Should he be sore?...

The goal of natural hoofcare is to improve and maintain the equine foot in the most efficient manner, based upon the manner it was designed to function, namely barefoot. Causing a horse to be sore is counterproductive to both goals and should be a result of an error on the trimmer’s part rather than the result of the trimming technique itself. Trimming techniques that attempt to circumvent the slow, gradual improvement of the foot by invading live tissue to create concavity or prematurely shorten a foot do nothing but sore up a horse. These techniques not only hurt the horses under the care of such trimmers, but the natural hoofcare industry on the whole. Justifying a horse’s soreness by claiming it is part of the healing process is not only a contradiction, but is absolutely unnecessary.

As a rule of thumb, a horse should be as comfortable or more comfortable after the trim that he was before the trim. This is especially true of a maintenance trim. A fully transitioned horse should be able to be exercised and/or ridden without restriction immediately after being trimmed. Certain situations, such as de-shoeing a horse, may cause some discomfort, but even theses situations can many times be managed to minimize the discomfort. Personally, I feel trimming the horse is only part of my responsibility, with proper follow-up many times taking precedence. Especially in cases such as chronic laminitis and horses diagnosed with navicular (see last month’s article) the horses comfort should be of paramount importance. The horse is already hurting, so why subject them to an aggressive trim? Such cases can benefit from frequent, non-invasive trimming and the judicial use of alternate protection, such as, hoof boots and taped on Styrofoam pads.

As I stated, a maintenance trim should leave the horse ready for whatever you wish, but can occasionally leave a horse a little sensitive. The primary reason for this often times lies in one too many passes with the rasp or knife. It would be nice if we could blame the rasp or knife, but it’s the hands that guided it which must take responsibility. Every farrier or trimmer is guilty of it and I know I have personally beaten myself up over it. Fortunately, a couple of days will undo the insult and the mistake will not be repeated. A horse continually coming up sore after every trim or for prolonged periods should be a red flag for any horse owner and should be discussed with whoever is trimming the horse. Responses such as, I guess he needs to be shod or it’s just part of the healing process, should be heavily scrutinized and a change of farrier or trimmer be considered.

As a hoofcare professional I am primarily concerned with methods that advocate removing live sole to create concavity and increase circulation via exaggerated hoof flexion and trims based upon specific angles and measurements. Many of these methods get grouped under the heading of natural hoofcare. Anytime healthy tissue is violated a horse will be sore and this far from what I would call natural. Errors as small as 1/16th of an inch can cause a horse to be uncomfortable, imagine what intentionally cutting as much as ¾ of an inch from a sole will do? Such extreme measures are unnecessary and unwarranted.

Personally, I have learned not look at a hoof and decide how much I can take off, rather I look to see where I need to leave it. Early on I felt as though I had to justify the call by depositing a large pile of hoof in the barn isle. I have come to learn it’s the long term comfort and soundness of the horses in my care that justify the call. Until next month, God bless you and your equine partners.