Hooves and their Care and Function

Some Natural Hooves and Horses

Natural Front Hoof of 17 hh OTTB	Natural Hoof with passive frog ground contact
Rear hoof of a Belgian Mare. Just trimmed.	Hind Hoof of a 17.2 hh Missouri Fox Trotter
Healthy hoof ready for minimal trim.	Healthy, Barefoot Aged Arab being ridden daily. 5 year old Paint ridden barefoot in all seasons.
This photo is of my Appendix QH who was 16 at the time of this shot. My 11 yo. daughter is riding him, jumping him for the first time ever (he was a WP horse and Barrel Racer in his former life) ... We jumped regularly and rode 5 - 6 times weekly on roads, trails and in Florida sand. ... barefoot and happy! He is now, as of this writing, 28 years old, still barefoot, still sound and still happy! Here he is just a summer ago (2003) at 27 years old -- still barefoot, still being ridden and still a very happy camper! Here he's standing with his fronts on a stump as cued.	This little 28 yo Saddlebred mare foundered severely 2 years ago. She was rehabbed through barefoottrimming and is now 100% sound and being ridden on trails, down roads, gravel, sand, etc. with no issues at all. Here is the same little Saddlebred mare being trimmed at a Barefoot Clinic at Penzance.
This hoof is the front hoof of a horse going on an 8 week "conventional" trim.	This is the same hoof after an initial natural trim. Notice the divot in the toe of the hoof. This corresponds with a crack in the outside wall that has been in the hoof for 10 YEARS!!! Hopefully, within the next trim or two this crack will have all but disappeared.
This is the right front hoof of the same horse as directly above. Notice the extreme length of the toe. Its no wonder that the hooves had cracks in them!	Same hoof as pictured to the left -- after initial trim. Looks much better and I'm sure it FEELS much better to the horse!
CLICK ON THE LINK TO SEE A SHORT VIDEO OF SOME NATURALLY TRIMMED HORSES JUST AFTER THEIR TRIM: http://www.barefoottrim.com/trimming/HPIM0106.AVI Solar view of opposite front from the one shown to the right. Just trimmed Lateral view of same hoof just trimemd.	Wonderful, STRONG white front hoof of 13 year old Arabian Gelding. Just trimmed. This little Arabian Guy has phenomenal hooves. They are as strong and healthy as any other horse with dark hooves. Whatever you've heard about white hooves being weak ... get rid of those thoughts!