07/10/2026
I don’t usually say very much, but there is a Huge Hoof Welfare Issue out there and it’s a growing concern.
Horses are relying on us to know what we’re doing and so are their humans.
Sometimes it’s very hard to put feelings aside, when horse welfare is at stake and horses are suffering unnecessarily.
It’s heartbreaking and very sadly I work with it all the time, mostly fixing what someone else has broken.
All I know is that I get SOS and hoof welfare issue calls and photos all the time, from worried horse owners.
All of my trimming work is hoof rehab and it’s probably a good job, because that’s where my heart is and it’s the work I love the most and it’s the only trimming work I take on these days, as I’m semi-retired now.
The so called professionals are advising that founder or laminitic horses should be out on soft ground and grass and euthanised.
Putting one wooden clog (ONE) on a founder hoof (confirmed xray) and calling it a club foot and how is one clog even anatomically correct in the first place…
“Most of the horses I see don’t have frogs and they don’t need them”, was another comment I heard recently.
Very often words fail me when I hear all of this and more.
My own lengthy training is with a Homeopathic and Western Medicine Vet. I’m always happy to collaborate and I work alongside a few good professionals, but they are few and far between.
There are too many professionals talking nonsense about things they know absolutely nothing about and yet it’s meant to be their job.
How very scary is that.
A vet saying “that’s a long toe”, when there is no toe, because the toe has been hacked off.
Hacking off the toes into the laminae of laminitic ponies and laming them, so badly they can barely walk and by the time they are sound again, it’s time for the next awful round of hoof butchering.
Being all defensive when the owners ask why their horse is lame and telling the human because that’s laminitis or some other rubbish excuse.
Laming sound horses left right and centre and taking offense and finding a defensive excuse, as to why the horse is lame after being trimmed, when they were sound before the trim.
Leaving hooves to grow too long, leaving too long in between trims and people wonder why their horses keep going lame.
Another applying a trimming method they learnt that didn’t work, doing more damage and the person never came back, as they were out of their depth, only having that one method under their belt…
Others trimming their horses by learning from books, online forums and videos, making a huge mess, instead of investing in proper hands on practical learning, both for themselves and their horses.
Quite frankly I’m sick of seeing and hearing about it all.
If what you do once doesn’t work out, that is information and if you keep on doing it over and over, because that is all you know and it still isn’t working, that is ignorance.
Surely once is enough to tell you, that what you’re doing isn’t right, if it’s not working out in the first place.
If you can’t leave something in a better state than when you arrived, then don’t touch it at all..
If you dont know exactly what you’re doing, it’s really simple, don’t do it…
A so called teacher lecturing in an Equine college, teaching others to do what he’s always done, without bothering to update himself and go out and learn more or even seeing if the old knowledge he has is still correct or applicable and therefore producing others doing exactly the same thing, this is basically producing a bunch of other professionals doing it wrong too.
How is a college totally unaware of this and what’s going on in the world around them.
Just because it’s something someone has always done doesn’t make it right and in turn it’s producing more people that don’t have a clue either…
None of this is good enough, not by a long chalk.
Luckily some horse owners are awake and realise all this isn’t correct, but some are naive, desperate or novice.
Thing is, if you speak the truth you’re not being kind, but I tell you what, I’m fed up with being kind and I’m sick of hoof welfare issues and horses being in pain due to people’s ego, arrogance and ignorance, absolutely sick to the back teeth of it all and it’s everywhere.
When you get to hear and see what I see all the time, you’d cry your eyes out and then you’d understand why others have had enough too and have started calling people out and not before time….
It’s all got to stop and yes, it’s a welfare issue a huge hoof welfare issue.
It’s not ok causing pain to horses and laming horses is a billion percent unacceptable and a welfare issue.
These so called professionals are doing so much damage, they do not deserve any kindness, they need exposing the hell out of, but if no one speaks out, these people are literally getting away with murder and that is definitely not ok.
If you recognise yourself in anything said here, it’s time to quit what you’re doing or at the very least, invest in some decent training, for the sake of the horses.
It’s time for horse owners to advocate for their horses and speak out about hoof welfare issues and report people for doing harm and laming their horses.
It’s going on everywhere, it’s unacceptable and it’s actually cruelty and abuse to horses.
This was never meant to be about the humans and it’s time to stand up and advocate for the horses and in my humble opinion, not before time ♥️🐴
