The Barefoot Horse Magazine

11/12/2025

It's not a "long toe, low heel" - look again.

The BHM Team ❤️

Long Toe Panic Is Blinding the Equine World

For decades, the equine world has been trapped in a fear cycle.
A cycle built around one visual trigger:
.. a toe that looks “too long.”

Whenever people see the lamellar wedge - that bright inner hoof wall wrapping around it - the reaction is almost automatic:

“ARGH! Laminitis!”
“Cut it off!”
“Take the toe back!”

As if removing the toe would somehow stop the laminitis they imagine is happening.

But here’s a big fat truth that no one wants to face:

>> They weren’t stopping laminitis.
>> There was no laminitis to stop.

The wedge wasn’t caused by diet, grass, sugar spikes, or some mysterious internal failure.

It was caused by trimming - balance going rogue - specifically, the obsession with neatness, tidiness, and the appearance of “correctness.”

Tiny boxy hooves pleased the human eye.
Short toes, sharply cut off with sculpted little fronts looked “smart,” “tidy,” even... “professional.”

Owners loved the look.
Professionals loved the praise.
Money exchanged hands... and the world was happy (except it wasn't - was it 🤔).

Meanwhile, the hoof capsule divergence (HCD) - the quiet stretching, tearing and warping of the capsule - carried on unchecked, year after year. And because the toe kept being chopped off, the distortion was never seen, never corrected, never acknowledged.

Horses coped.
They always try to.

Some coped well enough to win competitions - until they didn't.
Some coped well enough to seem fine with boots or shoes - until that didn't help anymore.

And some coped just enough to stay in that dull, uncomfortable limbo for years.

Owners would say things like, “We’ve been lucky - the last laminitic bout was only a few months ago,” forgetting that the horse has had five such “bouts” in as many years.

But getting away with a “bout” is not luck. Or good management. Or a better diet.
It’s a horse in limbo between coping and cannot cope... lying down, stiff, barely able to walk, put on box rest, drugs… and then more toe chopping.

And here’s the hidden pattern - the sneaky little bit you (as an owner) didn't notice:

>> the heels are usually trimmed down a little during these crises
>> just enough to give a short-lived improvement.

Whooopeee... you've stopped the 'bout of laminitis'... (except you haven't - have you 🤔).

Balance has not been restored properly, only enough to just about mask the pain. And around and around the horse or pony or donkey goes again and again... COPING.

These animals are not recovering.
They are living on the edge, being propped up... hurting.
Until the next “bout” arrives - created by the same imbalance and misguided trimming that comes on back - predictably - because it was never corrected.

Sometimes the diagnosis is 'navicular' - blimey where did that come from? 😳

For the ones coping in the shoes or boots... when you take the shoe off… take that boot away… suddenly the truth of a decade of imbalance surfaces in a single step.

And these are the very feet Hoofing Marvellous rehabs every single day.
It sometimes feels like this is exactly why we were put on the planet:

>> to fix the hooves that went out of balance because the world bowed down to aesthetics, theories, and ideas that were never proven in the field.

Ideas like “lever forces tearing the laminae.”
Ideas like “P3 rotates independently of the capsule” (the SADP myth).
Ideas like “the DDFT pulls P3 through the hoof like a puppet string.”

Dear god... we are so tired of hearing this 👆

These are theories folks - nothing more.
Not ONE of them has ever been proven in real horses under real conditions.

And you won't find ONE peer-reviewed paper that can prove them either.

And once you actually start trying, they are incredibly easy to disprove.

But the most damaging misunderstanding of all - the one that caused the most harm - is the confusion around the “long toe.”

People see the lamellar wedge and think “longggg toe.”
But the hoof wall is down to the true Hard Sole Plane.

That means the toe is not long. In fact if that toe hasn't quite reached the ground yet... the toe isn't LONG ENOUGH (vertically).

It is distorted.

And distortion is not solved by cutting it off.
Distortion is solved by growing it out. And we can 100% assure you, that doesn't harm the horse... the actually PREFER IT.

But because the world didn’t understand that 'ugly toe', professionals began using the phrase “long toe, low heel” like a weapon - a catch-all dismissal, a way of discrediting anyone who didn’t follow the aesthetic norm.

