Equiliberta

11/10/2026

Some Lines Should Never Be Crossed

In recent months there have been fiery online skirmishes over toe length, toe wall pillars, the heel buttress, and laminitis. At least one side of the battle lines have directly or indirectly implicated the wild horse model.

Toe Length and the toe wall support pillar

The wild horse model holds that no hoof should exceed its natural toe length. We now have mathematical equations and markers to safely trim any hoof to its natural length. But one side argues that long toes are sometimes necessary to endow the hoof with a toe wall pillar. While toe wall pillars are indeed a characteristic of the naturally shaped hoof, they are associated ONLY with the hoof’s natural toe length (N°TL), not just any length. This specifically puts the pillar on the medial toe wall in close proximity of the pedal bone (P3). Its precise position represents a confluence of each horse’s unique anatomy, temperament (alpha and beta personalities), ex*****on of their natural gaits, and weight bearing and ground reaction forces. Facilitating long toes OBSTRUCTS natural growth patterns and is arguably INHUMANE as well as being completely unnecessary. The good news is that the U.S. Great Basin wild horse model provides a ready pathway out of the man-made long toe syndrome.

The composite heel buttress

The wild horse model holds that no heel buttress should be shortened to less than its natural length. But one side argues that maximum lowering of the heel buttress is necessary to establish the natural alignment of the pedal bone (P3) within the hoof capsule. While it is true that nature aligns the base of the pedal bone parallel (zero degrees) with level ground (a support plane), it does this when the hoof is naturally shaped and not compromised by chronic laminitis or invasive trimming. Over trimming the heels can pe*****te the hoof’s hard sole plane (HSP) and destroy the lamellae of the bars and heels. But there is good news here too. Trimming the heels to their natural length is neither difficult nor complicated, when using the Natural Trim method based on the wild horse model.

Laminitis

The wild horse model holds that all hoof care methods collapse when laminitis is repeatedly fuelled by unnatural diets. But one side argues that laminitis has origins in trim mechanics, not diet, or not necessarily diet alone. But the chronic proliferation of matrix-metalloproteinases (enzymes) resulting in the collapse of the P3 suspensory apparatus and subsequent lamellar wedge, necessary for P3 rotation, has been proven by laminitis researchers Pollitt et al. to have causality attributed to streptococcus bovis and other pathogens of the lower intestine.

Jaime Jackson
for the ISNHCP

For those of you interested in exploring the subjects discussed by Jaime Jackson in greater detail, we recommend the following publications:

NHC Brief #4: Support Pillars
An explanation of the naturally occurring support pillars of the hoof, including their relationship to natural toe length.

NHC Brief #3: The Naturally Shaped Composite Heel Buttress
An examination of the composite heel buttress and its natural anatomical characteristics.

Links in the comment section below.

06/10/2026

It is a statement of fact that Hoofing Marvellous is the only platform actively using Hard Sole Plane term to describe their trimming methodology. HM propagandists know that Jaime Jackson is the only person who'd be able to push back and challenge them on HSP because he had coined this term to describe epidermal structures of the sole. He coined this term to address invasive trimming practices that would involve trimming or carving into the live sole.

HM crowd uses the fact that Jaime himself will not go out and publicly address their misinformation regarding his terminology, or the natural trim because he abstains from social media spaces.

I had said it before and I'll say it now. What HM is teaching is far removed from the natural trim method, which includes the type of tools we use to EXFOLIATE the sole. We DO NOT trim it, our role is to only mimick the natural wear. Nothing more than that. You won't see us using a flat rasp to rasp the wall down flush with the sole. You won't see any of the Isnhcp practitioners using loop knives on the sole either.

HM shills are afraid of ISNHCP representatives because we're the only group that can call them out on all of the misrepresentations that have been made public, as well as the information that is circulated privately within their groups. Since my last post on their work, I've been blocked by pretty much every single one of their business pages. Why? Afraid of scrutiny?

They do not respect other professionals and use the algorithms parameters that are optimised for emotional messaging and division to push their dishonest propaganda. Every profession has competent and incompetent people. But HM has gone a step further, they flood the zone with fake profiles and generate controversial content to further antagonise those in hoof care profession.

Lindsay Setchel, you've made a terrible mistake by targeting other professionals. It's not too late to admit it. They too are human beings who are trying to help. Perhaps their belief system is not compatible with what Jaime has pioneered, but he was always respectful of everyone. You're playing God, pretending that you can save some of the most advanced cases. What you're engaging in is highly unethical and dishonest.

