The Barefoot Horse Magazine

07/10/2025

Those that are too blind to see, will just keep blaming metabolism for this disaster.

If your horse has the diagnosis of laminitis please join HM's free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health - help them stop this.

The BHM Team 😢

🔥 They Blamed It on Laminitis... But It Wasn't. It Never Is.

This was a cadaver foot from one of our workshops - the same P3 from our last post that had lost over a third of its mass due to osteonecrosis. We buried it to preserve the bones and capsule.

The heels were ridiculously high, the toe had been continually and mercilessly removed - all in fear of imaginary “lever forces.” The horse was shod. We rebalanced one side before cutting the foot in half.

👉 On the left, the original distortion.
👉 On the right, the rebalanced foot.

Had this horse been alive, there would have been no way back to soundness. The devastation inside the hoof capsule was too great. The coronary band had been stretched beyond normal proportions - most severely at the front - forcing the papillae to grow hoof wall horizontally, with almost no dermal laminae left to connect to.

We call this 'P3 on the rack' - because the torque and tension within this coffin of a distorted capsule, would have been immense.

This wasn’t diet.
It wasn’t toxicity.
It wasn’t EMS or PPID.

It was purely the result of consistent and persistent, ignorant imbalance - layer upon layer of misunderstanding by one or more hoof care professionals, and likely vets too.

The story is always the same. It begins with misguided beliefs:

A little toe-chopping here. Leaving the bars there. The seat of corn compacts.
Next visit, they leave more heel “to help the DDFT,” and also because they're not sure where the heels should be - and then take more toe again.

Personal Preference Trimming (PPT) is now in full swing.

The horse becomes more and more sore - and the soreness gets blamed on diet.
But the distortions take over.
And soon, there’s nothing left to save.

The metabolic drugs and the pain killers, just like the shoes, would have been handed out. But only one thing would have stopped this devastation - rebalancing the foot before it was too late.

It was definitely too late for this horse.

This isn’t laminitis.

It’s abuse, however unintentional - wrapped up in the excuse of a “metabolic cascade.” And you only have to look around on social media to see how many people are stuck in this belief system - conditioned that it was something the horse ate that caused the heels to rise and somehow chop off the toes.

It doesn't seem to matter that there isn't any actual hard evidence of anything other than correlation by those unable to read true balance.

And yet, here we are, day after day, saving these horses before it is too late... just by rebalancing the hooves and then letting the distortion grow out.

The red lines show P3’s true size and angle before and after rebalancing. You can see how much capsule was lost - removed by ignorance.

There was no hope for this horse. Those responsible had no idea what they’d done. And there are hundreds upon thousands right now going through the same devastation to varying degrees. And no-one learns a damn thing once they've put them to sleep.

Everyone moves onto the next victim.

And they just continue to blame it on laminitis.

Stop. Just stop now.



HM.

If your horse has a diagnosis of laminitis, please join our free rehab group and find out how to stop your hoof care professional from continuing to make it worse: The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

05/10/2025

👏 Amazing transformation from shockingly high crippling heels and rotated P3… to a rebalanced capsule very quickly! These HMB Pros really know what they’re doing saving lives. 💪

Owners are finally waking up to imbalanced hoof care.

The BHM Team ❤️

03/10/2025

Front feet are not inherently weaker than hinds. They are just messed with more.

Great write up on the cause of 'navicular'.

Watch the YouTube video where Lindsay & Garry talk about this horse and show more photos (about an hour in): https://youtube.com/live/6MkbZcg4Dq8

The BHM Team ❤️

⚠️ Navicular? Or Just Manufactured Imbalance?

This horse was handed the dreaded “navicular diagnosis.”

But what unfolded was a lesson in how imbalance was first created - and then sold back to the owner as a disease requiring endless interventions.

Everyone benefitted from the pathology:

>> The hoof care professional who increased the charges for a more 'comprehensive remedial shoeing package'.