But what does “long toe” even mean?
Long horizontally?
Long vertically?
Both?
Neither?

Most people cannot even define their own terminology.
And if you cannot define what you mean, you cannot diagnose a problem - let alone fix it.

The same goes for “low heel.”
Do you mean actually too low?
Or just lower than your eye is used to?
Do you mean crushed and underrun?

Or simply correct - sitting exactly where it should be, at the Hard Sole Plane, supporting the horse beautifully?

We lose count of how many times we’ve heard 👇:

“You’ve trimmed the heels too low!”
“The horse is walking on its bulbs!”
“You’re crushing the heel tubules!”

Meanwhile the horse is standing there thinking, “Finally - comfort.”
Because the heels are right where nature intended them to be.

TPW-trimmed hooves are not left with damaging dorsopalmar imbalance.
We don’t cut heels off and let toes grow vertically too long (tall).
We don’t push P3 into negative positions or tip it upward by chasing aesthetic ideals.

We are always searching for the most neutral, ground-parallel position the horse can safely maintain after years of pathological imbalance created by cosmetic trimming.

And that is why we speak so loudly.
Because the world has been misled.
Because horses suffered for it.
Because once you understand the truth, you can’t un-see it.

And because we have proven - thousands of times - that the scary story everyone believed about laminitis, lever forces, P3 rotating independently... simply isn’t true.

Long toe panic blinded the equine world. And it still does.
So now it’s time to see clearly again.

If you trimmed correctly - there wouldn't even be a lamellar wedge.

Grow the toe out.
Correct the balance.
Let the hoof show you the truth.

And listen and look - the horse becomes sound again... truly sound... not propped up in shoes or glue-ons - or a (short) lifetime in wedges.

Look again... if they are disguising a lamellar wedge... you need a better trim. FAST.



HM.

If you think your equine is being trimmed incorrectly, then join our free group and work out how to trim correctly - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

10/12/2025

Owners are becoming true Hoof Heroes and saving their horses' lives following The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health 🙌

Go Melanie and Honey ❤️

The BHM Team ❤️

This is what dedication and our amazing free rehab group TPW can do 👇

We set up our free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health (TPW) at the beginning of 2024 - and in 2 years it has gone on to see the successful hoof rehabilitation of hundreds of equines - many by the hands of owners themselves.

Here is one example of the power of our Facebook group:

August 2025.

"I have some good news!! New x-rays for Honey 🍯 are done!!

I've been waiting for two days to show our progress and the words I want to use just don't seem fitting. Grateful?

Some of you may know Honey's story but for those of you that may be new let me tell you the shortened version.

Hi I'm Melanie and this is my whole world Honey - aka Honey Bucks - I've posted in TPW lots of times in more detail if your curious!

Honey had been diagnosed with laminitis for 12+ years and had 23 degree rotation in her front right and 13 degrees rotation in her front left. Honey was laying down 90% of the time and the vet had recommended I PTS. I found HM and TPW in April 2024. I adopted their practices and will never go back!!

Today Honey's feet are completely de-rotated and her new hoof capsule has replaced the old damaged one! She is on track with her friends and THRIVING!! She zooms around the track munching hay and asking for belly scratches all in company with her friends. My new vet said if she didn't know the horse's history she wouldn't be able to tell she ever had laminitis, let alone chronic laminitis. Except for the little ski tip everything is completely normal!!

I found TPW and a better way. Honey is now better and stronger than ever. All thanks to Lindsay Setchell, Garry Hinton, Asha Setchell, the HM team, and this group.

You want to talk about passionate, caring, and determined equine enthusiasts you won't find better people. Thank you everyone!!"

Melanie, Pennsylvania, USA

---------------

Honey was diagnosed with "laminitis" - the typical diagnosis given to a horse in her situation - horses like Honey are everywhere - TPW is full of them.

But what did the vets actually mean when they diagnosed Honey with "laminitis"?

They saw P3 'rotated' with a high palmar angle and separated from the hoof wall.

Both front feet were different - they had different hoof capsules. That can only mean one thing...
.. the hooves were being trimmed differently. Each set of x-rays confirmed the hoof capsules kept changing.

