Celery - it could be your horse's best friend

For some of you this blog post may be a blast from the past - its over 6 years since I first blogged about celery (or to give it the full title: Why its better not to let a farrier or trimmer near your horse with anything sharper than a stick of celery).

Back then I also posted about the numbers of horses whose soundness was impaired by trimming and who were measurably sounder when allowed to manage their own hooves instead.

There have been a number of other posts about celery since then so feel free to search for them if you are interested in catching up :-)

I hoped I wouldn't need to write more celery posts and its been good to see more and more people experimenting with allowing their horses to self-maintain, something which becomes even more important if you have a horse who is recovering from injury and who may need asymmetric hooves to provide essential support.

However, it seems to be time for a new celery post because poor trimming has become an increasingly common problem once more.  I have been told of several horses who have been lamed by poor trims - some by "qualified" farriers, some by "qualified" trimmers - and I am also seeing more reports online of horses being footy after trims. There also seem to be lots of "methods" of trimming being taught over the internet, usually using only photos and ignoring how the horse is moving. These tend to feature an aggressive approach which requires hooves to be trimmed to a template and removing all "flare", something which will render many horses unsound.

The reason for this post is very simple: to ask owners to stand up for their horses and never to be bullied into having your horse trimmed if it is to the detriment of his soundness. There are lots of "hoof experts" out there but the only one worth listening to is your horse.

I'll finish with something I posted back in 2011:

"If you decide to have your horse trimmed there is a way to work out whether your horse "needed" a trim - and its really pretty simple:

If the horse is moving better, more capably, more confidently, with a better stride length, over tougher surfaces after a trim, then it was the right thing to do.  

If the horse is moving better, more confidently, with a better stride length, over tougher surfaces when he is left well alone, then stick to celery. 

There is NO reason to trim unless to make the horse sounder, and if the best way to make the horse sounder is NOT to trim, well then, embrace your celery."

The application of celery and how to tell if your horse "needs" a trim

The post last week where I gave some indication of rehab horses who haven't benefitted from trimming caused a bit of a flurry.

Soli, my celery poster boy, with Lucie at speed

It also gave rise to some really fantastic comments, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to do a proper post in response at the time but the RRR weekend was behaving rather like a tidal wave and carrying all before it. 

One of the very interesting and fair questions was what owners should do with horses whose hoof wall is getting long and who simply aren't able to give them enough work, or on tough enough surfaces, for self-trimming to be possible.  Trimming - when to trim, how to assess whether a trim was necessary, and whether celery was really relevant - were also hot topics at the RRR over the weekend.

One of the comments from Wiola on the blog encapsulates what lots of people were asking: 

"We would happily leave K self-trimming as it seems he copes badly with any intervention but his feet are growing too fast."

As always, achieving optimim hoof health is a based on correct nutrition and biomechanics, so lets look at 3 common situations (with the important proviso that the horse is landing heel first) and how trimming usually affects them:

• Horse A: has long, overgrown hoof wall (feet are growing too fast or are too long) and is on a good diet. This  horse  - if correctly trimmed - will be as sound after the trim as it was before.   That's an acceptable trim, but the same effect could be achieved with a modicum of road work (and we are talking about a few short miles per week) and has the added advantage that there is little danger of the horse being worse afterwards. If roadwork isn't possible, a trim may make hooves look prettier but if the horse is not in work you may not be able to assess whether the horse's soundness is better or worse after the trim.  

• Horse B: has long, overgrown hoof wall (feet are growing too fast or are too long) and is on a poor diet. This horse may well be footy after a trim due to increased sole sensitivity.  This isn't a trimming problem, strictly speaking, but advising on improving nutrition should be within the remit of any competent hoofcare professional.  Either way, making the horse sore doesn't help the situation so a trim isn't the answer. Enhanced nutrition and correct exercise are more likely to benefit the horse.  [FWIW, as with Horse A, there is no need to trim a horse like this as a precondition to work.  Once nutrition and exercise are correct, excess hoof wall will chip away but this won't trouble the horse at all.] 

• Horse C: does not have long hoof wall, is in regular work, is on a good diet and appears to have a flared or asymmetric hoof which "needs to be balanced". This horse may well be less capable on hard, uneven surfaces if that "flare" is removed.  It will then normally take at least 2-3 weeks before the horse is as comfortable as it was on those surfaces.  In my opinion, no good is achieved by trimming in this situation as it compromises the horse's biomechanics and impairs soundness. 

[Of course with some horses you can have a combination of both the problems in the last 2 examples, and if a horse is trimmed and is less capable you won't know for a few weeks whether the trim or poor diet is the main culprit].

