Interesting Horsey Facts

21/12/2023

https://www.gravelproofhoof.org/magnesium?fbclid=IwAR1u-FXtCVK2RbTrC7QGkPgKAOq2gBWKTF6pAymqUwDH09MAVBeBEyDRdnI_aem_AVCHqsFx-gC-UEcue-Dbxw3IwM7Kp5dM3wczk_4n5T2vMfwAl0S_Cw2wx-wVnxsMjSA&mibextid=9R9pXO

Using magnesium to grow a healthy, strong equine hoof.

30/10/2023

Great visual!

26/02/2023

08/02/2023

Foot Focus Webinar Series - From Shod To Barefoot With David Greenwood, Sarah Logie & Mark Trussler

I thought I’d give it a listen. I knew it wasn’t going to sway heavily barefoot with the guests being farriers.

A few things I picked out:
(bold the point, not bold my views)

- '𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫’ Now I understand this from a register side, however there aren’t many farriers out there that do a ‘barefoot trim’, many just rasp thr hoof flat, what I would call a 'pasture trim' with no regard for concavity or use of the vital structure of the foot. That’s if they even trim them at all. So many just say ‘ah they’re fine they can wait until next time’ yet that is leaving the hoof unbalanced. In my experience it takes the farriers I have seen about 30 seconds to trim a barefoot, compared to 5-10 minutes with somebody who specialises just in barefeet.

- 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 interesting that barefoot wasn’t a big no no but more about the horse itself and whether barefoot or shod would be best for the horse.

- '𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭' Yes, they will at first, but horses are not born with flat feet. We make them that way, therefore we need to give them time and chance to gain concavity.

- '𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫?' If you want to go barefoot then you need to be aware transitioning takes time, even for the more straight forward horse. It all depends on diet, current state of hooves, what surface you can offer, any injuries, implications, management and exercise. It takes roughly 9 months for a new hoof to grow.

- '𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞?' (𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧) I hope that like any other time when a horse goes lame when shod you get the vet? I think he was suggesting that you’d need to put shoes back on, but is this just covering a lameness and not getting to the root cause? Now I can’t say for sure that’s what he meant, but what an odd thing to say/ask.

- '𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟, 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭' Zero mention of diet for this point which I believe it’s probably the number one reason why horses become or are foot sore. The foot also adapts to the environment it is in, so if the horse is always kept on grass or in a stable then its more likely their feet will be soft too and not the rock crunchers we’d desire. It can take years to develop ‘rock crunching hooves’ and this is done through diet and expose to different terrain and surface.

- 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐭 ‘𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟, 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐨 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬’. It is well documented that diet plays a huge role in hoof health. This can easily be seen by event lines in horse hooves which correlate to change in feed, change in grass or even when a wormer was given, not to mention the integrity of the white line. To keep a hoof healthy, sugars and starch should be kept low - this is a well known fact now. Diet plays a massive part in the horse’s health, hoof quality and behaviour.

- '𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐟' Yes, this happens, it’s happening right now to my horse. After he escaped on nice grass and was on it for several weeks in winter without restriction the outcome was weeks later his white line became stretched allowing stones to creep in (he also became footy so I used Trinity Consultants L94). It’s part of the life of being barefoot, figuring out what works and what doesn’t and what triggers changes in the feet. But there’s things that can be done starting with diet and keeping that white line tight, the use of hoof boots, and of course hoof armour or vettec which got no mention.


The good bits - which were all from the same farrier, Sarah Logie. A farrier that was very open minded, and put the horse first.

-' 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞' now this swing both ways but I think it’s important to not let others around you pressure you into methods you don’t think is right for your horse. “What you’ve got to do is up to you to make best of it, you don’t need to feel guilty because it doesn’t sit in the ideological box”.

- 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 Sarah used one of her own case studies where the horse was barefoot but had gravel runs and therefore to help fix the problem the horse needed shoeing but once the problem was eradicated, the shoes were removed. The horse then had another injury so was shod appropriately but once healed went back barefoot and is now out competing BE90 barefoot.

- '𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞.𝐠. 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝' I like this idea but I feel like its something of old times, do horses really have seasons off these days? I know several people with retired horses but they choose to keep them shod.

I felt like Sarah is the kind of farrier we need more of!