What the vets for 12+ years didn't notice was that the problem Honey was suffering from was not metabolic or diet driven - it was hoof imbalance caused by various HCPs losing their way from Honey's internal natural anatomy.

In just over one year, Melanie with her own hands, and guidance from us and support from TPW, rehabilitated Honey after 12 years of misery. Honey will now be safe for the rest of her life.

And Melanie is not an isolated, one-off 'lucky' owner, who happened to put up a track and fix her horse. The track gives Honey friends, forage and freedom... and a healthy gut. Melanie's hands, and complete dedication, gave Honey her hooves back.

Melanie represents hundreds of owners, currently in TPW, rehabbing their horses from hoof imbalance successfully, when they were initially given a diagnosis of "laminitis".

"Laminitis" is inflammation of the laminae... but don't believe that's all. The extensor tendon also becomes inflamed, stretched and torn. The joints become stressed, so too do the ligaments. The digital cushion and DDFT become compressed. The navicular bone no longer able to function correctly. All the soft tissues in the back of the foot 'squashed', contracted, and extremely painful. The front of the foot also extremely painful from walking on the tip of P3 which itself begins to degenerate.

These 👆are the common symptoms of "laminitis". But that inflammation of the laminae - and all the other issues - never once came from the diet, it came from imbalanced hoof care.

The world thinks we are mad for talking this way. Yet the evidence is right there in front of you. The science was flawed when they studied laminitis over the last 20+ years. They forgot the one variable that they should never have forgotten... the hoof capsule. And the history of what happened to it.

Fix that. And all the problems disappear. Honey was never a "laminitic" doomed to live a life of 'rotated' P3s until that one day when the vets said "PTS".

No... she was a long term sufferer of the extremely common and misdiagnosed, Hoof Capsule Divergence (HCD). No diet involved whatsoever.

Thank you for your testimonial Melanie and above all, thank you for having faith and fixing your beautiful horse, Honey. She deserves to live - just like all the others crippled right now because of HCD - diagnosed as diet induced "laminitis".

Melanie has been bitten by the bug to help other equines just like Honey, and is now training with us to become an HMB Pro 🙌💪

We are saving horses folks, at an astonishing rate - even if the rest of the world are still in denial.

You want peer-review - go ask Honey what that did for her.



HM.

If you want to fix your horse that has P3 rotation' - don't believe them when they tell you that metabolic drugs will help - they won't. Only rebalancing P3 helps. Join our free rehab group now and learn how to stop your horse from a life of crippling hoof care - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

09/12/2025

When you see x-rays side by side over time - you can clearly see what has happened to the hoof capsule and why trimming to constants is so important.

Please join HM's free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health and stop this happening to your horse.

The BHM Team ❤️

We have well over 20 x-rays of this horse's RF (and other feet) from 2019 to this year.

Sequential x-rays are powerful and they tell us a great deal of what was happening to the horse's hoof capsule - and P3 - over a period of time. If you compare the capsules.

And what do we find?

A catalogue of errors made by professionals who continually deliberate over toe length, lever forces, heel height, DDFT pulling P3, 'remedial shoeing', diet, drugs, box rest... leading to this... osteonecrosis of P3.

The sequential x-rays show how this horse's all four feet went up and down, and in and out of balance for years. Not once remaining constant to his natural blueprint.

The red line traces the hoof capsule in 2019, which is nothing like the foot in 2025.

All four feet had a different hoof capsule causing their internal anatomy to be all over the place.

Did diet do this? Absolutely not.

Poor, imbalanced, confused trimming did this.

This horse could have been saved years of pain right back in 2019. All they had to do was take the shoes off and trim and balance correctly (he was already experiencing bone loss back then).

Instead, just like millions of owners before her... this owner now faces a tricky situation of trying to keep her beloved horse comfortable - herself... because his hoof capsule has become so distorted due to awful imbalanced trimming, causing P3 to lose a great deal of its vital bone.

Why is she now trimming herself? Because where this owner lives, not a single hoof care professional can be trusted to keep his foot in line with his internal anatomy.

Because they all have their own confused OPINIONS.

This was preventable. Totally.

Diet didn't do this. Following outdated science did.

