The Barefoot Horse Magazine

27/12/2025

Isn’t it crazy that the very simple problem of the outside no longer fitting the inside because of the way HCPs trim… is blamed on the word laminitis - and everyone then conveniently stops looking at the hoof capsule.

Madness. But HM are changing this and educating owners to read capsules so they start fitting the inside again.

The BHM Team 💪

When Things Stop Fitting, They Stop Working

Across the entire equine species, the inside of the hoof follows a fixed anatomical blueprint.

It does not change from horse to horse.
It does not vary by discipline.
It does not reinvent itself every six weeks.

The inside is the constant.

The outside isn’t.

The outside - the hoof capsule - is endlessly redesigned by humans.

One professional does one thing.
Another does something completely different.
And everyone pretends they’re all doing the same thing.

They’re not.

And because there is no agreed constant to follow on the outside, the capsule becomes the wild card - shaped, reshaped, lifted, chopped, backed up, wedged, flattened, rolled, bevelled - all in the name of theory.

The result?

A capsule that no longer fits the anatomy it’s meant to protect.

This is why the same horse can wear multiple “versions” of a hoof capsule over its lifetime - all wrapped around the same internal anatomy.

And during those years, that horse may become:
• intermittently sore
• chronically lame
• diagnosed with navicular
• diagnosed with white line disease
• diagnosed with sidebone
• diagnosed with laminitis

Not because the inside kept changing -
but because the outside never stopped changing.

This is also why people endlessly argue about front feet vs hind feet.

You’ll hear:

“It’s weight distribution.”
“The fronts carry more load.”
“That’s just how horses are built.”

But the reality is far simpler - and far more uncomfortable.

People interfere with front feet more than hind feet.

They trim them more aggressively.
They worry about them more.
They obsess over breakover, lever forces, toe length.
They “protect” them more.

So they distort them more.

Sometimes hind feet are left alone and look fine.
Sometimes hind feet are interfered with just as much - and then they look just as bad.

There is no mystery here.

The difference isn’t weight.
It’s human intervention.

And right at the centre of this mess sits one word:

Laminitis.

A word so weaponised that the moment it’s spoken, everyone stops looking at the hoof capsule.

The capsule and the history of how it became so distorted becomes conveniently… side-lined.

The story becomes:

“The horse couldn’t cope.”
“Barefoot failed.”
“There must be something wrong inside.”

Shoes go on. Boots go on. Toes are chopped.
Symptoms are hidden.
The capsule continues to distort - just out of sight.

Until one day, it can’t be hidden anymore.

An x-ray is taken.
Someone gasps.
And suddenly the outside damage is blamed on an internal disease.

No one looks back down at the capsule.
No one asks how it got there.

And astonishingly, the same person who created the distortion is often asked to fix it.

How strange is that?

Then comes the panic.

“He’s sinking.”
“The bone is about to penetrate.”

And yet the internal anatomy still looks exactly like the anatomical constant it has always been.

P3 has not “gone rogue.”
It cannot sink independently.

It is restrained by a complex, interconnected system of tissues that do not suddenly stop doing their job.

What has changed - again - is the capsule.

Raised heels.
Altered planes.
Compaction.
A foot no longer aligned with the anatomy inside it.

The inside didn’t fail.
It was forced to function inside a shape that no longer matched it.

This is the truth people struggle to see.

Because it means accepting that laminitis is not a mysterious disease attacking from within - but the predictable outcome of a capsule that has been repeatedly altered without reference to anatomical constants.

And that is an uncomfortable thing to accept.

The solution, however, is brutally simple.

When the capsule is rebalanced - correctly, consistently, and in alignment with the internal anatomy - the distortion grows out.

The outside fits the inside again.

And as that happens, horses get sounder.

This is not a disease problem.

It’s a matching problem.

And until the hoof care world stops redesigning the outside without reference to the inside, we will keep mistaking human error for pathology.



HM.

Find out how to match the outside with the inside - join our free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

24/12/2025

Well done HM 👏🔥

Merry Christmas everyone 🎄🎁

The BHM Team 💝

44,000.

That’s 44,000 people who found their way here because something didn’t add up.

So first - thank you.
For following. For questioning. For staying curious. For being brave enough to look past the noise.

As we head into Christmas, we can’t help but reflect on something deeply uncomfortable - and deeply hopeful at the same time.

The world is still largely blind to the damage that hoof care can do.

Still blaming diet. Still blaming grass. Still blaming horses.

Still blaming everything… except the trim.

And yet - quietly, steadily - owners are working it out.

They’re noticing the patterns. They’re learning to read X-rays.
They’re asking better questions.
They’re realising that what they were told was “necessary” was often the very thing causing the damage.

And this year, for many of you, the greatest Christmas gift hasn’t come wrapped in paper 💝

It’s come in the form of:
✨ a horse moving freely again
✨ a pony no longer in pain
✨ a companion returned to them after being told “there’s nothing more we can do”

That is not luck.
That is not coincidence.
That is what happens when truth replaces tradition.

