Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 73, case # 73

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

Body & Soul

Case # 73

Star

trimmed from 04/2011 – 02/2022

Tennessee Walker mare Star was purchased by my clients at the age of four. She came from the same breeder as Sonny (Case # 72).

*Star* as a young horse in motion: she is swinging out the right hind in preparation to not land on the medial heel
photo: Pat Smith

Star had extreme difficulties to pick up her feet. Her hooves did not support the bone column of the legs. All four hooves were atrophied in the back and not available for weight bearing. She mainly put her weight on the toes. The white line was atrophied almost all the way around as well. Her fetlocks were overtaxed. She kept her right hind turned out strangely; the flared tip of the false heel on the medial side had grown in to the soft tissue and prevented her to put weight on the heel. The medial heel bulb in the right hind was not properly developed. Her wear patterns show that she mainly leaned on the lateral side and the toe.

In 2017, after six years of trimming, the central sulcus of the frogs of Star’s hooves opened to finally develop bulbs at the age of eleven. Bulbs and internal structures increased in mass. A process that should have happened in the first weeks of her life.

Left front post-trim June 2018 — the white line is atrophied almost all the way around

Left front post-trim June 2018 — there are tiny stress cracks in the outer outside wall from imbalance

Right front June 2018 — the bulbs are filling out

Right front June 2018 — the bulbs are increasing in mass

Right front pre-trim December 2020 — the “natural thumbprint” appeared in the centre of the frog

Star was extremely over muscled and tense from head to tail. Some of her muscles were hard as steel. Her neck was massively enlarged with an extremely tight nuchal ligament. Her mane flipped over in sections to one or the other side several times. Star camped out with her front legs but she was actually bracing herself with her toes and pulling up her shoulders so there was no withers to be felt. The back of the hooves never developed to support her body.

June 2018 — the hooves are not under the bone column of the legs; the back of the hooves does not supporting the body

Left hind pre-trim June 2019 — the next divergent hoof is halfway in and placing the hoof more under the bone column; the variant capsule angle-of-growth in the back is finalizing

Star’s stance changed in 2019. Hoof mass had shifted further under the bone column via several divergent hooves. That was also the time we could actually feel her withers. She finally relaxed her shoulder muscles. In December of 2020 the “natural thumbprint” appeared in the centre of the frog of her right front. The medial bulb in the right hind filled out. Soft tissue bruising began to fade away. I gave Star Reiki as often as possible and always stretched her legs when trimming. Towards the end she had a few sessions of combined massage and bodywork. The nuchal ligament and the connected muscles had softened a lot at this point.

October 2021 — the hooves are more under the bone column of the legs

Star lived in a herd outside with 24/7 freedom on a beautiful mountain top. There was no firm or abrasive ground in her environment except for the floor in the run-in shelter. She was 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. She was trimmed every six weeks.

Sadly, Star had to be put to rest at the age of sixteen. She got ill suddenly in February of 2022. Besides a few weeks of groundwork when she was young Star was never trained or ridden. ♥

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 BuchhoferFebruary 6, 2026Hufprobleme, horse, hoof problems, horses, the natural trim, nhc, natural horse care, natural hoof care, donkeys, donkey hoof, lessonsfromthewild

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