One more time... P3 cannot move independently of the capsule. Laminae tearing is caused by hoof capsule divergence (HCD) - and has nothing to do with diet.



HM.

If you think your horse is being trimmed incorrectly, join our free rehab group - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health - and save your horse before it is too late.

07/12/2025

When will this stop.

The BHM Team 😣

This is a living pony. And this is not an isolated case.

Both front feet were like this. The LF marginally worse. Coronary band horizontal. Toe 'shortened' and off the ground, to keep removing the mythical 'lever forces'. Foot completely imbalanced. Remodelling of the tip of P3 had begun.

The poor owner was asking the farrier and vets why the heels were so high. "Please help, why is my pony so lame".

BTW - Don't anyone blame the owner here, she was being led down the garden path by the ignorance of her professionals. How many owners experience the same? Too many to count.

The vet said the pony needed feet like this to protect the DDFT. Obviously the vet didn't give a hoot about the health of P3, the laminae, and extensor tendon.

Come on world... the pony wasn't born like this. Nor did he have some metabolic issue that was tearing the laminae.

This was hoof care going far, far away from what is natural for the pony... then blamed on the owner or the pony. Anything BUT the hoof care.

This may look extreme to many of you but we can assure you that HM, HMIS, TPW & GTL see this kind of trimming - every - single - day.

STOP taking off more toe and STOP letting the heels go up - and deal with the actual imbalance.

This pony is now being helped by one of our HMB Pros. The heels have now been taken down and the foot rebalanced.

The journey back from this pathology is not a quick one, but we will support this owner and her pony all the way through.

The more owners see this and understand it - the more we can stop it.



HM.

If you think your equine's feet look like this in any way, please join our free rehab group - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health - and learn how to bring them back to their natural feet again.

05/12/2025

The truth inside the foot when the toe is removed vs leaving the toe pillar intact.

If only everyone could see insure every foot with the toe chopped. Shocking.😳



The BHM Team 🤔

TWO TRIMS. ONE CADAVER FOOT. THE TRUTH OWNERS DON'T SEE.

This is the same cadaver foot trimmed two different ways - one with the toe pillar removed and one with the toe pillar left intact - and then we cut the foot in half.

If only owners could see inside when their horses’ hooves are trimmed like the one on the left... and what it would have been, if left like the one on the right.

Well, cutting the foot in half gives you an even better view than an x-ray.

🔪 When the toe pillar is removed and rasped back beyond the water line (inner hoof wall):

>> The laminae at the front of the foot are exposed.

>> Inside, you can clearly see the whole foot has been pitched downward.

>> The sole and hoof wall are no longer working together - the entire laminar zone and white line area have been breached.

>> This leaves the horse dumped onto the now overly thinned sole, with P3 under huge, unnatural pressure.
.. and the heels were left higher than nature intended.

If you took an x-ray of this trim, most people would swear that P3 is “sinking through the capsule” and “thinning the sole.”

That's never what happens - no P3 sinks downwards, it is always the hoof capsule removed.

👉 The trim creates the problem - not the bone.

But...

👍 When the toe pillar is intact:

>> The pillar stays firmly on the ground where it belongs, keeping vertical depth so P3 is protected and safe

>> Internally, the sole depth is still present - nothing has been breached.

>> The foot is stable, supportive, and working as designed.
.. and the heels were trimmed to their natural height.

Take an x-ray of this one and no one would claim P3 is “penetrating” anything.

Because it isn’t.

🔥 The big lesson

This is the same foot - two trims, two outcomes.

What people often misdiagnose as “rotation,” “sinking,” or “P3 pushing down through the sole” is nothing more than the consequence of incorrect trimming, even in a foot with no pre-existing laminar separation.

One trim.
One imbalance introduced.
One devastation created.

And we see the results of this every day in live horses.

It’s time to stop blaming P3. Or the diet. Or the hormones. Or the hard ground.

It’s time to start looking at the trim.



HM.

If you think your horse is having his toe removed, join our free rehab group - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health - and learn the consequences - so you can stop it!

02/12/2025

The BHM Team 💪

The ADDICTION That Has Crippled The Equine World

You know what nobody wants to admit?