So to every owner who refused to give up,
to every person who chose learning over fear, to every horse who got their life back because someone finally questioned the trim - thank you for being here.

Merry Christmas to you and your horses.

May the coming year bring clarity, courage, and fewer excuses - and more sound, living proof that balance matters.

💛🐴

HM. 💝🎁🎄

22/12/2025

A simple unbreakable relationship between P3 and the frog means P3 cannot ever rotate.

So simple, but devastatingly misunderstood.

The BHM Team 🤷‍♀️

Here’s a simple truth most hoof discussions ignore 👇

The frog is an anatomical constant.
It does not migrate forward or backward in the sole. That’s impossible.

And it cannot detach from P3, because the corium (dermis) of the sole and frog are completely linked - intertwined - inseparable.

So if someone claims P3 has rotated, ask one question:

➡️ Where did the frog go then?

Because anatomically, P3 cannot rotate past the frog without the frog moving too.

And it doesn’t. It simply can’t.

What we actually see in “rotation” cases is:

- Hoof capsule distortion
- Heel elevation and toe removal
- Loss of the hard sole plane
- Visual changes created by trimming, not bone movement

📌 Bones don’t ignore anatomy.
📌 Hooves do not defy their own design.
📌 Distortion explains what rotation never could.

Wherever you find the apex of the frog, the tip of P3 is just in front of it - always.

So if P3 rotation really occurred, then either the frog would have to suddenly move backwards through the sole, or stay put while P3 whistled backwards past it - neither happen.

P3 is always in the same position relative to the frog.

If only most humans knew that, they’d realise…

… P3 rotation is simply hoof capsule manipulation. By the HCP.



HM.

Join our free rehab group 👉The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

19/12/2025

Great visual. Wherever the hoof capsule goes, P3 goes with it.

Join HM’s free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health and stop your horse suffering from imbalance (aka P3 “rotation”).

The BHM Team 👏

18/12/2025

If you see this foot as foundering because of laminitis… look again - carefully.

Please join HM’s free rehab group and stop this happening 👉The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

The BHM Team 👀

The ones who saw P3 “moving” - “rotating” - “sinking” - “foundering” - wanted to put this horse to sleep. They saw LAMINITIS.

The ones who saw this hoof with high heels, a deliberately shortened toe… with sole removal so extensive P3 was about to be exposed… knew how to fix it.

And they did. The horse survived.

If you look at this foot and think the capsule was the innocent bystander - looking normal - that the horse clearly had some kind of metabolic dysfunction that caused the laminae to fail and P3 to “lose its suspension” and “sink”…

… then you’re lost in a world of make-believe.

No wonder you think LAMINITIS is a dreadful disease.

If you look at this foot and think P3 was the innocent bystander - that the CAPSULE and TRIM are the problem - that the horse had been crippled by imbalanced hoof care causing hoof capsule divergence (HCD) that tore the laminae and fixed P3 into this position…

… you’re hanging your head in despair right now - feeling shame for those who can’t see it.

The world needs to take off its LAMINITIS goggles - stop seeing P3 on the “move” and see this foot for what this REALLY is… awful hoof care.

This horse didn’t have a metabolic dysfunction - her bloods were CLEAN - but even if she did - the cause was still, and always is, the worst kind of hoof care.

Hoof care that is so widespread - so bad - so common - it goes completely unseen… masquerading as LAMINITIS.

The ones who see the hoof capsule as imbalanced - can stop it happening ever again - not with expensive drugs with unpronounceable names… just with common sense and balance.

To everyone else who sees P3 “on the move” - take off your goggles… start seeing the truth.

Stop shouting LAMINITIS - SINKING - FOUNDER.

Sack your HCP and learn how to properly balance a foot.

This isn’t LAMINITIS - it’s abuse.



HM.

Join our free rehab group and stop this -The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

17/12/2025

When will the world open their eyes?

Join HM’s free rehab group and help them wake the world up The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

The BHM Team 👀

These hooves were labelled laminitic.

And the hope was… a drug could be found to fix the clearly metabolic issue.

But hang on… a clear metabolic issue? Are you sure that’s what is going on?

As with so many horses diagnosed INCORRECTLY with laminitis…

… the label came first.

Once “laminitis” is spoken, the brain stops observing and starts confirming.

>> Raised heels are seen as protection.
>> Loss of toe depth is seen as a consequence.

And Hoof Capsule Divergence (HCD) becomes invisible - because most people have never been taught what a correct hoof actually looks like.

Hence this horror show. Do you think these horses were born like this?

When distortion becomes common, it becomes normal.

When imbalance is everywhere, it becomes unremarkable.

This is why HCD goes unnoticed.

Not through neglect - but through conditioning.

Most professionals are trained to manage labels, not recognise patterns.

So the trims follow the diagnosis…
even when the hoof is clearly deteriorating.

It’s only when the distortion is pointed out -
when the relationships are explained -
when heel height is seen in relation to toe depth - that people finally say:

“OMG I can’t unsee it now.”

What do you see?



HM.

If your equine’s foot looks like this… join our free rehab group now and learn how to correct it - before it’s too late - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

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!