Case Study Summary – Pre 2014
These case studies are primarily horses that I trim, but many are trimmed by their owners or by other farrier’s or trimmers. Some f these horses have passed on, but they leave stories behind to tell us who they were, they leave their hoof prints here.
I’m attempting to document the beauty and resilience of the natural hoof. Many of the pictures show feet in transition, feet becoming sound.
My job is to help the horse by restoring balance to the hoof capsule and to coach owners to improve the horses diet, environment and body balance. My trimming takes the place of rocks, sand, time and miles… I wear the exterior of the hoof the way a horse would if he was free to go wherever he wanted. I read the hoof and do what it tells me needs to be done, and no more.
Please feel free to contact me about specific details or with questions. Linda healthyhoof@comcast.net
| Name, Date Started |
Use & Age |
Breed | Good Feet |
Soundness Notes |
| Ace, TW 10/4/05 |
Trail, teenager | TWH | No | Shod in Natural Balance with wedge pads; had under run heels & long toes |
| Ace, QH 10/4/05 |
Trail, teenager | QH | No | Shod for at 8 years. Had tall heels and contracted feet |
| AlEclipse, 7/ 2005 |
AERC | Arab | No | I trimmed Al a few times while he was recuperating from a suspensory injury. Interesting look at why horses break down |
| Athena 11/2005 |
AERC, 4 YO |
Arab | Yes | Club Foot and thrush |
| Azure 1/2007 |
Retired | Akhl Teke | No | In constant pain from navicular symptoms, was scheduled to be put down |
| Baby! 6/2005 |
Trail, 7 YO |
Arab/QH | Yes | Naturally nice feet |
| Butter 2/2005 |
Broodmare | TB | yes | Significant thrush. Lost the entire quarter on one foot and the bar grew in to support that side of the hoof. |
| BC, 8/2005 |
OTTB / Dressage |
OTTB | No | TB feet, chronic unsoundness, multiple track related injuries |
| Breeze, 9/2005 |
Trail | Arab | No | Jarring gaits, medial lateral imbalance, before I was trimming as I currently do (2014). |
| Cagey, 6/2005 |
Trail | Arab | Yes | Great sound bare feet |
| Cherokee, 7/2006 | Trail | Appy | Yes | Flat soled barefoot until a bevel; gained concavity in the first month following bevel. Example of lower beveled wall |
| Cobre, 9/2005 |
Trail | Paso | Yes | Naturally wears his toes so that they have a full rocker. |
| Dali, 8/2005 |
Trail | Saddlebred | No | Good transition |
| Desi, 10/2005 |
Trail | QH | No | Marginally sound before shoes came off |
| Durango, 2/2006 |
Trail | Appy | No | Lives in a paddock with pea gravel and rarely needs trimming. Passive Conditioning testimonial |
| Ebony, 11/2005 |
Trail | Mustang | Yes | Nice mustang feet |
| Eli, 4/2006 |
Trail | Arab | Yes | Was over trimmed and as a result his coffin bones dropped. This is a testimonial to Less-Is-More trimming. X-rays included to show 6mm sole thickness after invasive trimming, Had perfect feet until his feet were trimmed too thin. Is now back to having perfect feet. |
| Emmett, 8/2005 |
Schooling | OTTB | No | Pictures of shedding false sole due to solar abscess. Was chronically lame for years, has perfect feet now. |
| Fancy, 10/2005 |
Trail | Arab | No | Founder that was initially misdiagnosed as contracted heels. This horror story illustrates how little some vets understand about laminitis and founder…. this mare had separation at the coronet band, a founder stance, was on a green pasture, and her vet misdiagnosed her lameness |
| Granddar, 10/4/05 | Trail | Arab | No | Chronic Side bone, needed wedges and pads |
| Guy 1/23/06 |
Dressage | Lipizzaner | yes | Long toes and poor self-carriage in shoes, with the remarkable transition to short toes caught by the camera… |
| Jazz, 2/2005 |
Trail | OTTB | No | Had soft weak “Mushroom Feet” TB feet and was the butt of his vet and farriers jokes, became a gravel cruncher |
| Leaguer 1/2006 |