Toe-chopping isn’t a technique.

It’s a habit.
A compulsion.

A reflex people can’t stop themselves from doing - even when the horse is screaming for them to stop.

And the excuses? They are everywhere.

Removing the toe - aka “bevelling the toe” - “bringing the toe back” - into and beyond the white line, and removing the toe pillar…

… they say “that’s what the horse needs”.

But in fact… it’s an unnatural epidemic and abuse of the horse’s hoof.

Most trim the toe the way addicts reach for their next hit:

>> not because it helps
>> but because they can’t imagine not doing it

Toe-chopping is now just muscle-memory for most HCPs.

And each foot (usually only the fronts) is just a bit different from the other. Perfect. Just how Mother Nature made them. Not.

It’s the comfort-zone cut.

The “tidy” hit.

The quick fix that ultimately destroys the horse long-term.

Toe-chopping has become hoof care’s version of a bad drug:

👉 it feels good to them
👉 it looks good to them
👉 it gives them the illusion of control
👉 and the horse pays the price

The longer the addiction runs, the worse the damage gets - until the laminae are wrecked, the toe wall growth has slowed beyond its natural healthy limits… and the horse becomes increasingly more footsore…

… but that’s ok, they can then blame it on “laminitis”.

And those that chop, invariably are also the ones that leave too much heel… and when they x-ray, the habit is so ingrained they say REMOVE MORE TOE 😳

The horse isn’t a “laminitic”… it’s a victim of a nasty habit.

And breaking the toe-chopping habit isn’t optional.

It’s essential.

Because the only thing toe-chopping fixes… is the trimmer’s anxiety.

And the only thing it breaks… is the horse.



HM.

If your horse is having his or her toes chopped, removing the vital toe pillar off the ground… then stop your HCP and join our free rehab group >> The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

30/11/2025

"YOU are the ones that have gone mad... not US."

Keep going HM.

Join their free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health and help them stop chopping toes like the one on the left.

The BHM Team 💪

You’re not looking at a “long toe”… or a “clown toe”… not even a “flipper”.

You’re looking at the damage that years of toe-chopping, heel creep, false breakovers, lever-force hysteria and aesthetic trimming created.

We didn't put it there - you did.

And we’re the cult?
Are you sure?

The healing toe on the right isn’t the problem.
It’s the evidence of the toe-chopping that wrecked the foot on the left.

This toe on the right is finally being allowed to grow down, meet the ground, and reveal everything that was being cut off and hidden for years.

And that “long toe” you keep shouting about?

It’s not long.
It’s balanced, displaced horn - the hoof growing to try and rebuild the stability you took away.

It was always meant to be there.
It’s biology trying to repair itself.

Every time you chop it off, you cause havoc.
You fight biology. And then you blame physics.

The horse pays for it.

And the irony?

We should never see a lamellar wedge - because it shouldn't have been there in the first place.

You created it - not us.

We’re just showing you the consequences of your toe-chopping madness.

The lamellar wedge you see isn’t new “laminitis”.

It’s not caused by grass.
Or the weather.

It’s a record - written in horn:

>> of heels creeping up
>> of P3 becoming hyper-positive
>> of laminae painfully stretching and tearing
>> of toe wall removed faster than it could grow

For years, that wedge was chopped off, ignored, and disguised.

Now that WE stop hiding it, the people who caused it lose their minds - not because this rehab is wrong, but because the truth is finally visible.

A toe on the ground is not dangerous.
A toe off the ground is.

When the toe finally reaches the ground, the hoof stabilises - then the tearing you call “laminitis” finally stops.

This is biology.
Not aesthetics.

So if this healing toe offends you, be far more offended by the years of chopping that made this healing necessary.

Once you understand what caused this, the only thing left is shame for an industry that lost its way - and forced millions of horses and owners into misery...
.. or you might feel relief that the truth came out in time to save this particular horse.

Because the ones we can’t save - the ones with barely any P3 left - those are the ones the industry did the full dirty number on - and then blamed it all on diet.

YOU are the ones that have gone mad... not US.



HM.

