Hi! I am Anya Lavender of Animal Companions. This site is dedicated to one large part of my services – That of an experienced Hoofcare Practitioner. You can also visit my training & care site for information on other animal care and training issues.
This site is evolving and the working links are in blue or purple. If you can't get what you want, stay tuned in the future! Alternately, you can always ask me.I'd appreciate being notified of any broken links and if you beleive there's a site you think I should list, please let me know. Contact me.
- Who
am I ? My experiences & journey in Natural Hoofcare. Why I have chosen this path.
- High Performance Barefoot Horse? What this means & How to achieve it. By Anya Lavender
- Afew photos of feet - good & bad
- Harmful Effects Of Shoes Learn what effects even a well shod horse suffers. Link
- Advice To Horse Owners Under "Resources" on the linked page
- Donkeys The similarities and differences between donkey & horse hooves
- Do Not Believe... Appropriate life advice from Buddha
- High Performance Barefoot Horse? What this means & How to achieve it. By Anya Lavender
Principles of Hoofcare
In this day and age, in Westernised countries, the horse is used almost solely as recreation and sport. They are seen these days less as a utility and more as a pet. Therefore their health and happiness is important to us, not just from an economic point of view.
Horses are usually kept in steel horseshoes and hoofcare is something that the vast majority of owners are quite ignorant of. They employ a farrier to carry out trims and shoeing and often blame these professionals when their horse's feet become damaged or too weak to keep shoes on, etc.
- Hooves May Be Causing Your Training Problems
by Anya Lavender.
- Bad Conformation? Are you sure it's not a hoof imbalance? by Anya Lavender
- Minimising the Damage of Horseshoes by Anya Lavender
- Prevention and Healing of Hoof Problems and Lameness From weak, chipping feet to 'navicular disease', founder and sidebone. Learn how you can prevent and rehabilitate problems. By Anya Lavender.
- Bad Conformation? Are you sure it's not a hoof imbalance? by Anya Lavender
Horses are also often kept singularly, in small paddocks,
yards or stables, often on soft ground or bedding, and only 'worked'
for an hour or so each day, if that.
Horse owners are generally in ignorance of what damage is being done through these management practices. Even those owners who understand that metal shoes damage horse's feet generally look upon them as a necessary evil. I am here to tell you there are now definite alternatives.
Natural Hoofcare is a holistic management philosophy. It involves the whole horse and it's environment, not just the hooves. The horse needs to be kept as naturally as possible, preferrably running with a herd on large acreage, having access to water to get it's feet wet daily and exercising as much as is possible.
- Lifestyle
as it Relates to Health
by Anya Lavender
- Old Macs boots A real alternative for hoof protection
Even many farriers and vets don't have adequate knowledge of the complete workings of the equine hoof and how a metal shoe effects it, as much of the scientific information has only recently been available thanks to modern testing equipment!
Look at some recent studies;
- Dr Chris
Pollitt BVsc. Ph.D. Hoof
function and blood circulation studies at University of Queensland.
- Physiological trimming & Hoof Function by Dr Robert Bowker.
- The Wild Horse's Foot by Ric Redden
- Natural Balance trimming & Wild Horse Research by Ovnicek
- Physiological trimming & Hoof Function by Dr Robert Bowker.
So it stands to reason that if we want to ensure our horses have the best care, it is up to US to learn what that is, and to maintain it ourselves, or find a professional to maintain that quality of care.
What I write below are PRINCIPLES. They are general guidelines rather than 'rules' and as such should not be followed without understanding, or adhered to without consideration of what exceptions there may be.
We can see hooves in optimum condition, able to stand up to extreme conditions if we look to the wild ones for our model. Brumbies and Mustang aren't genaeologically different in the hoof department, only their lifestyle and environments differ to the domestic horse.
What are the principles of natural trimming?
- The hooves need to be trimmed in a physiologically
correct way, so that they can work most effectively - that
is, trimmed for optimum 'hoof mechanism' including the ground
surface of the coffin(pedal) bone being approximately ground
parallel. Please take a look at some of my
diagrams and photos to help you understand.
- Foot trimming is done far more regularly than is the norm. Sometimes this means weekly, but usually somewhere between 2-6 week intervals is sufficient. It is always preferrable where possible, to ride more - giving your horse a truely natural trim - and trim less.
- Walls are short, level with the outside rim of the sole.
- Length from coronet to ground surface should usually be no more than 3.5" at the toe(of a large horse) and the hairline at the heel should be close to the ground.
- The heel buttresses should be level and short enough for the bulbs of the heels - back of the frog - to have ground contact when the foot is weightbearing (passive ground contact).
- The angle of growth or grain of the hoof, should be 90 degrees to the ground at the toe. The walls should be straight, not dished, twisted or bulging, which indicates unhealthy pressure and leverage forces.
- The front feet are rounded, with a toe wall angle usually between 48-60 degrees, while the back feet are pointier and always slightly steeper in angle, usually between 50-62 degrees.
- The toes need to be 'rolled' and may need to be beveled to allow a more natural breakover point.
- The soles are concave - more so on the back feet - and any dead flakey sole is removed at each trim. HOWEVER, the sole should not be pared much during transition and live sole never trimmed.
- The bars are near level with the sole plane. They will taper down from the heel with the sole and only the very rear will have ground contact. They should not be gouged out or shortened any more than this.
- The quarters are 'scooped' - trimmed lower than the heel and toe, as much or as little as is indicated by the sole.
- The outside wall at the ground surface is rounded in a 'brumby roll' to remove edges and reduce the chance of chipping, splitting and leverage forces.
- It is a really good idea to take pictures and make notes of measurements before and after the first trim, then periodically after, so that you can gauge what is happening to the foot, and also to have a good reference to show any professional that you need help from.
Best Angles for Pictures,
