I was taught that a horse needs at least a month barefoot per year. Growing up in Idaho, it wasn’t a problem since shoes came off for winter. Living in Texas now, it’s not so easy. My horses go barefoot now since they don’t work much, when they were, every year I was trying to figure out when would be a good time to pull shoes. A hoof usually does better without shoes, especially under light work. There are always the exceptions though. Great video, love the way you explained what is going on with this horse.

You’ve hit the nail on the head with saying this horse needs time off from shoes. He’s only young and a year off grazing and light trail riding (in boots if needed) would do wonders for his recovery.

This was a great video. Well produced, excellent communication, great lighting. Loved seeing the work area too. Thanks for making this content.

He is a hansdome horse for sure, I loved the process of working through the diagnosing and problem-solving steps 💖

Refreshing seeing this old wisdom in 2024. Many New Farriers have never been taught some logical basics shared here. I see soooo many frog infections and deep splits and severe heel contractions in even barefoot and shod horses. I don’t know how people don’t see it. I guess it becomes a bad habit to not look at the whole hoof. Trim what’s needed often enough and keep it healthy and enough protection left on. Barefoot is best if possible. And it’s usually possible. Love that you mention the boots. In old days shoes were used only in the spring and summer really because the hooves didn’t get to build a sole callus yet when the horses had to go to work suddenly in spring. But by summer they were tough enough anyway to be sound if they lost a shoe. Now we have boots and or maybe more patience to build up a good sole year round on varied terrain. I feel bad for the damaged hooves in most young racehorses and performance horses shod poorly so young. I don’t know if my ottb will be ever have an upright heel. Frog pads may be a forever need for her sadly to be more than a barefoot pasture pet. Ligament damage and severely underrun contracted hooves with negative palmar angles have left a very messed up central hoof sole that builds up lumps beside the frog. You do not see these things in barefoot horses or horses allowed to develop properly and mature before being shod carefully with breaks and proper ground contact. They are training race horses barefoot now and using boots just for the walk to the track if it’s paved and then still needing grass tips on race day to follow the archaic rules. But these horses have a future after racing. It is worth it and it boosts their performance too. I gave this mare more good years but to think of so many others in pain and euthanized when it’s preventable is disheartening.

Excellent vid. Great advice!

Thanks so much! Great explanation! Merry Christmas 🎄

Very interesting information on this ailment. Thank you for sharing. Wish you and your family a Happy Holiday Season.

Glad to see you treating this guy naturally without all the metal, glue, supports, etc. Anatomically correct trim and rehab seems to be the first answer. Incorrect shoe over and over and over again seems to be doing the wrong thing over and over and over then expecting a different outcome. GOOD JOB!

You mention soaking the hooves, soaking with what?

I'm a rider and trainer, not a farrier, but I have had training in the basics and have been trimming my own horses for close to 25 years now.. In any case, I had a free lease horse once upon a time that the owner insisted had "navicular".. Everyone, owner, vet and farrier all insisted on very high heels as that was "The Treatment" for "navicular".. I took one look at his feet with overly tall heels and tiny contracted frog and knew this was basically years of bad trimming made worse by "The Treatment".. I went behind the owner's back and over the next few months gradually trimmed him back to a balanced low heel trim and he became totally sound.. The clueless owner, seeing how well he was going, took him back and wouldn't believe me that the trim was the issue and insisted on "growing out" the long heels again and bang, the "navicular" was back.. Poor horse.. I was just getting started in the equestrian world at the time and nobody cared what my opinion was, even when backed up by evidence, because everyone knew that the horse had "navicular".. These days, my opinion has a lot more weight, but there's still so much misunderstanding around "navicular" and hoof issues even at the professional level from vets and farriers alike...

Good looking sort and kind treatment that I'm getting used to from you. Ever see any rubber surgical temporary boots that can clip on without fixings?

Merry Christmass Mr. Olsen. I wish you and your family a safe Holiday Season!! Your friend, the Retired Paramedic and Horse Trainer in Ontario, Canada, Jenn 💖 🇨🇦

Thank you. I have a young shier who trimmed too much toe back and left heels too tall. She became laminitis again. He won't listen to me. Trims like he's putting a shoe on.

Great video Lee. I think there are a lot of differing opinions in the hoofcare industry amongst farriers/trimmers/vets regarding trimming heels and the height/angle that is ideal. As a general rule, where do you like to trim your heels back to? And what determines if a heel is “stacked” in your opinion? Thanks, I enjoy learning from your videos.

Do you ever make your way to Az?

I found this video super helpful. I have a reiner who has been dealing with heel pain and unfortunately I have not had great farriers at my resource. I'm hopefully on the right path now but I wanted to ask you about the horses frog in this video. My horse's frog grows up in between the heel bulbs like the horse in this video only much worse and this is also causing him discomfort. I know you said not to go crazy trimming the frog but how would you deal with something like this?

Great video Lee. Do you think the sore heels is what is causing the lateral landing as well as the toe first landing? Thank you

My horse has been diagnosed with navicular disease. She is not doing well at all I’ve tried a lot of different things. Vet said to trip toes down?

I wanted to see the other foot trimmed...😢

When a horse piles the bedding of straw underneath his feet and stands on it all day. What is that indicative of??

Why is one of your thumbnails purple?

I've always called navicular, a diagnosis of heel pain.