If you want to learn how to properly heal your horse from being perpetually foot sore or from a diagnosis of "laminitis" - join our free rehab group and - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

28/11/2025

Look 👀 at this little pony Wilbur now… crippled just 4 months ago. Superb rehab by an HMB Pro 👏👏

Join HM’s free rehab group if you have a Wilbur struggling to walk The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

The BHM Team 💪

27/11/2025

Well done HM 👏 The Phoenix is Rising 💪🔥❤️

🔥

The BHM Team ❤️

43,000 Strong 💪 Thank You ❤️

We’ve just reached 43K followers, and we want to say a huge thank you to every single one of you.

This community is proving that horses can recover when we honour the hoof’s anatomical constants, follow the true hard sole plane, and question the outdated ideas that have held horses back for decades.

Your courage to learn, to challenge myths, and to advocate for your horses is driving real change - case by case, hoof by hoof.

43K isn’t just a number.
It’s a movement.
A shift.
A collective belief that our horses deserve better.

Thank you for walking this path with us.
We’re only getting started 💛🔥

We see you 🙏

🔥

HM. 💪

25/11/2025

Keep on telling them Hoofing Marvellous - the owners are listening even if the professionals are still looking the other way.

Owners are voting with their equines' lives.

Join HM's free rehab group and save your horse from this charade >> The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

The BHM Team 🧐

This image shows a living hoof finally being brought back to its true anatomical plane after months of incorrect trimming:
.. heels left too high, toes chopped off, and a pony pushed right over the tipping point into a classic “laminitis” presentation.

"Acute laminitis" they all yelled. Nope. Acute Hoof Capsule Divergence (HCD) actually.

And it is excrutiangly painful. And horses are being pts with this daily all in the name of "laminitis".

X-rays showed “P3 rotation” and separation from the hoof wall, and - just like thousands of cases before - everyone blamed diet, hormones, toxins, the DDFT, or anything except the real cause:

Which was... 👉 regular, repeated distortion of the hoof capsule. Every few weeks. By the well-meaning hoof care professional who lost his or her way and followed the crowd down the wrong road to equine hell.

This is Hoof Capsule Divergence (HCD).

Not laminitis-as-a-terrible-cruel-disease.
Not a metabolic crisis.
Not P3 rotating because the laminae 'failed' due to eating too much grass.
Not P3 being "pulled by the DDFT".

Just human error, consistently repeated every few weeks.

And the fix? Trim to species anatomy. Restore the natural plane.

Let the horse walk and self-rehab.

No wedges. No drugs. No box rest.

No fear of P3 “plummeting” down through the sole - because P3 only penetrates when that well-meaning someone removes the sole.

In this trim, you can even see the untrimmed frog and the high distorted heel on the other side.

That’s how simple the correction really is.

When you learn to read hooves, x-rays, and balance, you realise:
.. Laminitis Inc. has been selling a lie for decades.

And owners have paid for that lie with the lives of their horses (and donkeys) - accompanied by the draining of their own bank accounts.

The walls are tumbling. The scales are falling.

Owners are voting with their horses’ feet - because they refuse to lose another life to high heels and chopped-off toes.

We’re saving the horses you’re hell-bent on losing.

(and BTW FYI we don't leave a long 'clown shoe' - only clowns say that 🤡... what you see is actually a displaced, distorted VITAL body part - balanced.)

Enough now. START LISTENING.



HM.

P.S. You want your horse to suffer and be pts with 'laminitis'? Keep letting your HCP chop off the toes and keep raising those heels... you want to fix your horse? Then join our free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health.

If you don't help us stop this. Your horse could be next. That isn't scaremongering. That's fact.

24/11/2025

So far so good for Odessa... awesome team work! 💪

The BHM Team ❤️

23/11/2025

This invasive practice of toe-chopping must stop.

The BHM Team 😤

STOP CHOPPING TOES: Why Leaving the Lamellar Wedge Alone Matters

Let’s talk about something that is still happening far too often, and it’s causing real harm to horses who are actually on their safe and sound rehabbing journey.

This situation came up again when a horse who was rehabbing beautifully - calm, comfortable, and progressing well - had his whole journey thrown off course because a vet, called only to take X-rays, decided the foot “looked wrong”.

