Humble Hooves

25/01/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CJCr2W8i3/

Inspired by a followers comment which touched my heart ❤️

Winter is about love.

It’s the season where you see whose horses truly matter to them
not the ones who say it when it’s easy,
but the ones who show it when it’s cold, dark, muddy and inconvenient.

It’s the early mornings.
The late nights.
The quiet consistency when no one is watching.

And it’s not just about the horses.

Winter shows you the people who are kind to people too.
The text that says,
“I’ve put him out already, don’t rush up.”
The extra haynet done without a word.
The pair of hands that appear because someone can see you’re struggling .... no fuss, no audience.

No likes.
No rosettes.
No performance.

Just care.

Winter strips things back.
What’s left is who .. and what ... really matters.

So yes… to me, winter is about love.
The kind that shows up.
The kind that stays.
The kind that doesn’t need to be loud 🤍

22/01/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AXJwt5auJ/

I’m going to toss out some numbers. If numbers make you go cross-eyed, give it a chance and stay with me- it’s important.

Latest research shows that non-fasted insulin results (with access to a horse’s normal forage) that were above 21.6uIU/mL resulted in a 22% incidence of laminitis within 4 years of the bloodwork results.

That’s a lot of numbers. What that means is that almost a quarter of horses with an insulin result above 21.6 could become laminitic.

What’s even more concerning is a non-fasted insulin result of 45.2 or higher had a 69% laminitis incidence rate within 4 years.

Considering that many labs say “normal” range for insulin is under 40, and considering that many times this bloodwork is taken fasted (instead of the updated recommendation for non-fasted), many owners may see their horse’s insulin result in the 20s or 30s and think their horse is fine, or think their horse isn’t metabolic, when actually their horse may be walking a fine line of laminae issues.

I’ll tell you about a mare here. This picture is of her feet when she was really quite rotated/foundered, shortly before coming to my farm.

This mare came to my property in October 2025 after struggling with founder and rotation for a few years. The owner had been very diligent, getting tested hay, feeding a quality mineral supplement (one I feed to my rehabs here too), and building a grass-free dry lot. She had a consistent trim every few weeks, and diligent boot use.

Her insulin still would run above range, and the owner even used an SGLT2 inhibitor to help. This DID help with her pain, but even while on it she had an insulin result come back at 140 last year.

The vet recommended more movement to see if this would help with comfort and hoof health as well as body condition, and shortly after that, the mare moved here to the track.

Right before getting here, her insulin wasn’t out of control- it was around 36, while still on an SGLT2 inhibitor to help keep it in check. She was comfortable in boots, but quite cresty necked with fat pads.

After one month living on the track, her insulin went down to 24. She was comfortable at this point, and the vet recommended to stop the medication and check in again in another month or two to see how she was doing. With that, in November, she came off the SGLT2 inhibitor, and we watched and waited.

As she continued to move around the track, eating our tested hay in slow feed hay nets and minerals balanced to the hay test, she slowly lost some of her extra weight. Her feet started growing healthier, with a tighter wall connection making its way down.

Last week, her bloodwork was checked again.

With no medication, the same trim as before, and “simply” increased movement and a balanced diet, her latest insulin result came back at 7.7uIU/mL.

7.7 ! Yes, the decimal is correct. Her insulin was under 10. We have seen that with other cases here too.

Does this mean she is not metabolic?
No. It means right now, with diet and exercise, her metabolic status is controlled.

Did we change the trim? No.
Did we drastically change the diet? No.

The key for this horse was movement. The track system increased the movement, and movement lowered her insulin.

Just like with people, often the best thing we can do for our horses is good movement and a healthy balanced diet.

31/12/2025

Thats the last hooves of 2025 trimmed 🍾 It's been another full on year, trimming pretty much six days a week 😤 Mr HH as always holding the fort at home, keeping everything behind the scenes running smoothly.

