Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 71, case # 71

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

Body & Soul

Case # 71

Maggie

trimmed from June 2013 until September 2025

Thoroughbred/Standardbred cross mare Maggie was previously jumped when my client bought her at the age of thirteen. She started over with Maggie in Pony Club. They participated in a two-week-horse camp and, other than that, Maggie was ridden around home.

Maggie’s young owner soon realized that something was profoundly bothering Maggie. She was very reactive and fearful in general but also for having her hooves done. She had successfully kicked the previous farrier. I was called out for trimming when Maggie was seventeen years old. She gave me warnings to kick with her left hind. Maggie also had difficulties to hold up the right front hoof. Obviously the right shoulder was bothering her.

Maggie’s owner quit the riding and became certified in equine massage so she would be able to help her horse. She allowed Maggie to heal (physically, mentally and emotionally). Maggie was never again locked up in a stall. She and her pony companion lived outside with freedom to move 24/7. At some point they got a track to encourage movement and to keep the horses off the grass. Their main food source was good quality first cut hay.

I am grateful for the opportunity to support Maggie’s owner. Maggie was carefully retrained from the ground up at the age of twenty-four in 2020. We spent unforgettable time together and worked with Maggie on the ground first. We helped Maggie to gain confidence. She was scared of barrels and to go over logs. She seemed terrified to be asked to jump. She was actually trembling in front of a tiny log on the ground. We took her out on long walks and eventually started Maggie all-over with a rider on her back. Her owner needed to be retrained as well. She had to let go of any tension in her own body and communicate to Maggie that she would trust her. She always gave Maggie long reins and allowed her to have her head. There was no more bit in Maggie’s mouth. First, we worked in the safety of the track and then outside. Of course Maggie’s little companion horse came along with us. It was a wonderful experience to witness the magic happen in a horse that was so terrified of being ridden. Maggie did not appear to be in pain anymore both physically and emotionally. My respect to her sensitive owner.

In regards to the healing journey of Maggie’s hooves we were looking at atrophy of the back of the feet as well as atrophy of various hoof structures like the white line. The initial reduction of the hoof capsule as well as activation of true heels and internal structures did not take place after birth. The back of the hooves did not support the bone column of the legs. There was a lot of bruising: frogs, bulbs, bars, sole, outer outside wall, waterline (which is non-pigmented horn yet it was partially blue). Maggie was walking over the toe and leaning on the lateral side on all four hooves; she held the right front always behind the vertical (the weaker diagonal pair clearly was the left front and right hind); there was ossification (ring-bone/side-bone); the hind end fetlock-joints were frozen; Maggie’s hind end was very weak (she had been jumped like this). After nine years of healing I could wiggle the right hind hoof and feel the freedom from ossification around the joint.

Right front October 2022 — she has worn the hoof capsule crooked and injured the toe wall

Right front September 2024 — internal structures increased massively (look above the hairline); the variant capsule angle-of-growth is complementing in the back; the next divergent hoof is coming in with a shorter toe and a steeper angle; the back of the foot is supporting the bone column of the leg (view the back of the left front); the shoulder problem in the right front was a thing of the past

Right hind pre-trim January 2022 — abscess at the cornet band releasing compromised tissue from toe loading

Right hind mid-trim April 2023 — the remainders of the abscesses are growing out — a memory of the injury to the toe

Right hind pre-trim December 2020 — the white skin is typical for atrophied bulbs

Right hind post-trim June 2024 — the bulbs are filling out

Right hind mid-trim September 2025 — lateral heel and quarter as well as the frog are going through a stage of repair and balancing

Left front post-trim December 2020 — there is action happening in the bulbs; heel height is coming down

Left front post-trim October 2022 — action is still happening in the bulbs; heel height is coming down further

Left front mid-trim April 2023 — mid-trim photo: I needed to correct the imbalance a bit more on the lateral side

Left front pre-trim January 2022 — the new divergent hoof coming down from the hairline is placing the hoof capsule further back under the bone column

Left front pre-trim September 2025 — more of the trauma and injury in the toe area is released with the divergent hoof about half an inch close to the ground; via many divergent hooves the foot has shifted further back under the bone column with lots of internal structures built

Left hind pre-trim June 2020 — the mustang roll is perfectly maintained over the last six weeks (also at the back of the heels); a genuine mustang roll is the corner stone for healing

Left hind pre-trim January 2022 — true heel has emerged from further back on the lateral side

Left hind post-trim April 2023 — the frog is at work building tissue

Left hind pre-trim June 2024 — the bulbs are expanding; I can shorten the entire hoof capsule with this trim

Left hind pre-trim September 2018 — with each divergent hoof the entire hoof capsule is shifting further under the bone column in steps

Left hind post-trim April 2023 — the arch in the quarters appeared because the variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back finalized; the hoof is “home” under the bone column

Sadly, Maggie passed away the end of 2025 at the age of twenty-nine. Thank you for your trust. ♥

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 22, 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