Understanding and eradicating founder

I met Doug Bruce for the first time several months ago at my clients H.F. Young's farm. He watched me trim H.F.'s Percheron mares and asked many questions about what I was doing. He told me he had a foundered horse and he was not sure if he was getting the right trim job for this horse. Then on February 21st Doug showed up again at H.F's and wanted me to look at his horse.

Duke is a 10 yr. old Halflinger gelding who has foundered every spring since he was 7 yr.s old. Duke has the type of hooves whose walls do not grow 'long' in the usual sense. Instead, they grow flared out and even with the sole. This is a problem for conventional farriers who trimmed the hoof by removing wall from the bottom with nippers. This invariably exacerbated the flaring and kept the hoof in the vicious cycle of stretching and separating that it was in. Worse, by trimming only from the bottom the horse lost precious sole material and the result was pain.

I trim "From the Top" which brings the toe back safely without removing any sole. By removing the leveraging forces that are pulling the wall away from the coffin bone Duke's foot has a chance of growing in properly and in a year he will have gorgeous healthy feet.

The side benefit is that by not removing any sole I did not cause Duke any pain during his trim. Doug said he had never seen Duke stand so well in all the years he had owned him. He'd always been a problem for the farrier but he was a perfect gentleman for me. Perhaps he was such a gentleman because I didn't hurt him. Hmmm? Now, Doug thinks these hooves now look great right now! And they do, for Day 1. Wait till he sees them in another few months, he won't believe his eyes. That's why I take pictures!

Of course, we are also implementing dietary changes and supplements to help support Duke's body since we know that founder is not just a trimming issue it is a metabolism issue.

Doug wanted us to tell his story because there are many other horses out there like Duke. Horses doomed to a life of misery because none of the professionals that owners rely on for health care know what to do to fix it. We'd like to show them there is a way, not just to cope, but to fix it! How can we as a community get on the radar with vets and farriers in order to help more horses live healthier, happier, more productive lives? Ideas welcome!