Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 64, case # 64

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

Body & Soul

Case # 64

Siena

trimmed from April 2009 until October 2023

“Siena had a quirky disposition but I bought her anyway, because she was really fun to ride; very forward moving. However soon after purchasing her I found her difficult in many ways: to work around, to feed and especially with farriers. After two farriers left because she literally couldn’t stand on three feet without falling over, she would also kick and threaten to bite. I found Gudrun, a natural horse care practitioner. At first, I questioned her method as she seemed to be excusing Siena’s bad behaviour, saying the horse was in pain. Watching Gudrun, I slowly learned about hoof balancing and how it affects the whole body of the horse. As Siena’s hooves improved, so did her manners with Gudrun and with me. Not only did her attitude change over time but her physiology did as well. What I thought were weak poorly conformed hocks was actually from the feet held crooked to relieve pain. Her hunter’s bump receded, and her shoulder alignment naturalized. Best of all her gut lifted as her back muscles improved. She presents herself now, fourteen years older, as a younger, fitter horse.”

Fran W., May 2022.

April 2018 — front legs still tucked behind the vertical; she is walking over her toes; the back of the foot is atrophied

Siena is one of the horses I found a cut-like injury in the soft tissue of her right hind foot from the flared tip of the false heel (ingrown toe nail). Early on, the veterinarian as well noticed the injury caused from a cut (image # 3.7, 3.8, Hoof, Body & Soul, Part I: My Search for the Truth,48).

I found all four of Siena's hooves to be atrophied (frogs, bulbs and internal structures). In the beginning of the healing the front hooves contracted at first. There was not enough counter pressure (weak frogs, bulbs and internal structures) to keep the heels apart. She also tucked her fronts behind the vertical and was mainly on her toes. All four hooves were off centre of the bone column of the legs. The diagonal pair right front / left hind took the bigger load compensating. The left hind was severely bruised. The hoof was actually blue. The right hind and the right front had stress cracks from imbalance. There were no sub-clinical symptoms of laminitis and no laminitic ripples on the outer hoof walls. Siena's white line was healthy and beautiful. She was on a fairly natural diet without green grass and had 24/7 freedom in a beautiful paddock set-up with ocean view. She lived with a companion horse.

Left front mid-trim January 2018 — starting point for a nice even mustang roll

Left front January 2018 — a genuine mustang roll is the corner stone for healing

Left front April 2018 — bulbs and frog atrophied (atrophy of the bulbs is often determinable by the white colour and strange appearance of the skin)

Left front February 2023 — still a bit imbalanced from heel to toe (the toe wall is worn more than the rest of the hoof) but a new and divergent hoof has emerged from further back, the coffin bone is in a healthier position through increased internal structures and I can shorten the hoof from underneath this trim

Left front post-trim February 2023 — the variant capsule angle-of-growth finalized; natural arch appeared in the quarters; the hoof supported the bone column of the leg; internal structures (above the hairline) increased

Right hind April 2015 — cut like injury in the lateral heel bulb; the tip of the “false” heel was flared and ingrown into the soft tissue

Right hind April 2018 — there is healing work in progress at the lateral bar

Right hind April 2021 — true heel emerged from further back on the lateral side; bulbs have increased in mass

Right hind February 2023 — straightened from toeing out; hoof horn shifted around the coffin bone as part of 4th dimensional healing changes; lateral bar repaired; stress on the white line to wall connection improved

Left hind April 2018 — the hoof capsule is not in line with the bone column

Left hind April 2018 — both heels are bruised; frog/bulbs/digital cushion atrophied; white line on the lateral side is atrophied

Left hind February 2023 — hoof horn has shifted around the coffin bone as part of 4th dimensional healing changes; the hoof is a lot less bruised

Siena was put to rest in the fall of 2023 in her mid twenties after she got ill with no outlook of recovery. I trimmed her hooves for almost fifteen years. ♥

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 13, 2025Hufprobleme, horse, hoof problems, horses, foal, Fohlenhuf, foal hoof, barhuf, barhufpflege, nhc, natural horse care, natural hoof care, donkeys, donkey hoof, lessonsfromthewild, the natural trim

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