When I see shelly hoof walls, persistent hoof cracks, incurable thrush, rings in the hoof wall, stretched white line, increased soreness or sensitivity often changing with the seasons, overall poor hoof quality, I know that no matter how well I trim this foot, something else needs to be addressed. The four letter word... DIET. I'll never forget that the first thing Pete Ramey said at my first clinic I attended of his, "90% of the hoof pathology I see is caused by poor diet." PLEASE read his article that I have attached at the bottom! It's very easy to understand and it will point you in the right direction.

I confess that analyzing a horse's diet and the results of forage testing etc makes my head spin. I'm working on understanding it better by taking every nutrition webinar I can fit into my schedule. But, what I can tell you is that unless you have tested all of the sources of your horse's nutritional intake and have had it analyzed (either by you having taken a course or by a nutritionist), you really have no idea what your horse is eating much less if it is meeting their needs.

Having a child has really brought this into perspective for me. I never thought I would be so careful about what my daughter eats but after careful observation, her body is very clear about what her nutritional needs are! She is growing so she needs a different set of nutrients from what I need or what a 80+ year old grandma needs. So we cannot feed all different breeds and ages of horses that have such varying amounts of exercise the same thing either. 

I am very much a "do-it-yourself" advocate but in this case, if I had a horse of my own, I would trust someone who specializes in this field to at least point me in the right direction. For Vermonters, there is Nicole Sicely of Custom Equine Nutrition who can help you work out a nutrition plan for your horse. She also sells a supplement that has been developed specifically for our area to help meet the nutritional needs of horses being fed forage from Vermont! 

Rather than me watering a very complicated topic that I'm just starting to learn more about myself, I suggest you get out there and start getting some testing done. It's not hard, expensive or even time consuming especially when you weigh it against all of the added cost and time it takes to deal with a sick or injured horse. Spring is the time when many horse owners get their horses vaccinated, dewormed, checked for dental problems, etc. Add getting your horse's diet on the right track to the list!

Here are some links to get you started:

http://hoofrehab.com/Diet.html
www.CustomEquineNutrition.com - Nicole Sicely 802-730-2977
http://drkellon.com/
http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/paddock-paradise.html
​www.safergrass.org

So it seems like spring keeps poking it's head around the corner... and then going away again :( Hopefully it will be here to stay in the Northeast soon. With spring comes lots of things, flowers, rain, mud season (yuck!), hopefully not any laminitis but most exciting is more riding!  

With more riding comes the inevitable phone calls. "My horse has been sound barefoot all winter and now that I want to ride him/her, he/she is sore! What can I do?" BUY SOME BOOTS! Most horses don't get the chance to travel over different types of terrain for the amount of miles they need to in order to develop the callous needed to be ridden barefoot over different surfaces comfortably. Does your horse have concrete or rocks in their turnout or stall area? If the answer is no, then we really cannot expect your horse to develop the hoof they need to be able to travel over those surfaces comfortably. 

Surfaces aside, even just the added weight of a rider (no matter how light) can be enough to make a normally sound horse sore. My daughter weighs just about 20 pounds which is about 1/6th of my weight and when I have to put her in her back pack carrier and hike or just take a long walk, I can feel it everywhere! I have a sore knee that acts up, my back will ache and my feet are extra tired. By the end of the summer I will be more fit to do this over longer periods of time but our first month or so of hiking is pretty brutal! I can understand how a horse that hasn't been ridden much over the past few months will take some time to get back into the swing of being ridden and boots and pads will make the transition go that much smoother.

If you have limitations that keep you from being able to put on boots to ride or if you are planning to go on some long rides or your horse has a problem keeping boots on, consider some glue-on options. There are many different kids of boots, shoes, casts etc that can help your barefoot horse stay comfortable for a time when a lot is going to be asked of them.

I'm an Easycare dealer so I am partial to their products but no matter what brand you choose, ask your trimmer about a good fitting pair of riding boots to help your horse stay comfortable this riding season!

PS- boots aren't just for Spring/summer/fall, if you are a brave soul and ride all winter, they can really help keep your horse feeling their best year-round!

So much for this whole blogging weekly thing! Parenthood and a growing client base is keeping away from my computer (which I'm not sad about in general). BUT - I did run a webinar through PHCP on Starting Your Natural Hoof Care Business and it was well attended and received. If you missed it, it will be offered again likely next January. 

