Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 70, case # 70

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

Body & Soul

Case # 70

Paint Horse filly

trimmed from June 2015 until August 2022

The hooves from the filly in this case were exposed to bedding (hay or straw) in a stall after birth. When she was turned out with her mother it was on pasture. The crucial initial wear of the hoof capsule as well as the activation of the back of the hooves never happened after birth.

I started trimming the mare in 2015 as a two-year-old. She had previously not been trimmed. I had a hard time picking up any of her hooves. She was literally not able to stand for trimming or keep up any of her feet. I instructed a helper to hold a flat tray with oats in front of the mare's nose at chest level. As she shifted her body for balancing the handler followed the mare's head with the tray and kept her occupied with food. I had to work very fast. In the beginning I had a few seconds only. Due to the difficulties there are no photos from that time. The first pictures are from two years in the healing process and onward. In total I trimmed the filly for about seven years.

The back of the hooves were atrophied; the white lines were atrophied for the most part; the outer outside walls were very thin; there was a lot of bruising (frogs, bulbs, bars and soles). There was a cut like injury in the bulb of the right hind on the lateral side from the false heel. The “dead” corners in the back have never been worn after birth and the false heels never exchanged for true heels (a projected process that never happened). Instead the false heels hurt the filly. She toed out with the right hind to avoid the pain as much as possible. Although all four hooves were equally involved, clearly the right hind/left front was the weaker diagonal pair. The filly kept the left front turned out to counter balance but she was also walking over the toe with both fronts as the back of the hooves was atrophied as well. She kept the right front leg behind the vertical. The right front foot was warped like a crushed pop can. The hoof-pastern axis was broken.

As the mare’s hooves responded to the mimicking of natural wear patterns we were able to witness a lot of healing. Hoof horn shifted around the coffin bones over time via many divergent hooves. The back of the hooves developed (building true heels, bulbs, frogs and internal structures). The bone column of the legs straightened out. Wear patterns naturalized. I always rasp the back of the heel gently with the fine side of my rasp after the application of a genuine mustang roll all the way around. I also rasp in between the heel and the frog. That way I give the message of natural wear to the heel corium. I never leave any sharp and pointy tips of the false heels pinching into the soft tissue. I leave everything smooth and rounded.

By the four-year-mark a lot of healing had happened. The chaos began to organize itself. The natural arch in the quarters appeared after six years of healing in July 2021 with the completion of the variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back of the hooves.

Fronts pre-trim July 2017 — the “old” hoof is breaking away (exposing the areas of stress) as the “new” and divergent hoof is growing in with a steeper angle, a shorter toe and from further back

Right front post-trim July 2017 — the frog and bulbs are atrophied; the sole is bruised

Right front pre-trim August 2019 — the bulbs are unfolding and increasing in mass

Right front pre-trim October 2019 — the entire hoof capsule is shifting further under the bone column with the next divergent hoof; the hoof is a lot more straight as hoof mass also has shifted around the coffin bone

Right front post-trim July 2021 — the natural arch in the quarters has appeared

Right hind pre-trim September 2019 — the hoof capsule is increasing in mass with the next divergent hoof half-way in

Right hind post-trim December 2016 — the frog is bruised, the medial bulb is bruised, the bars are bruised, the medial heel is bruised, the outside wall is very weak

Right hind July 2019 — scar above the hairline from the unreleased false heels and the “dead” corner due to the lack of true heels

Right hind August 2019 — the new and divergent hoof is bringing the hoof capsule further under the bone column and is working on the finalization of the variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back

Right hind post-trim July 2021 — the natural arch in the quarters has appeared; so much happened in the back of the hoof over the years (also above the hairline)

For the last three years the mare was standing at liberty for the trim like a pro. She had turned into a stunning and beautiful horse with a strong double back and massive shoulders. Environment, diet and movement remained constant for the years I worked on the mare. She lived outside 24/7 in a large field on grass and hay in the company of other horses. The mare left to her forever home at the age of nine.

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 BuchhoferJanuary 17, 2026Hufprobleme, 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