I am including a case studies section to help the general public as well as all my trimming students that either come to me for the Horse Owners trim training sessions, or the Professional training program. I hope these cases will be of help to anyone dealing with hoof capsule deformities, they are based on fine tuning the hoof balance to achieve optimal hoof mechanism.

* Please note, this is not intended to replace proper hands on and theoretical training! If you are an amateur, get some hands on help, proper trimming takes a lot of practice and training.

Chronic Laminitis - Metabolic Issues

Logan 11 Year Old Canadian/Appaloosa Gelding

This case will be an ongoing case and updates will be uploaded onto the site as we go along, so please check back often to read updates on him.

Logan has just arrived at our farm to be placed in a natural lifestyle setting. He was given to us by a friend and previous client who is maintaining her own hooves. Logan has suffered ongoing metabolic issues for a good part of his life to date. He is an easy keeper who in the past at his old home was also at the top of the totem pole, so whatever Logan wanted, Logan got! Logan is also apparently an escape artist and LOVES to figure out ways of getting out of his paddock onto nice lush pastures and into feed rooms to pig out on food he shouldn't have! Well no more, Logan! Logan is a horse with such a kind soul, he is extremely smart but very gentle. Our 12 year old daughter and her friend just double rode him bareback in a halter and lead rope!

Logan is in MUCH better shape this year than he was when I first met him. Logan had foundered on all four hooves and had very slippered feet when I first started to work on him. His owner, Wendy had tried to implement as many of the lifestyle changes I suggested as she could manage, but it appeared to be not enough of a change for him. Logan has lost a lot of weight but he still has a very large cresty neck and fat pads on his rump. Although Wendy was maintaining Logan's hooves quite nicely for a non-professional, the desired results were never achieved because his diet still wasn't quite right. He was still allowed to get onto pasture at times and was fed oats in very small quantities - but that is what kept his feet in a laminitic state with high heels, bruised walls and thrushy weak frogs from the high heels and toe walking.

The reason I feel that Logan has very serious metabolic issues is that he lost his mane and tail hair from the age 7 on. Wendy had stated that Logan would seem to grow some of it back in the winter and then in the summer it would fall out again. Also she noted that Logan tended to change colours from year to year. At present his coat is a beautiful sort of muddled champagne colour with dun patterned legs. I am very excited to see if our program will change things in the hair department for him! Logan will be placed on the same dietary program as our other horses here. It will consist of free choice grass hay, free choice chelated trace minerals and a small amount of flaxseed and black oil sunflower seeds for essential Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.

This first set of photos was taken a few days ago - May 2008



Cresty Neck and Padded Rump with hardly any mane and tail hair

Here are some shots of his hooves prior to my first trim, I will post full photos of his hooves after his first trim shortly. Note how high the heels are, the laminitic rings in the hoof walls and the bruising on the walls on all four hooves. It is so much easier to see bruising on white hooves! Click on photos for larger view.

July 2008

Finally we have some pics of the trimming done on Logan's front feet in July. Logan's feet seemed to have grown immensely in 6 weeks, so despite my busy schedule he will be placed on a 4 week trim cycle from here on in.

Let's look at Logan's left front versus his right front, as you can see in these photos the right front has not yet been trimmed and his left front has been fully trimmed. Click on photo for larger view.

Here is Logan's right front hoof during the trim, we are working on finding the live sole plane and have almost reached it. You can see that there is still chalky, crumbly material all over the sole. I elected at this trim to leave him a little less than 1/8th of an inch of dead sole in the toe area, however, we did remove most of his lamellar wedge and brought his heels back to about 1/8th of an inch above the live sole plane. You can see some old bruising in the heel and sole areas which actually pared away as we reached the livve sole.

Here is Logan's right front hoof before and after the trim. Here we were able to actually get right down to live sole but again I left just a tad extra on the toe area. I don't really think I need to leave the extra on since these horses are on soft sandy footing but Logan walked off beautifully after just having the front hooves trimmed. He was landing heel first inspite of how much heel we took down.

Here are both Logan's front hooves after the trim which I would consider his "set up" trim for balance and bringing the heels and toes down to achieve as correct locomotion and hoof mechanism as possible after just one trim.

Here is a body shot of Logan, I have not touched up the photo and he is a very different colour from what he was when he arrived here back in May. Logan's owner has told me that Logan tends to change colours from year to year. But I wonder if sun and the fact that he now gets free choice minerals as well as essential fatty acids in his diet could also contribute not only to his change in coat texture but the colour as well. We'll see what his colour is like this winter. Note that Logan has lost a bit more weight in the belly area and we are still tweaking his diet to suit him best. He still has a cresty neck but the fat deposits over his rump and his eyes have been reduced.

Please check back regularly for updates on Logan, as we will be closely documenting all of his progress!