Bare Hoof Care - The Natural Choice

Wild Hoof Photos

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 06:16:23 GMT

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

Mule Booting

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 04:15:29 GMT

Do mules and donkeys need boots?

Yes sometimes. Although mules and donkeys have thicker soles and walls...and basically have a stronger hoof, as you head into the high country or if you are transitioning a difficult case you may find that they need boots. I have found that the Epic is working for myself and a few of my clients that are using them in the high country. Also another friend has found that the "Bare" is working well for her mule. Sometimes it is a little more difficult to fit the longears because their hooves are narrow vs. the rounder hoof of the horse. It may take some patience on your part and some creative ideas, but if you are determined you can succeed.

I've posted a few pictures of ideas to accomodate the longer hoof of the mule. Remember that you need to measure them from the tip of the toe to the back of their frog for their length. For a boot that "just about fits" in the length but not quite, you can add a little bit of length to a boot by removing the strap and installing the EZ Boot "Taper" which allows them to go strapless. The boots that Rosa is wearing in the pictures here are strapless and worked great on our "Ladie's Wilderness Pack Trip" into the Trenity Wilderness where the trails were covered with rock.

Click on any of the green # below for larger views of the photos.

1st. Photo: Hoof length measurement.

2nd. Photo: Hoof width measurement.

3rd. Photo: Boot length measurement without the strap.

4th Photo: Shows the fit of strapless with the "taper." Strapless will work if the fit is a good one. Don't even try this without the gaiter it wont work.

5th Photo: Inside view of the strapless Epic w/taper installed.

6th. Photo: Rosa the all terrain vehicle.

7th Photo: You may notice that the Gaiter is too tight sometimes on a mule. You will see rubbing on the gaiter as pictured. One way to accomodate that wonderfully FULL digital cushion area on the mule is to buy one size larger gaiter than the boot. You will have to use a hole punch on the gaiter to make it fit the smaller boot screw holes, but with a little bit of fiddling around you can make it work.

8th Photo: Rosa w/Epic's on the Wilderness pack trip.

9th Photo: Handsome Henry with his Epics ready to rumble!

10th Photo: See the comparison of the small original gaiter (boot on the left side) vs. the larger gaiter with more room in that area on the right.

11th Photo: A boot with the strap that is making the boot too short. This is when you need to go strapless using the "taper".

Mule Fools Mother Nature???

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:12:01 GMT

A great article from the Denver Post.

Up until now you might have thought that it was physically imposible for a mule to have a foal. Read on and you will see that sometimes we don't know all.

Mule's foal fools genetics

It's an event so rare that the Romans had a saying, "when a mule foals" - the equivalent of "when hell freezes over."

By Nancy Lofholm, Denver Post Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 07/26/2007 06:33:16 AM MDT

Colbran rancher Larry Amos watches as the mule foal nuzzles its mother, Kate, a 7-year-old "molly" that gave birth three months ago to the still-unnamed "miracle" offspring. Genetic tests confirmed that the foal is Kate's. (Ed Kosmicki | Special to The Post)

Colbran - When it reportedly happened in Morocco five years ago, locals feared it signaled the end of the world. In Albania in 1994, it was thought to have unleashed the spawn of the devil on a small village.

But on a Grand Mesa ranch, the once-in-a-million, genetically "impossible" occurrence of a mule giving birth has only drawn keen interest from the scientific world. That, and a stream of the locally curious driving up from the small town of Colbran to check out and snap pictures of a frisky, huge-eared, gangly-legged foal.

"No one has run away in fear yet," laughed Laura Amos, the owner of the foal, along with her husband, Larry.

The foal is being called a miracle because mules aren't supposed to

Jesus the mule is the mayor of Buckskin Joe Frontier Town. Special to The Denver Post/Sean Cayton ( | SEAN CAYTON)

give birth. Mules are a hybrid of two species - a female horse and a male donkey - so they end up with an odd number of chromosomes. A horse has 64 chromosomes and a donkey has 62. A mule inherits 63. An even number of chromosomes is needed to divide into pairs and reproduce.