This was a beautiful gift from one of my lovely clients, actually a bit earlier in the year. Wonderful bit of local history. Now whenever I have a wriggler I think of St Eligius, I do hope he's a progressive Saint and covers us trimmers too🙏

Happy new year 🎉

23/12/2025

Wishing all my clients, friends and the most wonderful extended herd, a happy Christmas 🎄

Trimming hooves is hard work, filled with so much controversy. I remember when I started this, it was the old comfortable arguments between trimmer and farrier, barefoot vs shod. That is well and truly behind us now. Replaced with more sophisticated infighting which has consumed those, with far too much time on their hands.

I've been doing this long enough to see the absurd cyclical nature of trends. One minute trimming factions are jacking the heel up and shorting the toe. Then it's the polar opposite with shorting the heel and leaving the toe. At some point the pendulum will swing as it always has done... and the truth normally sits quietly in the middle ground. Not the fringes battling for supremacy.

Maybe some words of wisdom (that have been earned with grey hairs and scares) I can bestow before Christmas.

If barefoot was easy everyone would do it. Often the most compromised hooves are the ones that benifit most.

Boots are not barefoot, that matters not one bit. The comfort of your horse is priority.

Regardless of who trims your horse, that is once every 3-7 weeks depending on trim cycle. The rest is up to you, you are responsible for the horses diet, environment and exercise.

If you use a farrier and your horse is sound and happy with healthy hooves 👌 make sure you give them a mince pie and the kettle is on for a cuppa. No judgement here on who you chose to use, you are responsible for your team.

Listen to your hoof care provider, do not stretch out a trim unless they recommend it. It's total false economy. If there is balance, disease or pathology to address. It's far cheaper to keep ontop of it with an extra couple of visits a year.

Mud is not your friend, I would rather horse stables in the dry and clean for a few hours than 24/7 mud. Constant wet isn't healthy for hooves, it also risks injury.

Grass is not the enemy, horses did not evolve on a grass free earth with nice neat fences up, they roamed. Our improved farmland is a problem, so is set stocking one field 365 days a year. Lean to work with your grass not against it. If your horses are metabolic avoid spring growth.

Avoid paying the hidden hoof tax. When we can't do our jobs properly you still have to pay full price for the service. Mud, flies and behaviour if you can help us do our job we can do our best job 💪

Feedback is essential, if there is a problem communication is key. The more information we have the better we can support your horse.

Try one thing at a time, unless your horses is in a critical condition and you need an immediate laminitis protocol implemented. If you change lots of things at once you don't know what has worked. If your feed room is stacked full of supplements, strip it back. Always keep it simple.

Talking of supplements, save your money. Focus on good quality hay and grass, and ample supply. Better to support the main bulk of the diet than bankrupt yourself in the feed store over fancy packaging and false promise.

Horses come in a wide variety. Everything from Shetland to Shire and all the hot blooded Arabians and TBs in-between. Hooves come in equal measure of variety, we want healthy hooves for the individual animal not conformity of appearance.

If in doubt chuck it out. Never underestimate the importance of time in healing ✨️

Don't be too hard on yourself.

Talk to your horse, careful of your tone and words. They sense and know more than they let on, your vibe influences them on a level we don't fully understand.

20/12/2025

That's me down tools for Christmas. I'm not quite done completely, I have a couple of days trimming before the old year is out and we greet the new one in.

Certainly time to reflect.

I'm very much feeling it this year, as Harry will be coming up to twenty. He was home bred, in fact we were both born on the farm almost exactly twenty years apart, me in the house and him in the barn. We never did have the adventures I'd planned, laminitis at just three years old changed both our lives immeasurably. Now, here we are, not his hooves but his knees showing his age, what a cruel twist of fate.

I was responsible for bringing him into the world. At some point I'm going to have to come to terms with being responsible for him leaving it.

I can't help but feel I failed him 💔 I hope he forgives me.

Hug your horses. Even when it's wet and cold, the work is hard, the mud is never ending and the dark feels hopeless. Horses are the magic, I don't know what we have done to be worthy of them. If there is a God, they are truly a gift.