Some trimmers and farriers have got pretty hot under the collar at the mention of "celery" but I don't really understand this.  Why would you want to trim a horse if you are likely to make it sore or less capable of performance on tough surfaces?  Isn't it common sense NOT to trim in these circumstances?

I have no problem with trimming  - sometimes I even do it myself - PROVIDED that the trim does not break the golden rule: the horse MUST go as well or better AFTER the trim.  For me, there are no ifs and buts allowed as part of this rule. If a horse does not go better following a trim, then there was no point in doing the trim and it should not be repeated. 

The reason I started advocating "celery" is simply because I was seeing - and hearing about - too many horses who were worse following a trim.

I had calls and emails about horses who were lying down for days after trimming, horses who went from being rock-crunching to being footy on stones, horses who were just not as capable but bounced back a few weeks later.

I was also hearing that owners were being told that their horses "needed a trim to balance their feet" or because they were "too long" but then the horses were worse off after being trimmed.  It was sometimes subtle - they may have been fine on tarmac, for example, but were less comfortable on uneven ground.  But to me a drop in performance means that whatever else the horse needed, it wasn't trimming.

To my mind, its the hoofcare professional's job, not the owner's, to assess whether a trim is going to help the horse, but as owners, please don't worry simply because hooves look "too long" or "unbalanced".  Before you call out a trimmer or farrier, take your horse out, do some roadwork then re-assess whether a trim is a good idea.

"Celery", like anything else, is not a panacea and there may be occasions when a trim is a useful tool (although they are less common than you might think!).

However, if as an owner you decide to have your horse trimmed there is a way to work out whether your horse "needed" a trim - and its really pretty simple:

• If the horse is moving better, more capably, more confidently, with a better stride length, over tougher surfaces after a trim, then it was the right thing to do.  

• If the horse is moving better, more confidently, with a better stride length, over tougher surfaces when its left well alone, then stick to celery. 

But for me, there is NO reason to trim unless to make the horse sounder, and if the best way to make the horse sounder is NOT to trim, well then, embrace your celery.

This post is already quite long enough, and I have masses of RRR stuff which needs to be blogged as well, so I am going to defer the answer to another brilliant question, from Caroline, till another day.  Here is the question, for you to ponder:

"I can't help worrying, though, about those owners who just can't do the work and how they get it right, particularly with rehabs. 

The barefoot horses with caudal hoof lameness that you've had seem to suggest that peripheral loading is to blame. If you can't get the work into the horse because of dark nights and work or school, then there's no option but to trim to stop the peripheral loading ..... or am I missing something?" 

A cautionary tale - all about celery

The weather has just been far too nice not to get lots of photos of the horses hanging out on the tracks. Russell seems to be in almost every one - he really gets about and he can spot a camera from way off, just like Felix.

 However the main point of this post is to tell you a cautionary tale which I received on email yesterday.  Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin....

Once upon a time there was an barefoot dressage horse whose owner was frustrated because her horse was always footy on stones even though she was on a low sugar, low starch diet. She emailed me a year ago and I gave her some feed info which I thought might help.

Nearly a year later, both horse and owner were much happier...

"I had been letting my horse self trim with the work and all was going really well - her feet always looked a bit odd - she keeps her hind toes really short and they are quite round not pointy but she was going better than ever  - we were moving from medium dressage to advance medium even though the changes were sometimes a bit enthusiastic.  

In front she likes to breakover to the outside of centre with both feet and she has "deviation" with both fronts to the inside  - looks a bit like a "stabiliser " a sort of curve to the foot  - not as extreme as some examples on your blog but not a conventional "cone" shape but very sound on all surfaces."  

But now the cautionary tale really begins....

"A trimmer came to the yard to do other horses' feet and as I hadn't had my girl's feet trimmed for months and months I thought a second opinion would be worthwhile.

What a mistake! She took the what I call "stabiliser"  - but she called "flare" - away completely in one fell swoop. 

The hooves looked symmetrical and the trimmer said now she was landing flat as opposed to outside heel first. The problem was my horse didn't agree - to cut a long story short she is now lame with swelling and heat in the leg - scans  reveal a slightly inflamed check ligament but all ok with tendons and suspensory."

Fortunately, there is a happy ending...

"She is already getting better - swelling reducing and hooves growing back  - but why oh why did I allow the trimmer to do this? Do we have it so ingrained that a hoof has to look a certain way? I am so angry with myself for letting this be done to my lovely girl.

The good thing is how quickly my horse has compensated for this - her frogs have become much bigger and the foot is returning to it's usual odd shape the more she goes on the roads. She is now very eager to walk out - she was reluctant to start so I didn't push the issue.

I will never let this happen again! Just another reminder that horses know best what they need - I just wish that I had been stronger in my convictions."