But those numbers added up to implausibility in late April when the Amoses awoke to a braying and whinnying ruckus in the corral behind their house.

Running to the rescue

They spotted a foal peeking out from between the front legs of one of their favorite black mules, Kate. They tore outside to save the baby from the male mules - the johns - that were trying to stomp the little critter and the other female mules - the mollies - that were trying to steal it.

And then the Amoses began to ponder how the foal had fooled mule sterility, a phenomenon first noted by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

The Amoses, who have about 100 horses and mules at their Winterhawk Outfitters business, knew that what they were seeing is considered scientifically impossible - as much so today as in ancient Greece. They began doing research and found that in the past two centuries about 50 cases of mules giving birth

Swifty the donkey takes a break from eating grass on Morris Powell's family farm in Rising Fawn, Ga., Friday, July 16, 2004. As one of the most active Democrats in the rural part of Georgia, Morris Powell was assured a spot months ago as a delegate at the party's convention in Boston. It took some negotiating, but now Swifty is a delegate too. Swifty overcame security and space concerns to become ``the official Donkey Delegate'' of the convention. (AP | RIC FELD)

have been recorded. Only two of those were proved with genetic testing.

It's an event so rare that the Romans had a saying, "cum mula peperit," meaning "when a mule foals" - the equivalent of "when hell freezes over."

Genetic testing at the University of Kentucky and the University of California at Davis confirmed that Kate is indeed a mule and that the still unnamed foal really is her offspring. That ruled out factors that have explained away some of the past births mistakenly attributed to mules. Those mules had stolen foals or they were not really mules themselves. They were donkeys or mulish-looking horses.

Now, the Amoses are waiting for chromosome testing from the University of California to determine

ARVADA, COLORADO--05_19_06-- Charlie Metro spent 55 yards in baseball, including a time as manager of the Denver Bears. Now at 88 he leads a quite life with his wife Helen at their 15 acre farm in Arvada where they have lived for 43 years. He is pictured with some horses that he boards on his property. PHOTO BY HELEN H. RICHARDSON ( | HELEN H. RICHARDSON)

exactly what is the fast-growing foal cavorting clumsily around their corral. He could be a smidgen of horse and a lot of donkey or mostly horse with just a bit of donkey genes.

"He's got a donkey look now, but they all do at that age," Larry Amos said.

Surprise findings

Dr. Oliver Ryder, associate director of the Conservation and Research of Endangered Species division at the San Diego Zoo, said the answer to how Kate could give birth could be surprising. There were very unexpected - and still unexplained - findings when a molly mule gave birth to two foals in Nebraska in the mid-1980s. The event prompted notice from the local pulpit and a flurry of scientific investigation, including the first genetic testing of a mule's offspring.

Ryder said that tests in the Nebraska case showed there was no evidence the mother passed along any genetic markers from her father - a donkey that was also the father of the foals. The phenomenon is called "hemiclonal transmission," which in simple terms means that the mare's genes canceled out the male's genes as if they didn't even exist.

That phenomenon has been observed in amphibians but not in mammals.

"No recombinations took place. There was no reassortment. We looked at markers on every chromosome," Ryder said. "This was an extremely unexpected finding."

Another famous but scientifically undocumented case occurred at Texas A&M in the 1920s. A mule gave birth to a mule when the sire was a donkey and then to a horse when the sire was a stallion.

Ryder said he is "fascinated by this phenomenon" and is looking forward to learning more from the Amoses' foal.

So is the mule publication "Mules and More," which is running a contest to name the foal and has promised readers regular updates.

The Amoses are still scratching their heads. They didn't know Kate was pregnant when they bought her and nine other mules from a breeder in Pleasant Plains, Ark., late last summer. She worked as a pack animal through the winter, and no one noticed when the animals were brought in this spring that she was pregnant. They were all fattened from a winter of good feed.