It was a shame that some of the questions the questions the public put forward weren’t answered or were muffled out. I don’t feel like this webinar was a true ‘Shod to Barefoot’ it didn’t represent both sides fairly. It was also a bit shorter than I thought but I do appreciate it’s a Monday night webinar and they are farriers not vets, body workers, etc. But hats off to BHS (Scotland) for acknowledging barefoot is more common now and for trying to educate on it.

24/11/2022

🤔Horse Shoes: Do they shut down the natural hoof mechanism?

And even if they do, do we actually care?

Well YES - we absolutely SHOULD care!

That is of course, as long as you understand what the natural hoof mechanism really is, and why its correct functioning is so VITAL to the horse.

And only then will you fully understand why metal horse shoes ALWAYS have a negative affect on the hoof properly functioning.

This cadaver hoof shows how by removing the shoe and setting the hoof up with a natural trim, with natural toe lengths etc, could have set this horse up to heal, by engaging the natural hoof mechanism.

👉If you think shoes have absolutely NO affect on the horse whatsoever…then perhaps you should read on!

What is THE HOOF MECHANISM?

The hoof mechanism can be defined as the hoof naturally contracting and expanding, whilst it goes through the weight bearing (support phase), and the non weight bearing (flight phase).

It happens on EVERY single step your horse takes.

Or at least IT SHOULD! 😳

The correct functioning of the hoof mechanism is incredibly important for the efficient circulation of blood, not just through the foot, but through the leg and entire body.

When it is all working correctly, it helps blood flow back to the heart, against gravity - and the more efficient it is, the less strain the heart is under.

Good BLOOD FLOW is absolutely essential - without it, the structures within the foot, and within the body, will simply begin to suffer….

… probably way before YOU are even ever aware of it.😕

Every step your horse takes, is either bringing health - or bringing pathology - closer and closer.

The correct hoof mechanism is also incredibly important for the LYMPH SYSTEM to do its job correctly too - removing waste from cellular activity, moving important molecules around the body, and of course helping the immune system to fight off infection.

🧐So what happens when you add a metal shoe to the hoof?

A metal shoe is a rigid structure. That goes without saying, right?

It is applied to the hoof in its most contracted state (the non weight bearing flight phase) - with the foot in the air!

As soon as the shoe is applied, nailed into place, and the horse then puts the foot down, the natural expansion and ‘spreading’ of the hoof to facilitate shock absorption is immediately impaired.

‼️IMMEDIATELY impaired‼️That is serious.

Consequently, when the hoof is then lifted off the ground, entering back into the flight phase again, the venous return of the blood back up the leg, is markedly reduced.

One relies upon the other.

Unlike humans, horses have no help from the skeletal muscle ‘pump’ from the knee or hock down - because the horse has no muscles there to help that blood flow back to the heart.

Or the lymph to function correctly.
�That is why it is absolutely ESSENTIAL that the horse keeps on MOVING.

🙄We are astounded that this salient fact is simply MISUNDERSTOOD…

… or worse - IGNORED!🤷‍♀️

Whenever we talk about the debilitating effects of the rigid metal shoe to the horse, and how it affects the hoof mechanism so profoundly…

… some people just don’t WANT to listen… or they tell us we have no clue what we are talking about!

They will even tell you that putting a shoe on a horse helps with caudal support… supporting the pathological hoof to give the horse that much needed comfort.

From a metal shoe that disrupts the vital hoof mechanism? 🤦‍♀️Hmmm.

The problem with that way of thinking is that they simply ignore all the serious problems the shoe causes.

👉If you believe, wholeheartedly, that disrupting this vital natural hoof mechanism, is not of any concern, then tell that to the 1000s upon 1000s of horses with navicular and caudal hoof pain.🤥

So many horses have been successfully rehabbed by taking the debilitating metal shoe off, and going barefoot, with the right diet and management. And we highlight such successes in The Barefoot Horse Magazine in every issue.

We have a MANTRA:

⚠️“Do unnatural things, and expect unnatural things to happen.”⚠️

Don’t go it alone, and keep listening to misleading ‘advice’.

For instance: a ‘remedial’ rocker shoe helping a laminitic hoof is an oxymoron.😵‍💫

We’ve seen this cycle so many, many times.

