Wild Tread

03/05/2026

07/06/2025

Friday Funny
🤭😬🤣

06/16/2024

Dear friends, family, and community, This beautiful house was purchased as a home… Gala Chapman needs your support for Please Help Jerusha Save This House

08/25/2023

Trimming should not be so infrequent that it shocks the horse. The angles shouldn’t change drastically before and after a trim.

Most adult domestic horses never know what it feels like to use their feet correctly. Ideally, the soft tissue should be engaged pre trim and more engaged post trim. This is how you continually build hooves. That can’t happen with flat trimming and/or steel shoes.

Trimming to build is how you reduce the chance of an injury and give a horse longevity while maximizing performance. Horses should take good feeling high performance feet for granted.

This pony has been on a 1-3 week trim schedule for 14 years.

Left - pre trim
Right - post trim

07/16/2023

Okay, I guess I'll go on a soapbox roll.

Unpopular opinion: if your horse's current living situation isn't able to control laminitic issues, you might have to move the horse in order to save their life.

Up to 90% percent of laminitis is endocrinopathic - which means it is metabolic in nature, highly affected by hormones, diet and exercise (or lack thereof). This means that nearly every laminitic case needs strict guidelines in regards to diet and turn out environment. It can mean the difference between lame and sound, or even life or death.

The management for a metabolic laminitis case should look something like this, especially if there is any sign of pain:

✳️Remove all grain from the diet
✳️Remove access to grass pasture/fresh grass or even weeds
✳️Remove alfalfa - unless the horse is sound and deemed to be not affected by it
✳️Ensure hay is safe - either by testing it or soaking it
✳️Add in safe calories as needed (unmolassed beet pulp, forage cubes like Triple Crown Timothy Balance Cubes, flaxseed, etc)
✳️Feed essential vitamins and minerals in a metabolically safe carrier
✳️ Involve the vet to pull bloodwork and prescribe medication as needed to control ACTH levels or refractory high insulin

I can't tell you how many times I hear from owners of laminitic horses, whether in person or online, that they "just can't" restrict their grass access, or "but the grain says it's low sugar and starch" (spoiler alert: it probably isn't), or "but it's only a little bit of (XYZ)."...

Side note - when it comes to the barns that say "but there's really no grass out there!" my response now is, "If there weren't any horses in the paddock, would there be any grass? If the answer is yes, then the grass is being eaten... Imagine what the grass would look like without horses on it, and that's roughly how much they are eating."

I get it. It's hard to deny your horse something they love. But we are our horses' advocates, and just like a parent to a child, we have to decide what is best for their health and long term quality of life.

I am not writing this post to make anyone feel bad. I just see so many stuck in a cycle of laminitic setbacks, and sometimes a little push is needed.

Metabolic horses take extra special attention and care, and finding the right situation for them can mean the difference between watching them in pain, and watching them thrive for years to come.

05/11/2023

Here is the help you need to create a track system for your horses, to stimulate daily movement that promotes healthy bodies and minds.

03/04/2023

C**t rear feet

03/04/2023

Compare these baby feet to the colts. She’s in a bit better shape

03/04/2023

My new youngster… needed some work - Front Feet

02/24/2023