The Amoses are talking about breeding Kate again. They want to see if the "miracle" will occur twice. They say they have no fear that it will bring on the end of the world.

Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.

Thrush

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:22:50 GMT

DEEP SULCUS TRUSH

Does your horse have it?

It's very possible that your horse has this condition that will prevent the optimum bare hoof you are seeking.

Have you been beating your head on the wall to get those heels down or trying to get a REALLY healthy frog and can't seem to get anywhere? Read on. You might find the answers that you've been seeking.

It blows my mind that horses have been misdiagnosed with Navicular Syndrome and what they really have is a case of Deep Sulcus Thrush. These horses can not land comfortably on their heels and will move to a toe first landing. It is a toe first landing that can possibly lead to Impar Ligament Strain or Navicular Syndrome. By removing the bacteria and fungus infection in the sulcus area, the horse can land comfortably on their heels and many times the "syndrome" dissapears.

www.usethehooves.com/thrush.html

www.healthyhoof.com/articles/Thrush/Thrush.html

Where you can buy Clean Trax and more thrush info.

www.equinepodiatry.net/Hoof%20Care%20Products.htm

Where you can buy White Lightning (liquid for soaking) which is cheaper and I hear works just as well.

http://www.grandcircuitinc.com/products.asp?cat=57

Also buy White Lightning at Overland Farrier Supply in Redmond, Oregon

(phone orders only) 541-548-5277 or 800-838-5277

Below are pictures of how this hoof changed in 1 month! Soaking in White Lightning about twice a week.

Check it out now!! That hoof has really come around.

Cracks to the Corinary Band, Contracted Heels, Deep Sulcus Thrush...You name it, Big had it.

Photo Album: Donkey & Mule Hooves Updated Presentation

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:48:05 GMT

Donkey & Mule Hooves Updated Presentation

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More Photos...

Photo Album: Barefoot Rides

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:00:51 GMT

Barefoot Rides

The View Up Here

K2&CiscoPuckLake

Karen & Linda G

Karen & Cisco. Chiloquin, OR

Chuck,Nadine, & Me

Aaron & Cisco on Cold Springs Trail

Abby Packing on Middle Fork

On Cat Hill

Packing out @ Trappers Cabin

Hold Up On The Trail

More Photos...

Photo Album: Natural Hooves At Work

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:57:30 GMT

Natural Hooves At Work

Barefoot Hoofcare The Natural Choice

Olivo Clinic

Safety Equipment

Natural Hooves

Dakara

Seven Mile Trail

Cold Weather Riding

Aaron & Cisco 7 Mile Trail

Backyard Hoof Spa

Wasn't that the Navicular Horse?

More Photos...

Photo Album: Dread & Terror Segment of the North Umpqua Trail

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:59:31 GMT

Dread & Terror Segment of the North Umpqua Trail

North Umpqua

It's called the "what" trail????

Dakara Checking it out

Carrie & Bruice @ Madue Lake

White Mule Trail N. Umpqua

Bruce

Blue Umpqua

Umpqua River

Will that hold a horse?

That's a steep bank!

More Photos...

Photo Album: Barehooves Perform

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 04:33:01 GMT

Barehooves Perform

Business Card

Barefoot gravel cruncher

25 miles...no chips, no cracks, no errors

Warmblood - Oldenburg Rock Cruncher

Rocks Rocks and more Rocks

Barefoot on the Rocks

Self Trimming Hooves

Naturally low heel of self trimmed hoof

Barehooves Can Too

Happy Barefoot Trails

Photo Album: Barefoot Ride to Stewart Falls

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:07:48 GMT

Barefoot Ride to Stewart Falls

Business Card

Dakara's View

Abby & Rosa Leading

Dakara...Look at that big bunch of grass!