I'm going to be presenting again this spring, this time on The Business of Booting! If you are a hoof care practitioner and you are under-utilizing hoof boots in your practice, you are MISSING OUT! Not only is there money to be made but horses to be made comfortable. Here are the details, hope to "see" you there!

When: April 4th 8:30pm EST
Where: Where ever you can find a reliable internet connection!
How much: $50 for PHCP members and $60 for non-PHCP members

Sign up at www.pacifichoofcare.org
​- Check out other webinars and educational opportunities this AMAZING organization has to offer!

I have started this next post at least 3 different times not sure where to begin! There are so many options at our fingertips now for boots and glue on options. This will likely be a 3 part post... or more! I thought I would start with transitioning horses out of metal shoes. These are just some basic steps I take to ensure that I don't get calls about sore horses after I pull shoes. There are a million different routes to go, and as long as the one you use keeps the horse comfortable and moves the transition forward, I say go for it!

I had a conversation with a fellow Centenary College Equine Studies alumnus about her horse and his rocky transition out of metal shoes to "going barefoot". She had a well respected trimmer come out to evaluate, pull shoes and trim and while the trim looks fine, the horse is extremely sore. The worst part is that the trimmer told her to just "give it a few days" and said they would come back in a few weeks to fit for boots. We have all been there and made horses sore but not coming back ASAP to fix the problem is not acceptable. There isn't a farrier or trimmer who hasn't ever made a mistake. But you can put some stop gaps in place to make sure that the horse is comfortable if nothing else, at least until you can get back to them to take further steps to fixing it! 

The transition stage going from a metal shoe to being completely barefoot is a precarious one to make. At this stage in my practice, I will NEVER (and I never say never) will pull a horse's shoes and leave it without any protection. This could be the glue on and or/casting varieties that I'll write a whole separate post about or it can be the temporary kind that you can take on and off as you (or the horse) chooses. Which option you go with really depends on a lot of factors, the health of the hoof, the horse's job, the horse's breed/size, the owner's willingness to take boots on and off for turnout or riding, the owner's budget, etc. 

When you have shoes pulled off of your horse, make sure to discuss the transition plan with your farrier or trimmer and be sure that the plan is followed through. (My friend who I mentioned earlier had a plan with her trimmer ready to go and then they just showed up and pulled the shoes and trimmed the horse without her knowing when it was going to happen... and needless to say the plan was not followed) I'm not trying to out other trimmers or make anyone feel bad, but it's just playing with fire if you go into the hoof care business and don't utilize some forms of hoof protection. I understand that boots are an investment and sometimes the glue on options are more expensive than metal shoes, but these are things you need to consider BEFORE you decide to pull your horse's shoes.

Once you understand what it will entail, proceed with caution and be ready to change the plan if it doesn't go as you planned. And we know that anything related to horses definitely has the potential to not go as planned...

I'm going to try to make these blogs a weekly (or bi-weekly) practice to help myself reflect on what I'm seeing in the horses I trim and what I'm learning from my colleagues and through independant study! 

This week, I find myself trying to convince many horse owners that even in the winter, 8+ weeks is just too long for most horses to go between trims. I say most horses because there are always exceptions and I also know that horses won't die if they have to wait 8 weeks due to bad weather, family emergencies or any other reason we have to put trims off. And it is true that most horse's hoof growth slows significantly in the winter. 

All that said, if I have to take off a ton of hoof each time I come, I'm taking 1 step forward and at least 1 if not 2 steps back depending on the horse. Some horses do more self trimming or grow slower than others but in general, I want to do as little trimming of the height/length of hoof wall as possible so that I can focus on the balance and shaping of the hoof overall. If we allow hoof distortions to become over grown, it can effect the horse throughout it's whole body. 

Over the 2 months between trims, the horse's body is compensating for the extra growth at the bottom of the hoof and they are developing new ways of moving that aren't always the kindest to their muscles, tendons, joints etc especially if they are in work. And then I come along for my 8 week appointment and "fix" all of that, now their body is totally confused and has to readjust often causing body aches and pains. 

