Hoof Flares

We've all seen a hoof flare--that unnatural outward bending of the hoof wall, usually on the bottom part of the hoof.  It's the result of many things, but commonly occurs when hooves are trimmed infrequently or incorrectly.   Flares have become increasingly common on domestic horses today, but a flared hoof is not natural and is definitely not healthy for the horse. 

While visiting a stable with a friend this past weekend, I was reminded of just how bad hoof flares can get.  The picture above is a horse that was supposedly trimmed by a traditional farrier just a few days prior.  Aside from having bad flares, the horse had two extremely unbalanced front feet.  For a natural trimmer like myself, it was a sad sight. 

A flare is simply a separation of the hoof wall and coffin bone.  It is also known as a stretched white line.  You can easily see a severe flare (like the one above), and many times, you can feel a slight flare if you run your fingers down the hoof.  They can occur on the toe or the quarters (sides) of the hoof. 

Flares are not comfortable for the horse.  You could compare them to your fingernail being pried away from the skin on your finger.  Every time the horse's flared hoof wall comes in contact with the ground, it's prying the wall away from the coffin bone.  This is why overgrown and flared hooves tend to crack and break away in chunks.  It's the hoof's natural defense mechanism for getting rid of the flare and the pain. 

So what can be done about flares?  They need to go!  You won't be able to get rid of a bad flare in one or two trimmings, but if you keep up with correct, frequent trimmings, you can get them under control.  Horses in wet climates are especially prone to flares and may need to be trimmed as frequently as every 2-3 weeks.  If you don't trim your own horses, which many of you probably don't, find a trimmer/ farrier who knows what the heck they're doing!  Even a traditional farrier should know that flares aren't a good thing. 

Pete Ramey suggests the flared hoof wall should be taken out of ground contact and beveled all the way to the sole.  This will put the sole in contact with the ground, but that is far more comfortable than a stretched white line.  The sole was actually meant to help bear the weight of the horse.  You can also rasp the outer, bottom 1/3 of the hoof wall to help eliminate flares.  You don't want to do too much at once, but this will help get them under control more quickly.  The goal is to get the entire hoof at the same angle as the wall that is growing down from the coronary band at the top of the hoof. 

Hopefully, this post sheds some light on flares for you.  They are a nasty nuisance to our horses, but they CAN be corrected and eliminated!

Ta-ta!

Natural Trimming Basics

I've been trimming my own horses using Pete Ramey's natural trimming methods for the last two years now, and I can honestly say that their feet have never looked better.  We're not quite to the 'gravel-crunching' level yet, but I think we're getting there.

I know a lot of people are becoming more interested in all things 'natural', including the natural trim.  I think there are even some farriers out there who've jumped on the natural trimming bandwagon, even though they know very little about it.  To me, if you are truly a natural trimmer, you don't shoe horses as well. . .  One farrier even told my husband (who also went to farrier school) that he just tells people he does the natural trim and that gets him business.  If you're an owner and you haven't done the research yourself, you'd probably have no way of knowing.

I am by no means a natural trimming expert, but I have studied the method quite a bit and trim at least one horse a week.  For those that want to learn to trim their own horses or just want to know what a natural trim looks like, I wanted to share the basics.  This is by no means a detailed tutorial on natural trimming.  I highly recommend Pete Ramey's book, Making Natural Hoofcare Work for You or his dvd series, Under the Horse to learn more about it.  His website is a great place to start, too.

Before you ever attempt to trim, you should study a diagram of the inner structures of the foot.  The natural trim uses the coffin bone's shape and placement in the hoof capsule as a guide.  You should understand how to gauge the coffin bone's position before ever laying a tool to the hoof.  With that said, here are the natural trimming basics:

1.  Place horse on a level surface and note any imbalances or flares.  Note if the horse leans forward (sign of heel pain) or leans back (sign of toe pain).

2.  Use the sole callous as a visual guide for trimming .  Never pare or rasp into live sole, but do scrape away dead sole with your hoof knife.  It is usually powdery or flakes off easily.  Pay close attention to scraping away dead, chalky sole in the seats of corn (V between bars and wall near heels)--it tends to build up there.

3.  Trim the hoof wall so that it stands 1/16 inch above the sole.  Trim it just slightly shorter in the quarters (so that a credit card could fit under that area if the horse were standing on a flat surface).

4.  Trim the heels at the level of the wall, but never trim long heels drastically in one trimming.  You may need to work your way down in several trimmings.  (Yes, we actually want low heels!)

5.  Trim the bars level with the heels.  If the bars have been neglected, they may be folded over and run over part of the sole.  You may have to carefully trim them back with your hoof knife. 

6.  If the frog has any loose flaps, you can cut those away.  I tend to leave the frog alone for the most part though.

7.  From the outside of the hoof (usually with a hoof stand), rasp flares on the lower 1/3 of the hoof flat.  You want the lower 1/3 of the hoof to eventally be at the same angle as the hoof growing down from the coronary band. 

8. Finish off with the 'mustang roll'--a round beveling of the wall all the way around the hoof (except heels).  Using my rasp, I start the mustag roll from the bottom of the hoof, but then finish from the top using my hoof stand. 

9.  Inspect the hooves again while the horse is standing on a level surface to make sure hooves are balanced. 


And those are the basics!  Of course, I've left way more out than I've included here, but that's why there are books and dvds and entire websites dedicated to the natural trim.  Hopefully this will give you some insight though.  And if I can trim my horses, you can too.  Knowledge is more important than brawn here!

Ta-ta!

