08/09/2026
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Should trainers just āstick to trainingā and stay out of the hoof care aspect?
I donāt think we can.
The farrier work I did in my 20ās and 30ās informs a lot of my perspective as a trainer today.
If a horse comes in with a lack of suspension or expression in the gaits, or issues engaging or collecting, the first place I look is the feet, and this is often what I seeā¦
Heels that have been chopped down quite literally into the bottom of the collateral grooves.
This is a horse from about 10 years ago, when I was still doing farrier work full-time, but this is still a common trimming style I run into.
I see the vertically atrophied frogs, or frogs that have completely collapsed.
Those wide frogs are often touted as the healthy ideal, but the vertical prolapse and horizontal spread are actually a symptom of the caudal failure in the back of the foot.
This particular horse was doing great, changed farriers, and we saw a huge change in him happen in about six months.
He was pretty miserable, didnāt want to load the back of the foot or into the fetlock, and the heel and frog growth was completely suffocated.
We couldnāt grow frog or heel until we restored an angle that allowed equal circulation throughout the foot.
Unsurprisingly, this horse was lacking in impulsion, didnāt want to go forward, and just kept getting more and more dysfunctional the more work and turnout he got.
His topline was deteriorating, and he was requiring more and more interventions like chiropractic work and bodywork.
Eventually, the owner started seeing lameness issues related to turning. This isnāt uncommon with NPA, as it affects the collateral ligaments.
Reversing his NPA reversed all his symptoms, and he was able to go back into work, and heās still going strong 10 years later.
Iāve seen trimming trends come and go, and I donāt know why weāre seeing an uptick in heel chopping recently.
For awhile, an almost OCD-like over-trimming was popular, but I thought that had run its course.
Iām seeing low heel pathology happening again.
Iām seeing it in horses who otherwise have excellent care, whose owners are going above and beyond.
Iām seeing people hit that ācollection plateau,ā where, when their horses are expected to do lateral work or more engaged work, they have no buffer in the flexor system to do so comfortablyā¦ they are quite literally ābottoming out.ā
WHAT ABOUT BRINGING HEELS BACK TO THE WIDEST PART OF THE FROG?
I studied Bowker and practiced Ovnicekās mapping for quite a few years. I actually mentored under one of ELPOās lameness specialists back in my 20s.
I still use that mapping. In fact, I used it on a foundered horse just a few days ago and brought their chalky heels nearer to the sole plane and pretty close to the widest part of the frog.
However, Iāve also found, in my own practice, that I donāt want to prioritize achieving 50-50 around COA/COR over my HPA, especially since palmar/plantar angle changes the relationship between COA and our ground-surface/external mapping landmarks.
Iām often rehabbing feet from other practitioners who are blindly following the widest part of the frog parameters, or trying to force frog engagement, and ignoring HPA.
When it comes to frog engagement, I want to grow frog up to the level of healthy heels, I donāt want to lower heels down to the level of an unhealthy frog.
There is a lot of evidence to support prioritizing HPA, but for me, the reality is, I see the results in my rehabs and my everyday work, so itās what I stick with.
Can we make heels cool again?
