A while ago, my attention was once again drawn to a typically poor article on theHorse.com. Not unusually, this is an article about feet and, also not unusual, it is written by a vet and contains citations by other vets. Many people will obviously start to say that 'the vet will know...' so why...
Category: Feet
Feet matters
Got Healthy Hoofs?
Recently, The Horse published an article entitled Got Healthy Hooves? Here’s How to Keep Them That Way. As is often the case with articles in The Horse a fair degree of nonsense is peddled and this one was no exception. Being completely hoof oriented, it warrants analysis and counter-argument. In order to present a...
Deshoeing and is it necessary to boot?
Yesterday, I spoke to the owner of a twelve year-old horse, shod for at least the past six years. She asked me particularly about the transition to barefoot (the conviction is there but the uncertainties about how and when remain…). I won’t go into all the implications of transition here – suffice to say...
Cushing Candidate?
As my followers (and detractors) will undoubtedly confirm, I am often dismissive of traces of blood in the white line. Such traces are often the result of a trauma at some indeterminate time in the past and now, often between three and eight months later, neither owner, nor horse, nor hoof have any recollection...
Curing the Incurable – the reality of Navicular Syndrome
About this article. Navicular syndrome or navicular disease is a condition that has affected horses throughout the ages. For this reason, numerous studies have been carried out on the subject and it would appear that the conclusions are more or less cut and dried; the experts seem to be of more or less unanimous...
Safety Shoes and the Toilet
I regularly get asked what is so bad about horseshoes. And why horses are shod, if horseshoes are really so bad. To answer the first question, the easiest comparison we can make is that of safety shoes. Imagine that, day in, day out, twenty-four hours a day, you were to wear a pair of...
The Sting
The Setup Society has always known those that can and those that cannot. And among those that cannot, are also those that think they can! Because of this, “trades” were developed with training and official recognition as a way of guaranteeing a level of competence and to protect practitioners from unscrupulous amateurs. Many trades...
Autumn is in the Air
and with it, laminitis… No, you are not hallucinating! The title is indeed very familiar and refers back to the last available published article, Spring is in the Air. Many people associate laminitis with the spring and it is probably true to say that the majority of (acute) cases and probably the most severe occur...
Spring is in the Air
and with it, laminitis… Although we have come down to earth with a bump and, after the extraordinary February of this year, March has turned out to be a (fairly) normal March, spring is in the air. The trees are beginning to show signs of green, the daffodils are flowering and, here at least,...
The “Footy” Horse
Much is discussed on the interweb – and as far as horses go, probably the most discussed is barefoot. Not surprising since so many people are realising that the “art” of shoeing has little to do with either welfare or the requirements of the modern equestrian age. All manner of advice gets bandied around...