Natural Trim: Consistency is the Key

Ok, so we all usually have good intentions with our horses, whether it be, 'I'm going to ride five days a week,' or 'I'm going to clean the stalls every day,', etc, but sometimes we fall short with trying to keep up with these goals.  Before I had kids, I was actually really good at keeping my horse-related promises, but it's difficult now, as you other moms can probably relate.  But one thing I've really stuck with over the last couple of years is consistent trimming of my horses' feet.  And it's really paid off.

Why is it so important to be consistent with the natural trim?  And what will it possibly hurt if you let the hoof go a little longer between trims?  Well, it all goes back to the wild horse, whose hoof we aim to model with the natural trim.  Wild horses are constantly moving; they travel for miles, often over rocky terrain every day.  This movement is what keeps their hooves in perfect shape, and it would work for our domesticated horses too if they lived the same way.  The wild horse doesn't need to have his hooves trimmed because he does it himself, little by little, every day.

The wild hoof is quite a bit different from what we are used to seeing with domestic horses.  The heels are low and the toe is short, often measuring around 3 1/2 inches in length.  The toe is rounded in what we call a 'mustang roll'.  The sole is tough and concaved, and the frog is thick and rubbery.  And they do perfectly fine traveling over nearly any type of terrain. 

So back to my questions above.  If our goal is to model the wild hoof with the natural trim, we will be defeating the purpose if we let the hoof wall grow too long.  The sole is made tough by being allowed to participate in weight-bearing.  By keeping the walls trimmed conistently, we allow the sole to bear weight, allow it to toughen, and allow it to concave.  If the walls constantly bear all of the horse's weight, the sole will remain an idle passenger and will never toughen to the point of allowing the horse to be ridden barefoot comfortably.

So when people say, 'My horse just needs shoes --barefoot just doesn't work for him,' it's probably because he isn't being trimmed consistently.  There is a transition time that all horses need to go from being shod to being barefoot, but they will never reach the point of having rock-hard soles if you don't stick with it.

I trim my horses every four weeks (and one of them every two weeks).  It works well for me because I only trim one or two a week, and it's something I can keep up with.  And it's made all the difference in the world for their feet--they look great!

For more information on natural trimming, check out www.hoofrehab.com, Pete Ramey's site. 

Ta-ta!

Learning the Natural Trim (#1)

I have to admit--one of the reasons I was attracted to my husband was the fact that he was a farrier.  It's saved me thousands of dollars over the years.  But every mechanic's wife knows that her car is last on the priority list.   And so it became with my horses.  I had to constantly nag him to trim or shoe my horses.  I found that sometimes, it was easier just to pay another farrier to come out.

For years, my husband told me that I should learn to trim my own horses.  I said, 'yeah, right!'.  I'm what you'd call a 'slight' person, and I didn't think there was any way in heck I could trim a horse.  I knew nothing of hoof mechanics either.

Fast forward to Fall, 2010.  My beloved gelding, Hershey, had been mysteriously lame for three years.  His feet looked awful, with big cracks extending up the middle of both front feet.  I suspected white line disease.  My world had recently changed due to two things:  the birth of my son in 2007 and my completion of an equine acupressure program in 2009.  I now had less time to spend with my horses, but a newfound and ever-growing interest in all things 'natural' relating to horses.  It was in acupressure school that I met Lu, a woman from Montana who was a natural trimmer.  I consulted her about Hershey, and she urged me to find a natural trimmer here.

After a desperate search for a so-called 'natural trimmer' in my area, I came up empty-handed.  I began to research natural-trimming for myself and decided that it wouldn't hurt to try it.  After all, Lu did it for a living.   

I bought Pete Ramey's book, Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You, and spent hours reading and taking notes.  I read nearly every article on his website www.hoofrehab.com.  I also bought his dvd set, Under the Horse.  It's been an arduous process, and I'm finding I still have much to learn.  Even with all my newfound knowledge, I found that I was still scared to death of hurting my horses when I trimmed.   After my husband's guidance and hours and hours of practice, I became more confident.  One of the hardest parts for me has been physical labor involved with trimming a hoof.  It took me forever to trim one hoof at first, and trimming two hooves was all I could do in one day.  You definitely have to build up your stamina when trimming horses.  I can now trim one or two horses a day.  I know, it's not great--but it's an improvement.  I have five horses, and I trim one a week. 

I think the most amazing part of this whole do-it-myself-natural-hoof-trimming process has been the knowledge I have gained.  I knew nothing of the internal structures of the hoof before.  Now, I understand the function of the coffin bone and I can recognize symptoms of toe pain or heel pain.  My husband has told me that I probably have  a greater understanding of the hoof than most traditional farriers (which is scary and satisfying at the same time!)

Anyways, my point is, if I can do it, you can sure as heck do the same.  I'm not advising anyone to take nippers to a hoof if you don't have a pretty good understanding of the internal hoof structures.  An uninformed trimmer could do a lot of damage (and many have, I'm sure).  Get an education first.  Whether it's attending a clinic, reading every book and website you can find on natural trimming, working with an experienced natural trimmer, etc.  But, you can do it!  My horses feet are looking better than ever.

For more reading on natural hoof trimming, see my article "Doing your own Natural Hoof Trimming".

P.S.--Back to Hershey.  It's been nearly five years since his lameness appeared.  I spent thousands of dollars during the first year or two, taking him to nearly every vet around.  Not one of them looked at his feet.  I am really suspecting that they've been the culprit all along.  He is now on a strict regimen for treating white line disease and even though I know there's probably some internal damage since it's been going on so long, I am hopeful at returning him to some state of soundness.  He's the reason I started this journey so I'll continue to do everything I can to get his hooves in the best possible shape.  I'll keep you updated.

Ta-ta!