In my experience abscesses are caused from acute pressure on or off of any internal structure or chronic pressure on any internal structure. The foot is designed to only bear weight in the 3-4 ground contact points. Abscesses occur when the hoof capsule distorts from the inner structures. Abscesses also occur when growing out the distortion and the new foot is getting accustomed to the pressure being in the correct places again. You just need to know the difference to know whether it’s going in a good direction or a bad one.

In my opinion, the problem is that horses need low heels and a deep digital cushion. They’re born with that but most lose it by the time they reach mature weight because they don’t get enough self wear or frequent proper trimming to make up for it. Once they lose that ratio, the high heel with a shallow digital cushion might be more comfortable than trying to bring the heels back down but it causes internal atrophy and damage. The trick is in gradually lowering the heels as the digital cushion and live sole build depth. There are signs that tell you when the heels are ready for a correction

Once you help a horse achieve growth/wear equilibrium by keeping the dead horn on the solar aspect of their hooves exfoliated ( simulating natural wear ) the distortion will grow out and the live hoof capsule will grow in evenly around the coffin bone without deviation. This can take years of frequent proper trimming so there are levels of rehab, as there are levels of development, and levels of damage that can make progress challenging. This is the opposite of trimming or shoeing to retain dead sole for immediate functional soundness ( keeping horses usable in-spite of their structural flaws ).

In my experience, most horses with hind end issues have multiple sources of pain and emotional trauma, mostly associated with human decision making. In order to fully heal the issues, each one has to be recognized, acknowledged, and addressed, by a human. There will usually be different levels of trust and/or pain associated with each issue and many issues will be linked to other parts of the body/trauma.

When the majority of the weight bearing is behind the bars, on heels that are properly contoured around the insensitive live sole at the seat of corn, it doesn’t matter so much whether they’re long, short, or flush with the rest of the insensitive live sole. A properly developed hoof will have at least 10 mm of true sole concavity. As long as the inner wall is the primary support (especially at the ground contact points), the bars are not a load bearing structure. It’s when they become load bearing that it becomes a problem.

Consistent post trim soreness means there is something in the trim that can be improved upon. This is not always able to be seen in 2D photos, and relies heavily on developing a feel with floating the pattern and getting feedback from the horse both during and after the trim. We do our best to help give feedback and provide all the resources we can, but we’re not holding the tools or standing next to the horse. Everyone has their own learning curve.

For all hooves, my main focus is on the frog/heels/seat of corn shapes and relationships, but I never consider a correction to the heels without considering a correction to the toe and vice versa. Hooves with negative angles often have a retained dead toe callous that is too thick, so they need to have that trimmed accurately to the level of the insensitive live sole, and the break over needs to be established at the edge of the insensitive live sole. At the back of the foot there is usually a thin layer of dead frog covering a thin atrophied live frog. The heels and bars are usually crushed under and ingrown into the frog and sole. This can make trimming very difficult.

High / Low syndrome is widely misunderstood so it ends up being widely mismanaged. Almost every horse has it, even if it’s only a 1/2 degree difference. The origin of the issue is that the coffin bone angles are different because perfect symmetry isn’t common in nature. It can get worse over time if the bone is allowed to morph and erode from chronic toe loading. In my experience, the only sustainable remedy is to max out the soft tisssue and live sole depth.

After 18 years of fully rehabbing hundreds of horses with founder/laminitis my opinion is that it’s mostly caused by mechanical distortion. This makes it highly curable as well as preventable. If you know what to do.

Soft tissue is very regenerative and thrives on consistent proper form and function, which means that the horse’s feet have to be worn and/or trimmed in a way that works for them,instead of against them, in order to continually build/heal their feet and the rest of their body. It comes down to the sustainable cure of rolling and building a living, moving, working system vs the short term “fix” of treating the hoof like a stationary object with flattening, buttressing, and propping.

Horses are born with feet that have a greater ratio of sensitive soft tissue (that’s mostly in the back of the foot) to hard horn (that’s mostly in the front of the foot). Most horses that are born and live their lives in the wild, maintain this ratio throughout their lives from daily miles of wear. It may not be an easy life, but moving is easy and for the most part, pain free.

It may be counter intuitive to lower an already low appearing heel, but true heel height isn’t in the heel horn. It’s in the soft tissue depth and the soft tissue development relies on properly shaped aligned , and loaded solar structures. It’s in the curves, not the angles.

My daughter and I developed our awareness of this way of trimming together. My brain doesn’t usually come to my rescue in many instances, but it does recognize and file patterns. My daughter notices fine details and intuitively connects hoof shape with comfort. Things like…shapes/colors/actions/times of the day/weather/environmental changes, etc. are what catch my attention and get stored away. When horses give me feedback it all goes into the data bank. Teaming up with my daughter over the years (when she was available) helped me become more empathic.

Horse: “What’s wrong with my feet?”

Me: “The last three guys didn’t know what they were doing and screwed them up.”

Horse: “Can you fix them?”

The term “retracted sole” has never really made sense to me, but I got in the habit of using it, for lack of a better one, and because it was commonly used. I think it’s very important to be specific with words, especially words that describe conditions that call for intervention. Words are meant for communication and communication can very easily end up becoming like the telephone game where the information gets distorted as it passes from one person’s perception to the next. I haven’t been able to come up with a term that describes what I think is actually occurring here, but I can try to describe it.

How does improper weight distribution cause WLD, wall cracks, abscesses, and possibly even keratomas?

Horses won’t commit their weight to the back of the foot if it’s not shaped correctly. I trim off the hard dead retained frog tissue and smooth it down to the outermost insensitive ( but supple ) layer to give the back of the foot optimal comfort for load bearing.

The issue that I have with steel shoes is that every single horse that I've ever pulled shoes off of was better off afterward, if given the time they needed to heal from the damage caused by the shoes.

I've been criticized for years for doing too much "pretty work" when trimming. Some feel that it's not necessary to make it look nice, that good function is all that's important. In my mind I can't separate good form from good function.