Disrupt the hoof mechanism - and it is only a matter of time before you DO begin to notice the effects - don't let it be too late!

HM

24/11/2022

COPPER - IS IT SAFE TO FEED OR NOT?

I have been asked to write a post about feeding copper to horses. Working as a minerals analyst, I see more horses with copper deficiencies than excesses.

COPPER IS AN ESSENTIAL TRACE ELEMENT. That means it is necessary for the health of your horse. Copper is needed for enzyme production in the heart, the synthesis and maintenance of tendons and ligaments, mobilises iron stores, melanin production - dark coloured horses required more, normal skeletal growth, cell production for energy stores.

It's easier to understand why is is so essential if I explain deficiency symptoms which include: orange tinge to coat, poor coat, hoof problems, pale skin around eyes, more susceptibility to worms/parasites, hormone issues such as irregular cycling, unexplained lameness, ostochondritis and osteochondrosis in young horses, fertility issues, greasy heel, seedy toe, wind sucking, weak tendons and ligaments. NOTE: CHEWING TREATED PINE POSTS IS A SURE SIGN YOUR HORSE REQUIRES COPPER. Treated pine uses copper as a wood preservative and arsenic so chewing or licking treated pine posts also gives your horse an unhealthy dose of arsenic!

IS COPPER TOXIC? There has been a recent study in Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, Nov 21 which investigated the deaths of horses in Brazil. 15 horses were affected by copper toxicity, death recorded in some. The cause was found to be chicken litter used as a fertiliser and crops sprayed with a copper product. According to KER" most cases of copper toxicity in horses is from environmental exposure" (KER Sept 21).The upper limit of copper for horses is 250mg/kg daily (NRC guidelines) This is a lot of copper! Interestingly, horses are more tolerant of copper excess than sheep or cattle.

HOW MUCH COPPER to add to your horse's feed? This is dependent upon the workload, iron stores, soil type and colour of your horse. Some minerals such as zinc and iron affect copper absorption. For example, many horses in Australia have an excess of iron mostly due to soil type and this can reduce copper levels. If your horse is getting a zinc supplement be aware that zinc and copper need to be in balance. A safe estimate provided your horse is not getting any other copper in a mineral mix and without testing to be sure is to add approx. 1/4 of a measuring teaspoon once per day per feed or approx 1.5 grams. Other sources of copper in hays, pastures, grains etc are minimal as most Australian soils are low in copper and that is why it is ESSENTIAL to add to feeds.

WHAT FORM OF COPPER? It is stated to never inject copper unless under strict veterinary supervisions and advice. Otherwise all copper supplements should be added to feeds. There are a few debates about which forms of copper are best. Copper sulphate (bluestone) which is what all us oldies ever used for decades without any ill effects. Copper carbonate which is a stronger form and not recommended. Copper oxide which is very inexpensive and less absorbable. Chelated copper more expensive and some views that it is hard on the liver and a seaweed derived copper which has varying levels of elemental copper.

COPPER EXCESS In many years of testing horses, I have only tested 3 that has an excess of copper which is not the same as copper toxicity. On investigation these horses were exposed to copper via the spraying of vines and fruit trees with a copper solution called bordeaux. All 3 horses had copper induced anaemia, severe liver stress, off feed, lethargic yet spooky behaviour, unexplained scouring and gastrointestinal distress. I also am of the view that copper in excess is mostly caused by environmental exposures.

Many horses I test ARE DEFICIENT IN COPPER and present with all the symptoms of copper deficiencies. It needs to be added to the diet as it is An ESSENTIAL TRACE ELEMENT at a dose required for your horse. Do not be led astray by relying on adequate copper levels in mineral mixes which are not reliable and rarely provides your horse with the amount of copper it needs. IT IS SAFE TO FEED and vital for your horse's health. BEST TO TEST FOR ACTUAL DOSAGES REQUIREMENTS for your horse on your property.

Kerry Marsh (BEdSc,BAgrSc) Htma.com.au

References: NRC , Equinews Sept. 21, JEVS " Copper Toxicity in Horses: Does it Exist? C. Bargi Belli et al, Vol, 6 Nov 21, MSD Veterinary Manual " Nutritional Requirements of Horses and Other Equids" S. Ralston, Jan 21.

27/07/2022

https://fb.watch/expny26iog/?fs=e&s=cl