Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 79, case # 79

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

Body & Soul

Case # 79

Tack

trimmed from January 2009 until present 2026

Quarter Horse gelding Tack was eight years old when I took over the care for his hooves in January of 2009. He was previously in metal shoes on all four but would constantly throw the shoe on the left hind.

Tack had a hard time lifting up his feet for trimming. When working on his left front Tack always dropped down from the shoulder. I had to literally hold him up with my body while working on his foot. At first our trimming sessions were very long.

Tack’s young owner decided not to ride him at all. For the next ten years she allowed him to heal.

All four of Tack's hooves were atrophied at an infant stage; the hooves did not wear down after birth; the variant capsule angle-of-growth never complemented in the back; the white line was atrophied in all four hooves; both front hooves were contracted from the cornet band down (they looked like crushed “pop cans”). Tack tucked his front legs behind the vertical, braced himself on the lateral side of the hoof capsules and paddled over the toes with both fronts. In the hind he braced with his toes. For the longest time he used to square his toes (the toe wall was always worn pathologically). He toed out with his left hind. The cause for all of this was the unfinished baby hooves with the back of all four hooves undeveloped. Over the course of the healing it became obvious that various hoof coria (especially in the left hind) had been severely compressed and bruised.

There was muscle tension in Tack everywhere (from head to tail bone). He was hiding his withers because he pulled up his shoulders. Hence he was considered "a horse with no withers". He had heat spots on the left side of his neck (where the nuchal ligament was most tight). These were also the points where his mane was pulled over to the other side. Tack’s tail hair was sticking up at the base like a brush; he had no forelocks; the muscles above his eyes protruded; his TMJ was affected (his bite was off, he injured his tongue with his own teeth and held his lips tight for many years).

Based on my travels I landed at my clients place late in the afternoon. We worked inside a barn with insufficient light for taking photos. And to be honest, we had enough on our plate to trim this horse. We eventually began taking photos when the time of my visits changed to mornings.

Tack’s healing journey took an interesting turn when he developed a wide surface crack on his left front hoof in 2017. (This was the area he had leaned on all his life.) Hoof mass increased (his feet got wider) and shifted around the coffin bone as part of 4th dimensional healing changes. The front hooves de-contracted. The crack on the left front hoof closed in 2019, re-appeared in 2022 and closed again in 2023 for good as the hoof found its balance and final position under the bone column of the leg. In 2019 the right front had a massive sub-solar abscess. In 2022 the right front also went through a surface crack for about a year. Internal structures visibly increased in 2023.

In 2019 we observed change in Tack’s hair: he began to grow forelocks; his entire mane flipped over; his tail hair grew out normally. He also let go of all the unnatural muscle effort (muscle tension he was forced to hold all his life due to his unfinished baby feet). Eventually, we could feel and see his withers. He no longer tucks the front legs behind the vertical.

Tack is ridden again. He goes the trails entirely barefoot. He is happy in his body and his soul. At the age of twenty-three (the time when I was writing his story) Tack looks better than ever before.

P.S: In August of 2024 both of Tack's hocks had micro abscesses and he abscesses as well from above the hairline of the left hind hoof. Most likely this was release of ossification because the support was no longer needed.

*Tack* tucked his front legs behind the vertical for many, many years.

Left front halfway in with the first divergent hoof after I started trimming him

Fronts post-trim October 2022 (at first a wide surface crack showed up on his left front hoof in 2017; later he had a crack on both fronts indicating the areas he overloaded his toes all his life)

Left front mid-trim June 2023 showing the damage he did to his toe wall

Left front pre-trim March 2026 after a long winter stretch of three months for trimming

Right hind post-trim October 2024 — (following life sole plane) the natural arch in the quarters has emerged as the back of the foot is finalizing ; toe length is getting shorter; toe angle is getting steeper

Right hind post-trim June 2025 — more healing work is happening in the back of the foot; toe length is getting shorter; toe angle is getting steeper; the natural arch in the quarters is increasing;

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 BuchhoferMarch 21, 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