Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 43, case # 43

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

Fault in the conformation – standing under/standing out, x-legs

I found the underlying issue for most all conformational faults to be atrophy of the back of the foot.

Case # 42

Rain

trimmed from January 2013 until present (2025) with 2 years of interruption (2019, 2020)

I started trimming Rain when she was thirteen years old. She was x-legged in the fronts. She held her hind legs very close together with the right hind more under the body. There were stress cracks on the outside walls; stress cracks in the outside wall (in back of the feet—solar view), weak internal structures; bruised outside walls. The white line was partially distorted and not connected. The tips of the “false” heels were flared. The back of Rain’s hooves were atrophied and she braced with the toes on all four hooves – often squaring the toe wall. She was extremely muscle tight and trimming Rain was very difficult. We worked with treats (actually until today because she insists on her reward).

2015 — *Rain* is 15 years old — photo: Elizabeth Jessome

Through many divergent hooves the feet shifted more under the bone column of the legs. We observed a major breakthrough in the healing in 2022/2023 (ten years after my first trim). The bulbs opened up, filled out and the back of the hooves finalized the completion of the variant capsule angle-of-growth (a process that should have happened in the first months of her life). With the hinds she actually kicked the toes upward like I observed with newborns during my foal studies in the field (see part II: My Search for the Truth, Hoof, Body & Soul). The toe wall was a bit in the air for a moment until the toe length got shorter with the next divergent hoof already growing in. Rain also presented a nice bend in the pasterns in 2023.

*Rain* is presenting nice bend in the pasterns in 2023.

With the hinds she actually kicked the toes upward like I observed with newborns during my foal studies in the field. The toe wall was a bit in the air for a moment until the toe length got shorter with the next divergent hoof already growing in.

Left hind post-trim October 2017 — the tips of the “false” heels are flared

Left hind pre-trim October 2023 — the tip of the frog is shifting further back about one inch; soon toe length will be shorter; true heels have emerged from further back; the tips of the heels are not longer flared; the bulbs widened

Right hind pre-trim October 2023 — the tip of the frog is shifting further back about one inch; soon toe length will be shorter; true heels emerged from further back

Left front pre-trim June 2023 — bulbs opening up in preparation to fill out; notice: the medial bulb is bruised

Left front pre-trim April 2024 — she is still wearing the toe but the hoof is a lot more straight than 2017 and 2023

September 2025 — *Rain* is still wearing the toes a bit in the front

Rain is now twenty-five years old and retired. She did some barrel racing in younger years and then was trail ridden. For the past ten years her diet was mainly hay with supplementation, no green grass.

all remaining 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 BuchhoferSeptember 20, 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