On the other hand, my message to anyone following HM, or exploring barefoot. Please learn about the U.S. Great Basin wild horse model. No trimming method can save a horse alone. A successful transition to barefoot or laminitis rehabilitation always involves transformation of horse's habitat and lifestyle.

The damage done by steady access to grass progresses slowly, but it inevitably leads to some of the most traumatic outcomes. Grass is the real enemy. I wish that the hoof care industry would agree at least on this one point. You can read more on equine adaptation in Jaime's book The Natural Horse: Lessons from the Wild. It is, in my opinion, one of the most important books ever written on horses to date.

27/09/2026

Invisible damage done to the sole. If your horse cannot walk around without the hoof boots, laminitis is not always to blame. So much damage comes in different shapes and forms, that is only revealed through x-rays or post-mortum.

Natural thickness of the sole is anything between 1-3 centimeters. The horse to navigate over all terrain while remaining sound needs sufficient amount of armour underneath. Hoof care approaches remain divided on this idea. Many are compelled to rasp the toe wall flush with the sole, others rasp into it. These practices are guided by a set of theories. Some are rooted in the breakover theory, others believe that the sole should make active contact with the ground. In NHC, we acknowledge that the hoof was designed for peripheral loading and the wall should always make active contact with the ground.

These ideas clash very strongly when pathology in the hoof is present. In domestication that means almost always the hoof is trimmed to achieve visually aesthetic looking hoof. In reality, it often means that the integrity of the hoof capsule is lost. The perfect hoof is not achieved through trimming, but by naturalising horses diet. The trim has one role - mimick natural wear. In doing so we avoid overtrimming.

Natural Trim compells us to refrain from using certain tools at the bottom of the hoof because even an extra millimeter taken off systematically can lead to thin soles. Unfortunately thin soles are not uncommon and can cost horse a life in the long run.

The best approach is always prevention, because it is much harder to repair long standing damage than it is to prevent it in the first place. We use restraint when it comes to using trimming tools. Instead of scalping the sole with knife we exfoliate it using a method called nipper dragging, or a sole rasp, especially designed to only remove what would wear away naturally.

If you struggle with thin soles, drop me a message or comment below. I'd love to hear about your experience.

02/09/2026

Untrimmable by farriers.
Rehabilitated by a barefoot trimmer 😏

Turns out Gracie didn't need to be "made" to behave. She's not a naughty horse.

She needed a different conversation.

Learn more about hoof handling rehabilitation

15/08/2026

What a day, what a great group of people. It was more than an Open Day. It was something akin to adaptive networking event where we connected few more dots 🥰
Thank you Alyson and everyone at PB Paddock Paradise Livery for the invite! Till we meet again 🫡

And just like that, it's all over.

Thank you SO much to everyone attended today. It was such a lovely atmosphere and we all spent the day connecting to so many amazing, dedicated owners.

We want to say a huge heart felt thank you to the businesses and the lovely people behind them that have endlessly supported us here and have helped make today possible. We don't take you for granted.

Another huge thank you to the repeat attendees, the fellow track liveries from far and wide and the people who show up to support us, just because. You'll never know how much it means to us to have you backing us through the lows and highs.

Lastly, a big thank you to those who volunteered their time today. We appreciate it immensely.

We weren't hopeful this year, as I'm sure you all saw. But, this has by far been the best open day we've had so far and we couldn't have asked for a better bitter-sweet end to them for now.

More thanks and pictures to come tomorrow, but for now, we're celebrating with a pint, thankful for you all and proud of you how far we've come.

Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts.

P.S - please tag us in your piccies!

15/08/2026

I have discovered some very interesting, non-slip mats. Adding it to my shopping list 😁 It’s been lovely to meet you, what a nice surprise 😍
Alyson PB Paddock Paradise Livery this is more than just an Open Day, it's a networking event! I count on you to do another one some time soon. I'll volunteer 🙋‍♀️ to help if necessary 🫡😁

14/08/2026

Hmmm... we can do this stuff at liberty too?!

14/08/2026

First time soaking. I thought it would be much harder to get Sam to co-operate!

The weather is in deed extreme. With no access to a natural water source I so appreciate what I used to have. A pond! Never had trimming issues before. Now with extensive drought and heat their feet had become extremely hard and difficult to trim.

