Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 67, case # 67

CHAPTER 1 Atrophy, the fundamental cause for most all hoof pathology and upper body injuries

Body & Soul

Case # 67

Airoso

trimmed from 2013 until 2023; further consulting into 2025

Born and raised in Texas, United States, Airoso moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, at the age of five. That was the time I started trimming him.

I found the Andalusian stuck in his physical development; he was very bony especially at the hips and shoulders; his back muscles had atrophied; he had very little forelocks (looking like a brush) and his mane was poor. His hooves were narrow and long with high heels and weak internal structures; the hooves were stuck in an infant stage with atrophy of the frogs, bulbs and the white line.

Airoso had difficulties to pick up his feet. He held a lot of muscle tension from head to tail. His tail bone was always crooked like a banana and hard as steel (influencing his tail hair). Airoso was disconnected from his body. He was weak in his hind end, holding his hind legs close together with his hooves turned out to brace. His fetlocks were weak. He braced with his front legs accordingly. Both front hooves were twisted. This had an influence on his chest which was small. He walked over the toes in the fronts. The toe wall in both fronts was always worn down.

In 2021, eight years into the healing, Airoso’s forelocks started growing. Things visibly turned around in all directions. The hair above the cornet band of all four hooves was sticking up for at least two years. This was a signal for Airoso's hooves building internal structures. Between 2021 and 2023 a big shift happened in the back of the hooves. His bulbs opened up in the centre and filled out. The heels came down (the hooves “gave” me the heel height) and the variant capsule angle-of-growth finalized in the back. At the end of 2023 we noticed a healthier connection of the white line.

Left front pre-trim January 2021 — his bulbs opened up in the centre and filled out

Left front post-trim May 2023 — the variant capsule angle-of-growth finalized in the back; the natural arch in the quarters appeared

Left hind pre-trim December 2019 — his hooves were narrow and long with high heels and weak internal structures

Left hind pre-trim May 2019 — he was holding the left hind very crooked and leaning on the lateral side

Left hind pre-trim March 2021 — the bulbs opened up in the centre and began to fill out; the hair above the cornet band of all four hooves was sticking up for at least two years

Left hind pre-trim February 2023 — almost nine weeks after the last trim

Left hind pre-trim January 2021 — visible as a step, the divergent hoof close to the ground is placing the entire hoof capsule further back under the bone column; the divergent hoof is coming down with a steeper angle and a shorter toe

Left hind pre-trim January 2021 — visible as a step on the lateral side, the divergent hoof close to the ground is placing the entire hoof capsule further back under the bone column

Left hind pre-trim February 2023 — note: I have not touched his soles with a knife in almost ten years; the concavity occurred naturally with the healing

Right hind pre-trim January 2021 — the hair above the cornet band was sticking up for at least two years

Right hind pre-trim February 2023 — the variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back is complemented; the natural arch in the quarters appeared

Airoso’s owner: “I would add that, as his back and hindquarters have developed and his spine/tail have relaxed, his personality has gotten more confident, more relaxed, and more interactive which has made schooling and working with him more fun and more productive.

And that he was always a picky eater, but in the last few years when his abdomen relaxed, his digestion and appetite improved.”

2024 — *Airoso* at one of the hay stacks on the mountain track — photo: Nicole Winstead

Airoso had a few body work sessions (The Masterson Method of Bodywork) supporting his physical healing. His diet and environment did not change for the past twelve years. He lives on a rugged track on a mountain side with wild freedom 24/7. He is ridden entirely barefoot on pavement as well as rocky mountain trails and schooled in classical dressage.

Airoso is pretty cool, actually his owner too. A couple times a year the two travel together from Nova Scotia, Canada, to Pennsylvania in the United States, with Airoso all by himself in the trailer, for their schooling in classical dressage.

I am happy and proud that almost twelve years later this now seventeen-year-old Andalusian horse found his way in to his own body. Towards my retirement Airoso's owner has safely taken over trimming his hooves.

P.S.: Sadly, Airoso died suddenly in May of 2025 at the age of seventeen. ♥

photos: Gudrun Buchhofer

Stay tuned for the upcoming cases (under my care for up to 20 years) in this blog series as a replacement for the unpublished part III: Mission Impossible of my trilogy Hoof, Body & Soul.

What did all my client horses over the last 20+ years have in common? They needed to heal from atrophy of the back of the foot as well as other atrophied hoof structures.

Q: Why do we need to change the upbringing of our baby horses and donkeys? A: To prevent senseless suffering.