>> The vet gaining from x-rays, diagnosis, MRIs, pain relief meds, bone remodelling drugs, regular 'follow-ups'.

>> Ancillary services brought in to help the tension building up in the horse's body.

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

Let’s look at what was really going on 👇

📊 The Numbers Don’t Lie

👉 Left Fore (diagnosed “navicular”):

>> Unnatural coronary band angle (CBA) = 23° (a full 7° raised higher than the hinds).

>> Unnatural caudal heel heights: 51 mm lateral, 54 mm medial - not balanced (soon after shoeing).

>> Severe contraction, no frog contact, overgrown bars causing sole pressure, thrush.

>> DIM packed under a heart bar with wedges - for 'support'.

>> Natural wear patterns destroyed, dorsal wall thinned.
.. COMPARED TO ... 👇

👉 Left Hind (barefoot, largely left untouched):

>> CBA = 30° (correct).

>> Heel heights = 30 mm, balanced.

>> Frog loading properly, even hairline, no contraction.

>> No DIM. No wedges. No pathology.

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

🔄 The Irony: Fronts vs. Hinds

How often do we hear:

“The fronts need shoes, but the hinds can go barefoot.”

The excuses are always ready-made: “fronts carry more weight,” “fronts wear more,” “fronts can’t cope.”

But that is not the truth...

Fronts “need” shoes because they’re constantly being interfered with.

>> Excess sole removed.

>> Heels allowed to rise (and go underrun) shortening the surface area.

>> Frogs lifted off the ground becoming atrophied and contracted.

>> Capsules trimmed to an abstract “ideal” instead of respecting natural parameters.

Hinds cope barefoot because they’re usually ignored. Left closer to their natural form. Coronary band angle normal, frogs engaged, caudal structures healthy.

It isn’t that the fronts are inherently weaker - it’s that they’re imbalanced into dysfunction, then propped up with shoes, DIM, and wedges as a supposed “fix.”

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

💪 What We Did

Once the interventions were removed and the left fore was balanced:

>> The coronary band angle returned to 30°, matching the hinds (no surprise there because Mother Nature isn't random).

>> Six weeks later, the horse was comfortable, functional, and maintained barefoot by his owner.

CRUCIALLY >> No DIM. No wedges. No heart bars.

Just balance.

And yet this owner was told by the farrier and vets that he was probably always going to have 'navicular'.

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

🌀 The Industry Cycle of 'Pathology Makes Money'

This is a merry-go-round folks:

>> Manipulate the hoof beyond its natural parameters.

>> Create pain and pathology.

>> Diagnose “navicular disease.”

>> Sell DIM, wedges, heart bars, composites.
.. and when that fails, sell even more interventions.

👉 Cause the problem. Then sell the “solution.”

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

🤔 What Should We Learn?

Navicular isn’t fate. It’s the predictable outcome of imbalance.

This 'navicular' horse proved it: when you respect natural parameters, the pathology disappears.

When you don’t, you’ve got a horse for life on the problem-solution treadmill.

Balance the hoof. Stop selling fixes for problems we created.

But... keeping horses healthy and balanced doesn't make money though, does it?

If you would like to hear us talking about this case, watch last night's live (about an hour in): https://youtube.com/live/6MkbZcg4Dq8



HM.

If your horse is diagnosed with navicular - look at the hoof balance - and join our free rehab group: The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

All photos, pre HM trim.

02/10/2025

There’s something very addictive about saving the horses others can’t! 🙌👏👏Gawsworth Track Livery and Hoofing Marvellous 💪

The BHM Team ❤️

01/10/2025

The truth of the failed experiments is right here with us now. P3 is NOT suspended by the laminae. P3 cannot move. It is the imbalance throughout the entire capsule that causes laminae to tear. NOT diet.

Keep going Hoofing Marvellous and Gawsworth Track Livery - owners of the world are beginning to listen.