I'm glad that our behavioural training can be extended to little things like this, and it wasn't that difficult after all. What we do have are the core fundamental principles of communication in place. Even with that I thought we'd have to "argue," but no... this was 👌

13/08/2026

Staying hydrated in this crazy heat 🥵🐴🐴🐴🐴

03/08/2026

Can we recognise pathology for what it is if we've lost sight of what healthy really looks like?

Pathology in hoof care: wall thickness, lamellar attachment, and distal phalanx.

Is pathology always found in the hoof... or can pathology also exist in hoof care itself?

Over the years we have become very good at recognising pathology in the hoof and treating signs of pathology. White line disease. Laminitis. Stretched lamellar attachment. Deformed hoof capsules. But how often do we stop and ask whether some of the hoof care practices used to manage pathology may themselves contribute to more pathology?

One of the subjects I will be discussing during the PB Paddock Paradise Open Day is the relationship between pathology and hoof care through the lens of the Wild Horse Model.

To understand pathology and not get caught in it, we first need a point of reference. We need to understand the characteristics of a naturally shaped hoof, because without understanding anatomy of healthy, sound hooves it becomes very difficult to recognise when the hoof structures become compromised through human meddling.

Lets take the natural thickness of the wall.

One of the characteristics of a naturally shaped hoof is that the hoof wall possesses a natural thickness. Wall thickness in naturally shaped hoof appears uniform across the entire perimeter of the hoof wall.

When pathology develops, it is common to see the toe wall rasped away under the pretence of breakover, consistent toe angle, or broken hoof-pastern axis. In some cases the toe wall is rasped until it becomes paper thin. What is being exposed in the process, is not a healthy hoof wall, but stretched lamellar attachment forming a lamellar wedge.

Lamellar attachment is not a weight-bearing structure. We can think of it as a stabilising structure. If it were designed to transfer the horse's weight, the hoof capsule would collapse in advanced white line disease cases, where as much as 80% of the lamellar attachment has been devoured.

One of the greatest assaults on the equine foot is the excessive removal of the toe wall together with an aggressive Mustang Roll. This mechanistic approach to an organic structure we call the hoof capsule further compromises a foot that is already struggling because of the long-term effects of a non-adaptive environment (and an unnatural diet). Result? Viewed from the volar profile, we often observe paper-thin toe wall and reduced sole depth. In between stretched lamellar attachment.

While establishing the precise position of the distal phalanx is important in prevention and treatment, hoof care practices omit the dangers of removing sole callus, often wrongly interpreted as retained sole.

When we defend the natural thickness of the toe wall, preserve the natural thickness of the sole, and recognise stretched lamellar attachment for what it is, we allow the hoof capsule to develop protective callus right around the tip of P3.

The Reasonably Natural Diet, one of the Four Guiding Principles, emerged from the U.S. Great Basin Wild Horse Model–horse's adaptive environment. The framework implies that hoof health is always a reflection of a horse's gut health.

Despite many advances in equine care the stretch of the LAM still remains a debatable subject. There is a good amount of evidence through the research of Dr. Chris Pollit to explain LAM failure. The underlying cause? Chronic inflammation.

Today we know we can create conditions conducive to healing. We can create an environment that allows the hoof to recover. The U.S. Great Basin happens to represent this type of environment, where pathology has never set foot. Paddock Paradise, as a natural boarding system (and another pillar of NHC), is a vehicle that brings us closer to the horse's adaptive environment.

But can we say the same about hoof care?

In parallel, hoof care practices reflect our collective understanding of the natural world. Right now, domesticated hooves are riddled with pathology, often well camouflaged.

When pathology alters the anatomy of the hoof and loss of integrity follows, there is a strong temptation to prioritise appearance above function. Many people who naturally have an eye for aesthetics find it difficult to navigate pathology because there is always a desire to make the hoof look visually appealing.

But does the hoof care industry actually understand hoof anatomy? And has it solved the issue of hoof pathology?

Some say that science has moved on from the wild horse model. I would argue that the truth doesn't move. We either move closer to it, or further away from it.

These are some of the subjects I will be exploring during my presentation at the PB Paddock Paradise Livery Open Day on 15 August.
Link: https://www.pb-paddockparadiselivery.com/event-details/7th-annual-open-day-pb-paddock-paradise-livery

Where do you think the biggest pathology exists today... in the hoof, or in the mind of the beholder?