want to blame others, but never ourselves. So why do we always blame just “bad genes” for our horses’ hoofcare problems and not ourselves for the way we limit their movement, feed them bad food? Not to mention the way we stress them out when riding them, keeping them stalled or alone without a herd, creating even more toxemia in their system. I’ve seen and worked on laminitic domesticated mustangs and I’m confident that we’re creating the problems, not them. 3. Mustang roll is a term used by crazy barefooters. It’s useless. Then why does it help hundreds and thousands of horses every day? I’m not a crazy barefooter, I do shoes too! But the way this little tweak in addressing the hoof wall changed so many horses soundness levels is unbelievable! When we dig deeper in how the hoof functions, we’ll understand the real meaning behind a “mustang roll”. Basically it’s there to get rid of peripheral loading (get rid of loading only the walls). The way it helps the hoof become more functional is incredible! How aggressive the bevel is will depend on the situation, hoof health, soundness of the horse and of course the approach and trimming technique used by the hoof care provider. 4. Wild horses don’t get hoof problems. Sure they do. Just look at the brumby horses study done by Brian Hampton PhD. He noticed how exposure to high sugars resolved into a lot of laminitis episodes in the wild horses. This just proves again and again the effect that diet has on our domesticated horses. We are the only ones that can control what they eat! 5. The wild mustang hoof model is a great thing to keep in mind when trimming domestic horses. Yes! One hundred percent!! This doesn’t mean to trim the hoof the same exact shape and size just like the wild horse hoof model in one go (sometimes, with a healthy foot that’s the case, but it’s rare). The reason why we even have the wild horse hoof model is to compare it with domestic hooves and see how can we improve the domestic hoof function. A lot of things in nature are pretty healthy and symmetrical, including the wild horse hoof model. We strive towards soundness, function and symmetry. Only then can we achieve good results with our domestic horses. Keeping in mind the pathology and distortions the hoof has, we should trim a hoof based on the conformation of the horse and it’s needs, and never based on a picture in a textbook. Very broad topic. We can go on for hours discussing this. Do you agree with the given points? Denys Antonenko https://www.facebook.com/groups/403518701681330/permalink/587801686586363/