Mountain greenery

Abby Takes The Lead

Aaron @ Stewart Falls

Stewart Falls

Moss & Falls

Rosa & Aaron

More Photos...

Photo Album: Olivo Donkey Cadavar Hoof Dissection

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 05:03:26 GMT

Olivo Donkey Cadavar Hoof Dissection

Before Trim

Heel before Trim

Trimming Wall

Backing the Toe

Trim Finished

Sole Plate Lifted

Donkey Sole Plate1

Full Leg View

Donkey Hairline Position

30 Degree Hairline

Custom List: Natural Hoof Care Web Info

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:02:30 GMT

Natural Hoof Care Web Info

Barefoot Horse
Barefoot Hoof Care
Natural Horse Trim
Treating Founder Without Horse Shoes
The Naked Hoof
Barefoot Hoof Care
The Horse's Hoof
Natural Hoof Care
Natural Hoof Care Websites List
Another Mule Advocate
As the barefoot movement progresses you will see more owners becoming educated and active in their equine's hoof care.
Barefoot Articles
Martha Olivo answers questions and other good articles
Barefoot Trimmers List
Barefoot trim professionals
Wild Mustang cadavar hoof
Check this out!!!
Wild Horse Study
Pete Ramey goes into Wild Mustang territory to study their hooves
Laminitis Research
Professor Chris Pollitt: Studies on Laminitis
Whole Horse Trim
Barefoot Trim and Testimonial
Easy Care Hoof Boots
Hoof Boot Information & Sizing
Cavallo Hoof Boots
Soft Ride Comfort Boots
Comfort Boots for Rehab
Silver Lining Herbs
Herbs for Equines
Transitioning to Barefoot
Article on how to return to barefoot
Donkey Training
Good information to read when working with Donkeys.
Ask the Vet
Dr. Tomas Teskey answers questions on Barefoot Hoof Care
HoofWings and HorseSneakers
Hoof Wing Boots and also Custom Horsesneakers for the hard to fit hoot.
Healthy Hoof - Linda Cowles
Good Website for barefoot info and treating THRUSH.
KC LaPierre's Equine Podiatry
Barefoot Race Horses
Cheryl Henderson and Oregon School of Natural Hoof Care
Excellent/Affordable Barefoot Hoof School
Overland Farrier Supply - Phone Only - 541-548-5277 or 800-838-5277
Barefoot Friendly, great place to buy your hoof care supplies.
Natural Donkeys
See More Donkeys Trimmed The Natural Way!
Project Spirit - Helping Needy Horses Regain Their Smile
A local rehab barn for equines in need.

Custom List: My Natural Trim Training

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 04:42:16 GMT

My Natural Trim Training

Martha Olivo Hoof Groom Course
Certified-Martha Olivo 2004, Hoof Groom Refresher 2005, 2006 Conference
Hoof Groom List
Find me on the "Oregon" Hoof Groom list
Pete Ramey
Completed Trim Clinic 2005 & 2006
Gene Ovnicek
Completed 3 day Natural Balance "Trimming" clinic 2005
Easy Care 2007 - Ramey / Bowker Tucson Clinic
Week long clinic of Pete Ramey, Dr. Bowker, and Easy Care boot fitting.

Book List: Hoof Care Book List

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:31:57 GMT

Hoof Care Book List

Dr. Hiltrud Strasser: A Lifetime Of Soundess
over twenty years of study and research of the causes and curesof lameness and other common health problems of domestic horses.
Jaime Jackson: Founder: Prevention & Cure the Natural Way
Natural Hoof Care
Jaime Jackson: Horse Owners Guide to Natural Hoof Care
Natural Hoof Care
Pete Ramey: Making Natural Hoof Care Work For You
Natural Hoof Care
KC LaPierre: The Chosen Road
Excellent book on Natural Hoof Care
James R. Rooney DVM: The Lame Horse
Structure & Function
Lisa Simons Landcaster: The Sound Hoof
Natural Hoof Care