Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 62, case # 62

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

Black hole syndrome; hematoma or chronic abscessing

Case # 62

Pete

trimmed from 2012 until 2018

Pete was under my hoof care wings from the age of fourteen for the last six years of his life. When I first met him, the black Percheron was standing with the front legs tucked behind the vertical (toeing out with the right front) and holding his head high. He turned out the right hind leg and braced his right hind hoof on the lateral toe and side. Even with the shoe on he avoided to put weight on the medial heel.

All four hooves were atrophied in the back. They did not support the bone column of the legs. The upper body was dealing with the consequences. Pete’s hind end was very weak. He had dropped fetlocks in both hinds.

The previous farrier kept a shoe on Pete's right hind to prevent him from being lame. Nevertheless, there were spouts of lameness and abscessing. I was asked to take Pete out of shoes and become his trimmer.

Right hind July 2012 — *Pete* braced on the lateral side of the right hind; he wore down the metal shoe; see the difference in thickness of the metal shoe, showing the area he put his weight on (thinning the metal)

Right hind July 2012 — the picture shows the "dead corner" in the back of his foot on the medial side; despite of the metal shoe nailed on to his hoof capsule *Pete* did not put weight on the medial side. He leaned on the lateral side in order to avoid putting weight on the false heel. See the air gap!

The photo of Pete’s right hind before I pulled the shoes in 2012 shows the "dead corner" in the back of his foot on the medial side. The "false heel" was meant to wear down after birth and leave his body during the first months of his life. Instead Pete was still stuck with those long shanks. The tips of the false heels had flared and grown in the soft tissue. (It looked like the claw of an eagle pinching in to the soft horn.) The variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back of the foot did not finalize after birth.

The chronic abscess channel on the right hind hoof was off to the side. It was where Pete braced himself and put on the biggest pressure in order to be able to stand. Despite the fact that Pete had four black hooves the horn along the abscess channel turned white. The hair above the cornet band turned white as well.

November 2016 — the chronic abscess channel on the right hind hoof was off to the side; the green line is marking the centre of the foot.

Right hind July 2017 — five years after my first trim *Pete* released the long shank (or false heel) from the right hind

Right hind February 2018 — hoof horn had shifted around the coffin bone; the entire medial side restructured

Pete abscessed the entire frog multiple times as well as the sole of his right hind to release bruised tissue. The long shanks, or false high heels, came down over time. Hoof horn had shifted around the coffin bone. In July 2017, five years after my first trim, Pete released the long shank (or false heel) from the right hind. Although the tip of the heel was still flared and ingrown, the finalization of the variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back was in process.

Right hind August 2017 — although the tip of the heel was still flared and ingrown, the final healing of the back of the foot was in process

All four hooves were equally involved in the pathology and the healing from it.

Right front medial side August 2017 — the previously underrun false heels are straightening up (preparing to exchange with true heels)

Right front August 2017 — the previously underrun false heels are straightening up (preparing to exchange with true heels)

August 2017 — the left hind shows the increase of internal structures in the back of the foot and how much more the entire hoof capsule is under the bone column

Sadly, we run out of time. Shortly after his life long Percheron friend died, Pete passed suddenly at the age of twenty. Pete and Darky did everything together as a team. ♥♥

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 5, 2025Hufprobleme, horse, hoof problems, horses, the natural trim, nhc, natural horse care, natural hoof care, donkeys, donkey hoof, lessonsfromthewild, foal, foal hoof, Fohlenhuf, barhuf, barhufpflege

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