Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 68, case # 68

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

Body & Soul

Case # 68

Bumper

trimmed from April 2015 until November 2024

Quarter Horse gelding Bumper was under my hoof care wings for almost ten years. Bumper was used as a trail horse before my client bought him. I started trimming him with under-run heels and flat soles in the fronts. The “false” heels of his right front were literally collapsed and crushed. True heels have never been activated after he was born.

Bumper leaned on the lateral sides and toes of his fronts causing the "pigeon-toed appearance". Both front hooves were cracked due to the extreme pressure and pathological weight loading.

Fronts post-trim August 2017 — note the weakness in the hinds especially the right hind with the crooked pastern

Bumper 's hinds were very weak as well especially the right hind. He leaned on the lateral side of the hoof capsule, avoiding to put weight on the “false” heel. The tip of the “false” lateral heel was flared and had grown into the soft tissue.

All of Bumper 's frogs, bulbs and white lines were atrophied and the internal structures weak. Bumper was under extreme muscle tension. He was very weak in his fetlock joints. Especially for the first five years he had difficulties to pick up his feet for trimming. We worked with treats and patience.

Activated through my trim (mimicking natural wear patterns) true heel emerged from further back on the lateral side on the right hind in November 2018. We witnessed hoof horn shifting around the coffin bone as part of 4th dimensional healing changes. The right hind foot was positioned more in line with the bone column. Bumper’s fetlock joints finally functioned properly and smoothly in both hinds.

Right hind pre-trim November 2018 — true heel emerged from further back on the lateral side

Right hind post-trim May 2019 — bulbs opening up and filling out

Right hind pre-trim (eight weeks after the last trim) February 2023

Right hind pre-trim September 2024 — a massive amount of internal structures is “jacking” up the back of the coffin bone = allowing the hoof capsule to be short in the heels, short in the toe and with a steeper toe angle (this all happened naturally with the healing and the complementing of the variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back)

Over the years, the front hooves literally untangled. The leftovers from the cracks make the shift of hoof horn around the coffin bone visible. Time revealed the injuries to Bumper 's hooves and his body caused by the atrophy of various hoof structures and the lack of true heels.

Right front pre-trim May 2019 — bulbs opening up and filling out

Right front mid-trim May 2019 — the white line is atrophied

Post-trim September 2024 — comparing the photos from 2017: the leftovers from the cracks make the shift of hoof horn around the coffin bone visible (4th dimensional healing)

Bumper lived outside 24/7 in the company of other horses. The environment is a natural paddock (dirt and rocks). A short but challenging track connects the paddock with the run-in shelter with the upper paddock. Bumper was on a fairly natural diet (good quality first cut hay) with limited access to grass in the summers.

Bumper passed at the age of twenty-six. Thank you for the teaching. ♥

*Bumper* looking out from the backside of the run-in shelter

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 4, 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