Footloose Holistic Hoof Care

09/13/2026

"It could be better."
"You shouldn't be asked to struggle through this."

I was talking with one of my favorite trainers after we had worked with some clients together and she said the above statements. Granted my emotional state is rocky these days as I deal with grief, but I was surprised at how that made me feel.

The problem with working for yourself in an unregulated industry is that you have to create the manual for yourself. What are your business policies? What are your boundaries? What does a safe work environment look like? Who is the ideal fit as a client? What is your level of expertise? Who can you help with what you know?
I don't actually find any of the above difficult until you put it into practice in real life in the horse world.

And every farrier is different, so we all want and need different things from our clients. Some are better than others about communicating those needs. And sometimes you have an appointment that is so full of red flags that you get back in your truck, take a deep breath that you survived, and block that person's number because you can't even dredge up the energy it would take to tell them you're not coming back. To be fair, those people don't give a s**t and will be back on Facebook posting ISO when their horses are 6 months overdue.

Then your favorite clients beg you not to fire them and you realize the wrong people are worried about losing their hoof care professional.

ANYWAY I digress a bit. When it comes time to advocate for yourself - depending on how many horses you've done that day, how many shirts you've sweated through, whatever is going on in your personal life, and sometimes how you think this client will react to your request - it just feels easier to put your head down and suffer through.

So when my friend and trainer tells me, about a difficult appointment where I'm worried a horse is going to accidentally injure me, that "it could be better" and she has the tools to help this horse....I found myself profoundly touched.

To pass on the sentiment to you -

Farriers: it's not too much to ask for a safe work environment AND training for horses who have a difficult time during their appointment.

Trainers: it's not too much to ask for collaboration with the client and other professionals in the horse's best interest.

Clients: it's not too much to ask (when your farrier would like to not risk their life and career that day) for you to be willing to problem solve.

To the horses we love, to the ones who confound us, and to the horses we want to help: we will do our best.

To the humans who stay in their lane, get really good at what they do, and are willing to share that with others: bless you.

08/20/2026

08/17/2026

Guiding people and animals toward optimal health. Indigo Ancestral Health works with you and your current lifestyle to promote whole body wellness. Whether for yourself or your four legged friend!

08/05/2026

Adequan - used to treat arthritis and joint pain - in dogs and horses, recall from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine. Details in link in comments - and please help to spread the word as this isn't going to make the evening news

07/24/2026

Controversies and conversations around laminitis causes and treatment have been increasingly heated lately. It has gotten to the point where official statements have been put out from various companies and even organizations such as ECIR, who has been pioneering and funding laminitis research for decades. So what do I do in the midst of all this?

I decided to chat with three of my favorite UK farriers about it all: Robbie Richardson, Mark Johnson, and Matthew Jackson.

We dig into what they see as the main causes of laminitis, and some of the claims floating around about laminitis causes and rehabilitation. We don't shy away from some difficult conversations.

You can hear the entire conversation on any podcast app under "The Humble Hoof," or directly at this link: https://thehumblehoof.com/2026/07/24/conversations-about-laminitis/

07/14/2026

LOAD LINES

PART ONE: BREAKOVER

Breakover gets used constantly around horses' feet, and rarely gets properly explained. Most of the advice built around it — shorten the toe, ease the breakover, roll it back — only makes sense once the mechanism underneath it is clear.

Breakover is the final part of the stride before the foot leaves the ground. As the horse's body moves forward over a planted foot, the heel lifts first, and the hoof rolls forward over the toe until it lifts off. Most people use the term to mean the functional pivot point the hoof rolls over at toe-off, though it also describes the whole phase of the stride, not just that single point. The pivot isn't fixed to one spot on the hoof. It shifts depending on hoof shape, trim, and shoeing, and where it sits changes the mechanics of that final phase considerably.

One structure explains why this matters: the deep digital flexor tendon, or DDFT, which runs down the back of the leg and under the navicular bone before attaching to the underside of the coffin bone. As the heel lifts and the hoof rolls forward, tension increases through the DDFT, contributing to flexion of the distal limb and to lift-off. The navicular bone sits directly in the path of that tension, acting as a gliding surface that redirects the tendon's force — sometimes described as a pulley, though that's a simplification.

A longer toe generally increases the distance the hoof rolls before lift-off, which extends the lever the DDFT is working against. A longer lever asks the tendon for more force, for longer, and that translates to more sustained load through the navicular region on every stride. This is the mechanical basis for keeping toes from running long. Toe length isn't the only variable at play — fetlock extension and how the rest of the limb moves through the stride matter too — but it's the one most directly shaped by a trim.

The science gets less tidy from here. Toe length and injury don't sit on a simple straight line where a slightly longer toe on one stride causes damage. What the evidence more consistently points to is cumulative strain — repetitive loading across enormous numbers of strides, with the distal limb's tendons, ligaments and joints sharing load as a coupled system rather than absorbing it independently. A longer lever shifts how that load gets distributed. It doesn't automatically mean catastrophic failure is coming. Much of the current professional disagreement around "toe leverage" comes down to people using the same term for two different things — force on a single stride, versus strain accumulated over months of them.

Breakover isn't a trimming style or a philosophy. It's a definable part of the stride with measurable mechanical consequences, and it's why a trim built around it looks the way it does.

07/09/2026

07/07/2026

🐴 We're hiring!

Do you love horses, enjoy working outdoors, and want to make a difference? Join the JoyRide Center team as our part-time Equine Care & Facilities Assistant and help care for the horses and the place they call home.

📩 Send your CV or questions to [email protected]

07/03/2026