Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 4, case #4

Author: Gudrun Buchhofer

Dedicated to all the horses suffering because of an unfinished foundation — their hooves.

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.

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

Deformed hooves /crooked feet / wry feet / twisted hooves / slipper feet / folded hooves / flared hooves

A left front… view from above down the leg on a deformed hoof capsule.

Flare and flare—the difference:

True wall flare is unnatural wall thickness and I remove it with my trim. False flare however is based on pathology. Often, the horse is leaning on one side of the hoof capsule to compensate for the unfinished back of the foot. This is leading to deformation.

Some trimmers try to make such a hoof look more uniform. Horn that actually needs to be there by nature (outside wall, water line, white line) gets removed. Yet this does not change the fundamental cause. The horse continues to use parts of the hoof capsule as a crutch to lean on and the cycle of false flare continues. Or, as a possible consequence of the above-mentioned trimming procedure, the pathology might be redirected into a different pathological picture. The fundamental cause for a false flare or a deformed, distorted and imbalanced hoof, which is the unfinished back of the foot including the flared and ingrown tips of the false heels, remains untouched.

With my trim I work on the fundamental cause but do not remove false flares. Over time deformed hooves naturalize.

Case # 4

trimmed for thirteen years

The front hooves of this client horse were very short when I met her. Toe length and toe angles fell in the lower range of natural. The mare was ridden barefoot and booted on the front hooves for long distance endurance rides. However, unnoticed to the untrained eye, the horse actually leaned on the lateral side of both front hooves and had worn them short in a pathological way. It was not the first horse I met compensating like that for the unfinished back of the foot.

My trim encouraged the horse’s healing abilities to release the false heels and wake up the back of the foot from atrophy. The journey was to get the horse away from tucking the front legs behind the vertical and from leaning on the lateral toe and side of the hoof capsule – actually away from using the hoof capsule as a crutch. It took almost thirteen years (and many divergent hooves) for the horse to develop the back of the feet and stop wearing the hoof capsule short. For years it looked like the front hooves were “flaring” on the medial side. But that was a deception.

Throughout those thirteen years under my hoof care wings the horse was trail ridden entirely barefoot – at times daily. The hoof boots used for long distance rides were eliminated early on.

I witnessed 4th dimensional healing changes in all four hooves happening: the strengthening of internal structures, frogs and bulbs and the shifting of hoof horn around the coffin bone. The hooves ended up larger in size and proportions yet stayed within the range of natural.

For years it looked like the front hooves were “flaring” on the medial side. But that was a deception.

The horse used the lateral side and toe of the front hooves as a crutch.

It took almost thirteen years (and many divergent hooves) for the horse to develop the back of the feet and stop wearing the front hooves short.

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 BuchhoferMay 29, 2025horse, horses, nhc, natural hoof care, lessonsfromthewild, the natural trim, natural horse care, donkeys, barhuf, barhufpflege, foal, foal hoof, Fohlenhuf, Hufprobleme, hoof problems

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