Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 63, case # 63

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

Body & Soul

Case # 63

Sam

trimmed from 2014 until present 2025

"Sam is a buttercup buckskin mustang from Manitoba born in captivity. I bought him as a two-year-old from a farm in Nova Scotia in 2007. We first met Gudrun in 2014. As luck would have it, Sam was at a friend’s stable because he had a small injury while at another facility. My friend gave him his medication for me. Gudrun was there to trim the horses on-site and also started Sam on his barefoot journey.

Ten years later, Sam’s entire body literally rebuilt itself from the inside out. His hooves healed from mistakes in early childhood, metal shoes and uneducated farriers. Sam’s neck and shoulder as well as his chest got massive, widened significantly. Sam became balanced in his stance. His eyes, mouth and facial features softened. His mane is tri-colored and the blond in his tail and mane started growing out. Sam’s back and his whole body became more muscular. His hind end dropped as he was able to bring his hind legs more under the body.

In the beginning, I gave Sam two years off and we just hand walked and did some free lunging in the ring several times a week to build muscles without me on him. I started taking lots of different courses and clinics on energy and massage methods. My goal was to learn ways to help Sam heal. I started using Reiki and The Masterson Method on him. Some days I would just lead Sam for long walks to spend time with him and ask for forgiveness. Sam never complained.

Sam suffered at least six abscesses releasing damaged tissue. One time the entire bulb and frog of the right hind hoof sloughed off as a new and healthier frog as well as new bulbs surfaced.

After a long healing time, I now take Sam out for hours of riding over rocks entirely barefoot and in a bit-less bridle. We really enjoy getting out into the woods as well a couple of times a week. Sam’s body looks so much better and balanced now. He is set out to continue his healing journey but at least, in his senior years, he is feeling much better than he ever did before. Thanks to genuine natural hoof care."

Marcia M, Spring of 2024

Sam's fundamental issue was that all four of his hooves were atrophied at infant stage and had deformed from there. The back of his hooves had not developed (bulbs, frogs and internal structures). Even the white line was atrophied. Sam's hind hooves were extremely crooked. He put his weight mainly on the medial side and medial toe. The situation was very hard on his fetlock joints. He had his fronts tucked behind the vertical. But his entire body has taken the toll: his abdominal muscles were compressed; his chest muscles were atrophied; he stood with his feet very close together; his hind end was very weak; he camped the hinds out of his body line. Camping out and standing on his tippy-toes brought his hind end up. In general Sam was under extreme muscle tension and it was very difficult for him to pick up his hooves for trimming.

Over the years Sam's feet healed as they were growing through one divergent hoof at a time. With each divergent hoof they emerged from further back and healed through the medio/lateral imbalance. Around the six-year-mark his bulbs opened in the centre and filled out. His digital cushions got thicker. More and more the back of the hooves were supporting the bone column of his legs. The following photos show various stages of Sam's healing journey.

Left front March 2020 — the new and divergent hoof is emerging from further back; the underrun heels are coming upright in preparation for the finalization of the variant capsule angle-of-growth

Left front April 2024 — the natural arch has emerged in the quarters

Left front September 2024 — so much has happened in the back of the foot (also above the hairline)

Left front May 2021 — the white line was still atrophied; bulbs have opened up for expansion and increase of the digital cushion

Left front March 2023 — abscess from the lateral heel bulb

Hinds June 2017 — *Sam* has been mainly living on his tippy-toes, bull-nosing the medial side of the hoof capsules, deforming the lateral side; there was a lot of stress on his joints and pasterns

Right hind October 2019 — the foot has emerged from further back several times = shifting the entire hoof capsule more under the bone column

Right hind August 2025 — the natural arch in the quarters is showing

Right hind April 2019 — a massive abscess is about to expose severely traumatised areas of the hoof capsule

Right hind July 2022 — the bulbs are filling out

Right hind pre-trim April 2024 — ten years after my first trim: medio/lateral imbalance almost gone

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 8, 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