The BHM Team 💪

The Ghost of Laminitis: Why Balance Matters More Than Metabolism

Why didn’t Pollitt test his suspension theory on living animals? That’s the question we should all be asking.

He believed, and told the world, that P3 was suspended by the laminae, and when those laminae fail, P3 rotates away from the hoof wall and sinks. This was his SADP theory (Suspensory Apparatus of the Distal Phalanx).

And it gripped the world.

But his experiments were flawed. They never critically assessed the hoof capsules of the horses they 'researched'.

And they didn't test their theory on living, breathing, horses... why?

It would have been so simple: take a horse with a textbook laminitis case - clear dorsal wall separation, visible failure of the laminae, P3 already displaced - and rebalance the hoof capsule.

No metabolic drugs. Just pain relief.

Then watch: does P3 continue to sink and rotate, as the SADP failure theory predicted? Or does it remain stable, even with clear laminae separation, disproving the suspension theory.

Well... where Pollitt didn't go... we did. Because we never believed the SADP theory, it just didn't stand up to scrutiny with the horses we rehabbed.

We’ve proved this theory wrong now, over and over, in real rehabs. And we have shown you the proof in sequential radiographs.

👉 And the answer is always the same: P3 DOES NOT MOVE.

Hector, Pluto, and countless others have proven it in sequential radiographs.

Once the hoof is rebalanced to Mother Nature’s anatomical constants, torque and tension are relieved. Throughout the whole capsule.

The laminae - stretched under imbalance NOT diet - stop tearing and begin to heal.

P3 stays stable, exactly where it’s put.

👉 If Pollitt’s SADP theory was correct, P3 would continue to migrate regardless of balance, because supposedly it was “suspended” only by laminae and those laminae had chemically failed.

That is NOT what happens in living horses.

Why didn’t the original researchers test this? Perhaps it seemed too simple to those lost in the convoluted cascade lens of “failing metabolism.”

Perhaps the drug companies and the Jockey Clubs, funding much of the research, didn’t want the answer, because a balance-based model doesn’t sell a pharmaceutical. And it points the finger at the seemingly uncontrollable - human error.

👉 But the consequences of this terrible blind spot are tragic:

>> The equine world ran with a ghost theory.

>> Whole treatment models were built around a chemical cascade that never did what they believed the theory said it did.

>> Decades of using metabolic drugs on horses to 'stop P3 moving' by 'fixing' the laminae destruction - but these produced inconceivable failure rates, because the real cause - imbalance, torque, and tension inside the hoof capsule - was ignored.

Even Pollitt’s later work admitted MMP enzymes, who he thought were causing the laminae to separate due to gut or toxic disturbances, are a response to trauma, NOT the initiator.

Yet the ghost of that old, now debunked SADP model, still haunts equine practice.

👉 The truth is simple and was so simple to test - and we do it every day.

We have shown:

>> P3 is not suspended by the laminae alone.

>> Laminae fail under strain, not diet.

>> Balance is the key - restore it, and the hoof heals. Ignore it, and the hoof fails.

Until the equine professionals understands true internal balance - not just palmar angle debates, not lever myths, not toe chopping, not heel wedging - we won’t move forward.

But for the sake of the horse, we must. Pollitt was wrong.

Rehabbing, living, breathing horses have proved it.

Now we absolutely cannot ignore it. If we do, millions more will suffer and die.



HM.

If you have a horse diagnosed with laminitis and rotation of P3, join our free rehab group fast and find out how to fix it with balanced hoof care before P3 becomes the causality of ignorance: The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

01/10/2025

How many owners could recognize if their horses’ hooves were imbalanced?

Not many.

The BHM Team 😞

👀 9 Hooves. How Many Would You Call “Normal”?

Here are 9 different hooves, every single one showing separation and internal destruction (we have the x-rays).

Most people looking at this grid would maybe spot a few as “bad.”
Some might even say, “that one looks fine.”

But the reality?

👉 Every single hoof is imbalanced.
👉 Every single hoof shows separation.
👉 Every single case was blamed on laminitis caused by diet.

