Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 72, case # 72

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

Body & Soul

Case # 72

Sonny

trimmed 04/2011 until present 2026

I started trimming the Tennessee Walker gelding when he was six years old. He had extreme difficulties to pick up his hooves. Sonny was very weak in his hind end. There was a lot of stress in Sonny’s muscles: at the left shoulder, along the legs, in the hind end — basically his entire upper body. His body appeared to be stuck in the development. His feet were imprisoned in an infant stage. The false heels (long shanks) never worn down after birth and never exchanged with true heels over the first months of his life; the back of the foot was never activated and never finalized; the back of the hooves were atrophied; the variant capsule angle-of-growth never got completed. His hooves were not under the bone column of the legs. All four fetlocks were under stress. The internal structures were very weak. The white line in all four hooves was atrophied. There was a lot of bruising on the outer outside walls.

December 2023 — the bruising in the outer outside walls of his hooves has lessened tremendously

After fourteen years of healing the variant capsule angle-of-growth in Sonny’s hooves completed in the back. As the internal structures in his hooves increased, the back of the foot finalized and the natural arch appeared in the quarters and the bruising of the outer outside wall faded away (the dark blue stripes lessened in colour). His hooves now grow pretty balanced and the wall is above sole level all the way around when I come back after six weeks (not worn in the toe anymore). Almost in sync with the completion of the back of the feet came a drastic change in Sonny’s body (including his face/head). Sometimes I have to look twice because he is just stunning!

Sonny lives in a herd outside with 24/7 freedom on a mountain top with beautiful vistas. There is no firm or abrasive ground in his environment except for the floor in the run-in shelter. Sonny is out in the field throughout the summers. So the mimicking of natural wear with my tools combined with movement were mainly responsible for the results. Sonny has never been trained or ridden. He had no massage or body work done either. I was basically the only person putting a halter on him for the last fifteen years every six weeks for trimming.

December 2017 — blue as hoof colour does not exist in nature; the right front/left hind is the weaker diagonal pair

September 2018 — he is clearly avoiding to put weight on the lateral heel on the right front; the right front/left hind is still the weaker diagonal pair

Right front pre-trim December 2019 — exposing the long “false” heel he was born with (previously hidden as “run-under” heels) — never worn down; never exchanged with true heels; at this moment in time the hoof is about to change in the back = shifting further back under the bone column and complementing the variant capsule angle-of-growth

Right front post-trim November 2023 — the natural arch in the quarter is about to emerge

Right front post-trim September 2018 — the tips of the “false” heels are bruised; the medial heel is bruised more because he has taken the toll on this side (avoiding to put weight on the lateral heel); the flared “false” heel on the lateral side has caused a cut-like injury to the bulb; things are going on underground where our eyes cannot see... there is bruising in the bulbs as well

Right front post-trim September 2018 — he is avoiding to put weight on the lateral side; the flared “false” heel on the lateral side has caused a cut-like injury to the bulb; things are going on underground where our eyes cannot see...

Left front pre-trim December 2019 — the divergent hoof is halfway in

Left front post-trim December 2023 — the bruising disappeared almost completely

Left front pre-trim September 2024 — medio-lateral balance almost there; bulbs are filling out more

Right hind pre-trim May 2022 — the fetlock is up and stronger; the hoof is maintaining the mustang roll beautifully; there is still imbalance in the hoof capsule

Right hind pre-trim May 2022 — the natural arch in the quarter is about to emerge

Right hind pre-trim July 2024 — he is still wearing down the toe wall; on the lateral side there is repair work happening at the bulbs and the heel has emerged from further back with the new divergent hoof

Right hind pre-trim July 2025 — there is toe wall above sole level; the bulbs have further increased in mass

Left hind post-trim December 2017 — *Sonny* had bull-nosed or snubbed his own toe; the back of the hoof is not finalized; the variant capsule angle-of-growth not complemented

Left hind post-trim June 2018 — a big shift happened with the divergent hoof half way in = bringing the hoof capsule more under the bone column; coming in with a shorter toe and a steeper angle (after I first allowed the self-bull-nosed toe to grow back); finalizing the back of the foot; part of the lateral wall has broken off exactly at the line of the new and divergent hoof

Left hind post-trim June 2018 — he is repairing the overlaid bar with this abscess; from here on the bar is growing straight; also a new layer of heel bulbs is coming down from the hairline

Left hind pre-trim June 2024 — there is toe wall above sole level; the lateral heel bulb is no longer compromised by the flared tip of the “false” heel = true heel is in place on the lateral side; the bar on the lateral side is no longer folded over

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 31, 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