Barefoot Trimming

Trimming the Heelsby James Welz

For guidance on how to trim the heels of ourdomestic horses, I kept looking at the exam-ples of healthy wild mustang hooves provid-

ed to us by Jaime Jackson, Pete Ramey, and oth-ers. I noticed things immediately that contradictedmy training. As time went by, I also noticed thatnobody was talking about these things. Not want-ing to contradict what I had learned, I changed mytrim very slowly. As I moved closer to the form ofthis wild foot, I noticed increasing soundness, anddecreasing abscessing and bruising.

I now believe that a comfortable heel is para-mount to continuing the health of the hoof, aswell as improving hoof form. A comfortableheel promotes balanced loading of the foot,spreading the impact and load over a greaterarea of the foot. It also encourages evenexpansion of the hoof capsule and improves

the blood circulation via “hoof mechanism.”

Of course, you’re asking, what did I see in thesehealthy wild hooves? Well, the first thing Inoticed, and subsequently added to my trim,was the fact that the turnaround point, which isthe area where the bar meets the wall at theheel, was not a point at all—it was more of a“platform.” This area—where the bar and wallcome together—is usually between 3/8” to5/8” in length, sometimes even longer. I havenever seen an example of a healthy wild hoofthat didn’t have this heel platform feature.

Then I noticed something even more disruptive tomy training. I was taught never to bevel or roundthe wall behind the widest point of the hoof,because this would contract the hoof. However, Icouldn’t get over the fact that all the healthy wildhorse examples accessible to me had a “mustangroll” that extended all the way around the hoofincluding the heel. I believe this featuredecreases peripheral loading and encourages bet-ter hoof form, and, yes, decontracts the foot.

With this in mind, I was told by someone I great-ly respect that the reason I “get away” withrolling the heels is that my ground is so hard. Irespectfully disagree. I believe trimming this waybalances the load throughout the heel and, infact, helps to distribute the load through agreater area of the hoof. Because of this, I nowfeel that others only “get away” with not round-ing or beveling this area because their ground isso soft, which allows the peripherally-loaded wallto sink in, effectively distributing the load over awider area. Another important thing to consideris that even if your horse lives in the mud and themuck, we seldom ride in it.

We need now to talk about length of the heel. Thisis a bigger subject than it first appears. Since the

variance in pathology is infinite, I will discuss onlyhealthy length, proportional hooves. If the hoof isof a healthy length, I rasp the heel to between1/32” to at the most 1/16” above the viable solarplane, then I round or bevel the wall all the wayaround the heel, even the heel point (actually allthe way around the hoof but this article is aboutheels), leaving the entire heel-bar junction any-where between 1/4” to 3/4” long.

The entire hoof is affected by this, and especiallythe bars, but this must be left for a future article.

Through all this I have learned not to doubt thehealthy wild hoof. I believe it holds all thesecrets we are searching for, if we only knowwhere to look.

For more information on James’ trimming tech-niques, please visit the all new Hoof Corner:http://thehorseshoof.com/hoofcorner.html

A mustang cadaver hoof, showing the distancebetween the rear weight-bearing at the heel,and the heel-bar turnaround point.

Closeup of the very well-rounded heel area of amustang hoof.

Closeup of heel area on a healthy hoof, trimmedto simulate the structure of the wild hooves.

The heel platform allowed to develop, throughtrimming, on a healthy hoof.

Close-up of the heel platform area, mustangcadaver photo courtesy Pete Ramey.

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Back of heel

Turnaround point

Back of heel

Turnaround point

Back of heel

Turnaround point

Page 2 ISSUE 32 – FALL 2008 The Horse’s Hoof, News for Barefoot Hoofcare