Trail | QH | No | Navicular, needed 4 degree wedges and pads; his amazed vet was unable to find signs of navicular on his latest x-rays. |
| Lucas, 3/2006 |
Dressage | OTTB | No | Unsound in shoes, extremely weak and sore feet complicated by bad knees and thrush; a “can’t go barefoot” horse. Had thrush all through his transition and eventually that got to his knees and his owner reshod him. He also had chronic ulcers. Now we know that the best way to fight thrush is through diet. Diet was probably part of his thin soles and walls. |
| Lyrical Hal, 1979 |
Memorial | Standardbred | Yes | A memorial, a wonderful partnership… |
| Maple, 10/2005 |
Trail | PMU | Yes | Perfect feet |
| Nasty | Memorial | QH | Yes | A memorial to the most special horse of a special friend… Nasty had Cushing’s, and trained Kathleen to reach out and help hundreds of other horses… |
| Nicky, 6/2005 |
Retired | Arab | Yes | Perfect feet; see what 30-something legs look like when the feet have been kept balanced for a horse’s lifetime. |
| Nipper, 3/2006 |
Western | QH | No | Nipper has a severe wall crack from a coronet injury, and started out with extremely contracted heels, Imbalanced feet, horrible thrush, high heels, long toes and needed body work. There are great examples of Wry feet, flare, wall cracks and contracted heels on these pages. To me, she was overweight, I suspected that she had IR. Had seasonal abscesses and tenderness. At 5 years, to the day, her owner finally opted for shoes. I encouraged it because pain is never the best choice, A strict diet and dry lot may have worked just as well. Her frogs never got nice, and I think that diet was part of the reason. |
| Piper, 6/2005 |
Dressage | WB | No | His soles were too thin when I pulled his shoes. Compared to what I do now, this was an invasive trim because I removed bar and trimmed the wall shorter than I do now. |
| Promise 10/2005 |
Western | QH | No | GREAT illustrations of what toe-first movement vs correct looks like. Make sure to check out both pages! Also great pictures of contracted heels and Wry foot shape. Had tiny feet, very high heels and very rough gaits; long inside walls behind triggered stifle and hock symptoms; contracted heels, small feet |
| Rio 10/4/05 |
Dressage | TB | No | TB feet, needed wedges and pads when shod |
| Robby | Trail | Arab | Yes | Perfect feet – a Gravel Cruncher! |
| Robo | Memorial | OTTB | ?? | OTB with awesome feet and great heart… |
| Samson, 11/2005 |
Western | QH | No | Navicular, needed wedges and pads. Had wry feet as a result of poor saddle fit and long term thrush. Samsons x-ray page shows the effect of long term weighting the outside walls or “Wry Foot” stance; the coffin bone remodels. |
| Scout 11/2005 |
Trail | QH | No | Extreme, Navicular, needed wedges and pads |
| Shiraz 11/2005 |
Trail | Arab | No | Extreme imbalance, thin soles and flare |
| Sonny 12/2006 |
Trail | QH | no | Fantastic turnaround from platter-flat feet with no concavity to a Gravel Cruncher. |
| Stella | Memorial | Saddlebred | No | This mare never, ever stopped moving until she died… |
| Stretch 10/4/05 |
Trail | Foxtrot. | No | Wobbled when he walked, unstable behind. Hock & stifle problems , needed wedges and pads |
| Tinker | Trail, 18 YO |
Welsh | Yes | Nice feet |
| Verso, 2013 |
Dressage | Andalusian | yes | Long history of quarter cracks treated with a variety of methods. We took left him barefoot to allow the distortion to grow out. He was reshod in December 2013, after the cracks had grown out Verso Top Page 05/16/2013 06/21/2013 08/13/2013 |
| Wink, 2006 |
Dressage | WB | No | In process rehab of a mare that had “Seasonal Unsoundness”; in her case it was probably a case of Thrush and Laminitis. |
| Zoe | Broodmare | OTTB | No | Zoe had been lame for years; her underlying problem was repeated sub-solar abscessing, was thought to have PPID / Cushing’s. Picture of false sole due to a solar abscess |