On top of the body mechanics, the hoof can't function properly if the hoof is overgrown either. The frog needs to be making ground contact, not TOO much but enough to stimulate the frog tissue and the underlying soft tissue to support the back half of the hoof encouraging the heel first landing we all strive for. If the wall and bars grow too long, for example, the frog will lack ground contact and do any number of things, either to compensate or start to atrophe. This can lead to heel pain, thrush, eventually navicular disease/syndrome especially if the horse develops a consistant toe-first landing. 

And then rehab cases are a whole different ball game! I won't go too into detail for this blog about that because depending on the condition, different protocols will be necessary. I will say that you should be prepared to have your horse trimmed on a much more frequent basis if he/she is dealing with a chronic or serious hoof issue such as laminitis or navicular disease/syndrome. 

I promise you, we trimmers and farriers are not trying to steal your money by coming to trim your horses more often! We want to make sure that we stay ahead of your horse's growth to keep them functioning as well as they possibly can without setbacks. I understand the thinking that since we ride less in the winter and the hooves grow slower we should trim less and that is certainly the case. Ideally, I would like to be scheduling at 6 weeks so that I can have some wiggle room when it snows here in Vermont (which is pretty often!) and I have to push appointments back a week. 

That's my musing this week, stay tuned for other topics and feel free to suggest something if you want to discuss it!

*I forgot to add that if the owner is willing to touch up with a rasp and knife in between visits, we can absolutely go longer in between! I LOVE teaching owners how to trim and it really helps them to stay accountable for their horse's hoof health and they become more in tune to what goes on :)

The myriad of infections to the frog that horses can get has been generalized into one term: THRUSH. I have seen a lot of it in my practice and I wanted to address it by pointing out that the people who have been the most successful at "beating" it are the ones who prevent it!

There are several layers to prevention. The first starts with making sure your horse's environment is free (or mostly free) of his own manure and urine build up. I know it's not possible to have completely clean pastures and paddocks all the time, but if there is an area that the horses like to hang out at lot ie. run-in shelters or near a water trough that is collecting manure and urine, your horses will be standing in it and that is a breeding ground for thrush. Be sure to clean those areas regularly and make sure there is proper drainage so that the urine can run off. 

A lot of people assume that muddy environments are also going to cause thrush and this is only partly true. Horses with compromised hooves/immune systems or with no where to get out of the mud will likely have thrush issues but mud itself does not cause it. Healthy hooves with at least one area that is dry in a turn out area should be able to tolerate muddy seasons in their living area.

Having a proper diet is also a factor. You hear natural hoof care proponents commenting (or obsessing over) your horse's diet a lot and the reason is that hoof quality is a by product of it. Just like humans cannot exercise their way out of bad eating habits, we trimmers cannot trim your horse's hooves out of a poor diet. Excess sugar and starch can be inflammatory to your horse's entire system making it more suseptable to infection and that's what thrush is! Also, making sure your horse is getting the proper vitamin and mineral balance is crutial and this can be done by testing all of the sources of food (grain, grass, forage, etc) your horse has access to and having it evaluated. 

Once you have all of your preventative measures in place, you can be sure that your treatment measures won't be erased! Here is a list of treatment options that I recommend rotating through depending on your situation. I suggest using several different methods because, unless you take a culture swab of the area, you won't know exactly what you are treating (fungal or bacterial) so I find it's best to find whats best for your horse by rotating. Always ask your own trimmer/farrier which they recommend for your horse's particular situation. For most treatment plans, daily or twice daily applications usually get the fastest and most positive results!

Apple Cider Vinegar: 1/2 and 1/2 either shallow soaks or in a spray bottle applied once weekly as a preventative measure. Most of us already have this on hand!

"Pete's Goo" - can be made yourself! equal parts clotrimizol, triple antibiotic ointment +pain relief and diaper rash ointment

Cow Mastitis medication - Tomorrow, Today or Albadry are some of the names this goes by (works very well for deep sulcus infections) Can be ordered or found at most farm supply stores in the bovine section.

Hoof Powder- I make my own blend of a powder-like treatment. Works very well in wet environments and used in hoof boots to help keep the moisture down! Email me to order some :)

Red Horse Products - Artimud or Field Paste. Can be ordered through farrier supply companies.

*Note - I avoid any products that contain formadahyde or that are potentially causitic! Thrush infections can be very painful to your horse so you don't want to use anything on a potential wound that would hurt or that will kill good tissue along with the bad. 

Hopefully these preventative measures and treatment options will help to keep your horses fungus free!