Gudrun Buchhofer

Gudrun BuchhoferDecember 26, 2025Hufprobleme, horse, hoof problems, horses, the natural trim, lessonsfromthewild, foal, Fohlenhuf, foal hoof, barhuf, barhufpflege, donkey hoof, nhc, natural horse care, natural hoof care, donkeys

CHAPTER 1 Atrophy, the fundamental cause for most all hoof pathology and upper body injuries

Hoof contraction

Every foal hoof has long toes and high heels at birth (diving devices for a safe delivery). About half of the hoof capsule needs to be worn down after birth. This requires movement in a fairly natural environment beginning within the first hours after birth.

There is a lot out there in the trimmer world about fighting and treating thrush. But there is hardly any material there in the first place that could be eaten away by thrush. The back of the hoof is unfinished at birth. At the same time, as the hoof capsule needs to be worn down, proper stimulation of frogs, bulbs, walls, the white line, bars, internal structures need to happen. Otherwise structures will go in to atrophy. The activation of true heels also fails if those processes do not take place.

Atrophy of the frogs, bulbs and internal structures as well as lack of true heels are in direct relation to hoof contraction. Fixed metal shoes might contribute to further contraction but it is not the underlying cause. Over the years I dealt with many contracted hooves which never had any form of shoes attached to them. With or without shoes, the unreleased false heels can contract inwards in an atrophied foot. However, not every atrophied hoof contracts. It really depends on the enforced decision a foal makes very early on about how to compensate for the unfinished hoof.

Due to a failed reduction of the hoof capsule right after birth, combined with the unfinished back of the foot (true heels, bulbs, internal structures), a lot of foals tuck the front legs behind the vertical (enforced decision). The famous scenario of toe first landing is a result. Most horses have problems walking on their own bare feet in the front. Horses endure injuries from the unfinished back of the foot in the hinds as well but are able to compensate differently. Most horses toe out with the hinds (often turn out the entire hind leg) and use the medial half of the hoof capsule for weight loading. This is different from naturally asymmetric hind hooves. The front hooves usually need longer to heal than the hinds. The fundamental problem applies to fronts and hinds.

Case # 1 Ace

trimmed from July 2013 – December 2024

Quarter Horse Ace was born in June 2012 in western Canada. Ace was shipped across the country as a weanling. After his arrival on the east coast he was kept in a stall on wood shavings for quite a while. When I started trimming him in July of 2013 I found Ace stuck with his pasterns still stretched, weak fetlock joints, unfinished baby hooves with unreleased long shanks or false heels. (We can safely assume an unnatural environment at birth and lack of movement in the first months of his life.) There was complete atrophy of the frogs, bulbs, soles, bars and internal structures. The outside walls of the hoof capsules were severely bruised. Ace toed outwards with all four. His hooves were already deformed at such a young age. He further developed a broken back axis stance in the front and a crooked right hind pastern. He tent to lean on the side of the hoof capsules. Due to the lack of true heels, internal structures, frogs and bulbs the front hooves soon contracted. For quite some years, the soles and bars were protected by a hard (almost shell-like) layer of horn.

By 2020 Ace clearly entered an important phase of the healing journey. In April of 2021 the layer of shell-like horn turned into crumbly white sole horn which was then ready to be removed. Over the years Ace improved his stance and the bruising on the outer hoof walls as well as soft tissue bruising subsided. Compromised and compressed tissue was released through a few abscesses.

Ace is ridden barefoot since he was started under saddle. From 2021 onward this golden boy makes his young owner proud competing. In 2023 they took home a second place in barrel racing and a first place in pole bending. Photo credit: CKPhotography

Closing note: Ace lives in a herd in a large paddock without green grass pasture, over the summer months with 24/7 freedom to move and he is stalled overnight in the winter. Longer periods of standing (on wooden floor with shavings) caused set-backs in the healing. His hooves tend to re-contract and grow towards a wry-foot as Ace tends to lean on the side of his hoof capsules. In Ace's case hoof contraction was not caused by metal shoes as he never had any. Also it was not thrush eating away his frogs and bulbs as his hooves were in atrophy to begin with.

Image 1: Left front pre-trim July 2013

Image 2: Left front pre-trim July 2013

Image 3: Left front pre-trim December 2019 note the bruised soft tissue and the rubber like skin of the bulbs

Image 4: Left front pre-trim October 2024

Image 5: Left front lateral pre-trim July 2013

Image 6: Left front lateral post-trim November 2023 — he still shortens his feet via divergent hooves; healthier bulbs emerging from further back bringing the hooves more under the bone column.

Photos: Gudrun Buchhofer