Instead of simply taking the images the owner asked for, the vet pulled the welfare card, called the farrier, and together they chopped off the toe.

The owner felt powerless and scared they would take her horse away, so had no choice - even though she protested through tears and desperation - not wanting her horse to return to the horror it had previously been experiencing due to the toe-chopping fiasco.

The horse, who had been doing perfectly well, suddenly found himself back in pain and months behind in his healing.

And for what?
For an aesthetic.
For an outdated belief about what a hoof should “look like,” not how it should function.

This is the same pattern we see again and again - equines all over the world, even a poor donkey currently circulating online, who was sound before the trim and crippled afterward, simply because a vet wanted the foot to look neater (our full case history of the donkey is coming very soon).

Nothing in the research supports this practice. Nothing.

⸻

The Lamellar Wedge Is Not “Extra Toe” - It’s the Hoof Repairing Damage

The lamellar wedge that so many professionals want to remove is not excess toe. It is not a sign of neglect. It is not something to “bring back.” It is actually the hoof repairing the damage caused by years of invasive trimming, especially constant toe-chopping.

It is displaced hoof capsule growing itself out and down, trying to rebuild vertical depth and protect P3.

When you cut it away, you don’t “fix” anything - you remove the hoof’s chance of restoring its own balance.

Leaving it alone is essential because the toe pillar is where the hoof receives feedback, where proper growth patterns restart, and where true stability comes from.

When it’s cut away, feedback shuts off. The growth rates become disrupted. The surface area creating comfort is vastly reduced. The hoof stops growing in a healthy way. The hoof and horse become unstable. And the process of distortion speeds up, not down.

⸻

The “Long Toe” Myth That Keeps Destroying Horses

People panic about “long toes,” but the reality is, the toe isn’t long vertically - the vertical depth has been lost from years of chopping.

When balanced, there are no lever forces, no tripping, no DDFT strain or unnatural “pull”.

The lamellar wedge is showing you a hoof that is distorted, displaced and diverging - not long.

And removing that distortion before the hoof has rebuilt its depth only deepens the separation and worsens the rotation - this is hoof capsule divergence (HCD) - not laminitis caused by diet, toxic shock, sepsis, endocrinopathic dysfunction, or standing on one limb for too long. Those are all correlations not causes.

The irony, which no one seems willing to face, is that the lamellar wedge they want to cut away only exists because they’ve cut the toe before.

The hoof is trying to repair the damage already done to it. Humans damage the hoof, then blame the hoof, the diet, the weather, the owner - anything except the trimming that caused the problem.

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What Toe-Chopping Really Causes

The consequences of toe-chopping are so predictable it’s painful to watch:

… loss of sole depth, heels creeping above the hard sole plane, P3 losing its stable relationship with the capsule, rotation increasing, wedges and pads being added, drugs being handed out, and eventually the horse spiraling into long-term suffering, usually accompanied by irreversible osteonecrosis - or bone death of P3.

And if no one steps in with a different approach, the endpoint is continued suffering and often euthanasia - not from laminitis, but from man-made hoof capsule imbalance.

And everyone keeps looking the wrong way.

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What Happens When We Leave the Toe Alone

But when we protect the toe, leave the balanced wedge, lower the heels to internal anatomy, and follow the constant of the hard sole plane, something amazing happens:

… the hoof regains its depth, the white line tightens over time, the horse becomes more stable, and soundness returns.

This is not guesswork. This is biology, confirmed over and over again in real horses recovering when trimming stops interfering with nature’s repair systems.

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Why HM Speaks Out

HM speaks out about this because owners are being scared, blamed, bullied and talked down to, when the damage we see is not caused by diet or neglect, but by outdated trimming practices that ignore the hoof’s natural design.

Until the wider world accepts that toe-chopping and heel-raising are creating the very rotation and separation we call “laminitis,” horses will continue to suffer at the hands of ignorance for no reason at all.

We cannot fix a problem by repeating the same actions that caused it.

And we cannot allow fear, aesthetics, and old beliefs to override biology.

Horses deserve so much better - and it starts with leaving the toe alone so the hoof can finally heal.



HM.

If toe-chopping is happening to your equine, join our free rehab group >> The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health and help us stop the suffering and injustice.