Hoof, Body & Soul, Part III: Mission Impossible, unedited, by Gudrun Buchhofer. Blog 87, case # 87

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

Body & Soul

Case # 87

Blaze

trimmed from March 2013 until present 2026

I met this Quarter Horse gelding with lameness issues in the front when he was six years old. I found atrophy of his unfinished hooves to be the fundamental problem. The back of all four feet was undeveloped. The hooves were not under the bone column of his legs as they had not finalized after birth. There was a lot of soft tissue bruising. The corium of his soles was severely bruised. (They changed colour later during the advanced stage in the healing.) His fetlock joints were frozen (ossification) in both hinds. His white line was atrophied.

June 2019 — *Blaze’s* body folded like a pocket knife

Blaze's case is very similar to Jensen's (case # 4). I always called them "brothers". Both horses compensated very similar. Blaze’s body folded like a pocket knife; he tucked the front legs behind the vertical; his front hooves were twisted and both fronts had cracks in the hoof wall from the stress to this particular area;

He leaned on the lateral side of the left front and left hind and bracing with the right side toeing out and leaning on the medial side on the right front and right hind; the walls in both fronts cracked at the biggest stress point

Blaze was over muscled, yet his hind end was very weak; his fetlocks and pasterns were very weak; he often rested his hind feet on the front of the hoof capsule; he was swinging out his hind legs like pendulums; he was exhausted from holding the hind end with muscle effort.

June 2019 — he often rested his hind feet on the front of the hoof capsule

Circumstances at different boarding facilities were not always helpful and Blaze's healing was slow. Lack of movement, our long and hard winters, an accidental injury etc. were in the way.

April 2023 — as he untucked from behind the vertical in the front, I allowed the toes (he had previously worn down himself from toe-loading) to grow back. From now on toe length will shorten via divergent hooves with the healing of the back of the foot and the increase of internal structures.

At some point I could wiggle Blaze's hind hooves (freedom from ossification and a sign that the hooves were able to support the bone column). Now Blaze needed to retrain using his hind hooves. He needed to train using his fetlock joints as nature intended. In 2021 the bulbs in all four hooves opened up and filled out. In June of 2024 true heel emerged from further back on the medial side of the left hind hoof as well as on the lateral side of the right hind hoof (combined with an abscess). Blaze no longer needed to lean on the sides of his hoof capsules. He was now able to put weight on both heels.

Blaze's front hooves needed to untangle. With each new and divergent hoof growing down from the hairline, hoof horn shifted around the coffin bone = 4th dimensional healing. With each new and divergent hoof, the hooves were positioned more and more under the bone column. The toes eventually got shorter as the angles raised through increase in thickness of the digital cushion. The cracks in both fronts finally closed in 2026.

In the last phase of his healing Blaze was lightly trail ridden (entirely barefoot – also over rocky terrain). In 2024, after a long break, he was back in the show ring with a young rider and brought home a first place in showmanship at the age of seventeen. He is the most gentle teacher for my client’s grandchildren.

Although Blaze changed boarding places several times he was not exposed to green grass pastures. The main source of his diet was first cut hay (some haylage for a while). The new boarding facility he just moved to provides a huge hilly paddock which is very helpful for Blaze to exercise his body.

Left front pre-trim January 2019 — bruised sole corium; bruised bulbs

Right front pre-trim January 2019 — bruised sole corium; bruised bulbs

Right front post-trim December 2021 — the bulbs in all four hooves opened up and filled out

Right front pre-trim December 2021 — the bulbs opened up and filled out in all four hooves

Left hind pre-trim January 2019 — bruised sole corium; bruised bulbs

Left hind post-trim June 2024 — true heel has emerged from further back on the medial side

Left hind pre-trim October 2022 — internal structures are increasing; the coffin bone is in a healthier position; I am able to shorten the entire hoof capsule with this trim

Right hind post-trim January 2019 — bruised sole corium; bruised bulbs

Right hind post-trim June 2024 — true heel just showing up from further back on the lateral side after an abscess

Right hind pre-trim April 2022 — six weeks after the last trim — the genuine mustang roll all the way around is the corner stone for healing; the water line is the most distal part of the hoof capsule

Our for a ride in 2025 — photo: Laurie Ferneyhough

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 BuchhoferApril 10, 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