Not one of them followed the hoof’s anatomical constants.
Not one of them was destroyed by grass, apples, EMS, or PPID.

Diet played no part in the destruction on the inside of these hoof capsules - they were destroyed by imbalance.

Yet every owner of these horses was told that diet caused the pain and suffering - ironically by the very vets, farriers and trimmers, who couldn't read the capsules either.

So the question is: will we keep blaming the pasture… or will we finally learn to read the capsule?



HM.

If you don't know how to read the hoof capsule, join our free rehab group: The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

30/09/2025

Long toes do not tear laminae - it is a myth. What tears laminae is imbalance. This long toed hoof was fairly balanced. Good images!

The BHM Team ❤️

The Leverage Theory: sounds nice in textbooks, but totally wrong in real life

They say 👉 “A long toe tears the laminae apart through leverage.”

Well, apparently, nobody told this long toe it was meant to tear laminae 🙄

We’ve all heard this line repeated like gospel - but when you look at real hooves, it doesn’t hold up.

At a recent workshop, we trimmed a hoof that was extremely overgrown - high-heeled with a very overgrown toe.

To demonstrate the difference, we did a half-and-half trim: one side left untouched, the other trimmed back.

👉 Here’s what you can see in the photos:

🤔 The toe was far longer than nature intended.

🤔 The foot was indeed overdue for a trim and had lost surface area.

BUT the white line? Still tight. No major stretch. No tearing.

Why? Because despite being overgrown, this hoof had remained balanced. The internal capsule wasn’t under abnormal tension, so the laminae weren’t being ripped apart.

👉 This flies in the face of the leverage myth. If a long toe alone were enough to tear laminae, this foot should have shown major damage - but it didn’t.

This toe was long in the vertical plane, but so too were the heels. Hoof growth rates had remained fairly even.

The real issue isn’t length in isolation. It’s imbalance and distortion within the capsule.

When a hoof grows or is trimmed out of harmony with its constants, tension builds and separation follows.

But when overgrowth happens in relative balance, the hoof can stay remarkably intact - albeit not ideal with a shortened surface area.

So next time someone says “long toe = laminar tearing,” remember this hoof. It’s not about the lever, it’s about the balance.

Balance beats mythical leverage >> every - single - time



HM.

Join our free rehab group and learn what real balance is about (and forget lever forces!) - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

29/09/2025

Look what you can do when you understand how to rebalance little feet like this! Awesome work SO Natural Hoofcare - HMB Pro, UK 💪❤️ Another life saved 👏

The BHM Team 👌

28/09/2025

Hoofing Marvellous are coming back to New Zealand & Australia in March 2026 with their famous 3-day workshops!

Book here: https://www.hmischool.horse/3-day-event-order-form

If you are Downunder and you want to really learn what horses' hooves are trying to tell you - then cut through all the noise and follow so many horse owners before you to make the change to your horse's life forever!

Cannot recommend these workshops enough! You will not regret it!

The BHM Team ❤️

HM International School of Horse & Hoof Care

27/09/2025

If you ever get a chance to go on one of the famous Hoofing Marvellous 3-day workshops, it will change everything you know about hooves forever!

The BHM Team ❤️

26/09/2025

Well done Hoofing Marvellous! Keep it up - 40K next stop 💪🙌👏

The BHM Team ❤️

😁 THANK YOU 👏 In just 2 months, 6,000 more owners, pros and curious hoof nerds have joined us - taking Hoofing Marvellous to 39K strong! 🐴✨

And it’s not just here - our free rehab group The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health is nearly at 14K members too.

Something we’re doing is working… and we think it’s this: sharing real evidence that actually makes a difference for horses. 💚

Thank you for being part of the shift. We’re changing the stubborn equine world together 🙌 - proving change is possible - one hoof at a time. 💪

40K… we’ve nearly got you! 💪💪💪💪❤️



HM.