I'm very fortunate to live in the part of the country that still has Wild horse herds. Yes, they're probably some of the early settler’s animals that were turned loose to fend for themselves, but they're wild all the same.

I remember one day when I was working for the Forest Service I came upon one of the herds while out working. So I decided that I was going to "sneak" up on these guys and get a good look. So, with my camera in hand I went about making sure they were up wind from me and crept through the brush hoping to get close enough for a good telephoto shot. I was able to get a few treasured photos, but about the time I had that stallion magnified to HUGE in my camera lens, he let out a snort and stomped his hoof. Well you can guess I about fainted and took off running. Back then I didn't know anything about hooves and the thought would never have crossed my mind to take a picture of them. Too bad, hooves are my life now. I'd love to get a shot of them while they're still attached and running.

Because the natural trim looks SO much like our wild horses hooves I thought I'd share with you some of the pictures I shot the other day of some wild horse cadaver hooves from my area. Check out those beautiful mustang rolls, those full boisterous frogs, short toes...less than 3" on the largest hoof, and that perfectly mapped by God sole. Talk about the 1/3 2/3 rule! And YES, these were all from the same herd, living in the same terrain. Snow bound in 3-4' of snow, but still showing that beautiful mustang roll all the way around that hoof.

Interesting though, look a little closer and see that a few of them are not perfection. Some have a higher heel, some look like they have a sheared heel; one has an imbalance and looks really high on one side and some have flares. Makes you wonder.

Remember if you click on the photo it will enlarge so you can see it up close and in person.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I have,

Karen