I really sympathise with the owner - we all try to do the best we can for our horses and sometimes even good intentions aren't enough to stop us making mistakes. However the good news is that horses are far cleverer than us, especially when it comes to hooves, and can very quickly correct our errors if we let them.

The even better news is that mistakes are the things we learn most from - though if you can learn from other people's (including mine!) rather than making your own, your horse will be grateful...!

* For more on "celery" - which has a specific meaning on this blog - have a read of these earlier posts:

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/04/dont-even-think-of-touching-that-hoof.html
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/05/step-away-from-celery.html
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/05/celery-in-practice-hoof-balance-and.html
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/06/heresy.html
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/secret-of-successful-trim.html
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/09/thought-for-day-rrr-3-days.html
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/09/application-of-celery-and-how-to-tell.html
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/09/same-horse-and-how-to-use-celery-rrr-1.html

Same horse? And how to use celery [RRR -1 day]

Amazing what the start of the hunting season can achieve. Look at the change in Charlie...

...from bored donkey...

...to happy hunter an on a mission 'cos hounds have GONE!

[Yes, it really is the same horse in all these photos, although the last one is from Nov 2010.]

Can anyone deny that Charlie just LOVES his job?!

Briefly back onto the subject of celery, I am in the throes of putting together a much longer post about when its useful and what to do when horses are kept in a way that they can't self-trim, but I won't be able to get that up till next week as the RRR is currently sweeping all before it, rather like a tidal wave...

I have however had the most wonderful email from a lady in the US who hunts barefoot (Jen, I know you do too!) which I wanted to share with you - I had the biggest smile on my face as I read it and she included a fabulous photo of her horse out hunting, which she's generously let me post below; there are also some lovely jumping pics at her blog: http://www.foxhuntingfriesian.blogspot.com/.  

Its an incredibly kind email, but what really made my day was hearing about her horse now being able to gallop over granite - isn't it amazing what can happen when you step back and let your horse have the hooves she wants?! :-)

"Hi Nic,

I just wanted to write and tell you what an inspiration your blog has been to me!  I thoroughly enjoy reading your updates, seeing the progress of your rehab horses, and most recently, considering your take on “celery” in the trimming process.

You see, I have a foxhunter that I now hunt barefoot here in the US.  (I am so jealous of your hunt territory!  We have nothing so grand….)  This season is shaping up to be one of our best thus far, and I really believe it’s all because of the influence your blog has had on me as her trimmer (and primary caretaker).

The past two seasons, despite a robust hoof, I have had to put front shoes on her due to tenderness on rocks at speed.  I hated to do this, but it was not fair to ask her to keep up with the field on “ouchy” footing.  I was a nervous wreck letting someone else go near her hooves, but I had no other choice at the time than to shoe if I wanted to continue hunting her as she was not handling the footing well barefoot.

Last year, she gave me a scare when shortly after being shod for the season, her front tendon grooves filled in (after the first few hunts).  There was no lameness (yet), but she was not moving normally (as her rider, I could tell the difference from bare to shod!) and the swelling in her legs was alarming, so I pulled her shoes straight away.  No joke, the day after I pulled the shoes, the tendon grooves were cold and tight and her movement was back to normal under saddle. 

About that time, I discovered your blog.  I must have spent hours pouring over it, studying and learning what it is you do differently to be able to hunt your horses barefoot.  I thought, if you can do it with your horses, why can’t I?

My mare is not on grass, has 24/7 turnout, access to varied terrain, hacks regularly on paved roads……..and was trimmed at religious 4 week intervals.  Huh.  Here’s where you take on “celery” really hit home….. J 

I have barely touched her hooves with my trimming tools this season (save for a quick run of the rasp over any rough chips for appearance sake) and she has never been sounder or moved better over all manner of rough terrain.  Go figure! 

We’ve been hunting out on the rockiest terrain our territories have to offer and she steps out over the rocks like they weren’t even there.  I am amazed, thrilled, ecstatic that my horse CAN hunt barefoot!  Yay! 

So, I raise my flask to “celery” and to Rockley Farm for showing me that less can definitely be more when managing a barefoot performance horse!"

Thought for the day [RRR -3 days]

As most of you know, I became interested in celery* and started to promote its use a few months ago.  I also posted a heretical post about the [severe] limitations of trimming as way of increasing hoof health.

[*"Celery" in this context means NOT trimming hooves but allowing the horse to self-maintain with sufficient work on varied surfaces]

I know some of you have been very interested in the benefits of "celery", particularly those of you whose horses have had bad experiences of poor trims in the past.  I'm sure others think its a load of baloney and are still convinced that hooves are all the better for a damn good trim.

So I thought it might be a good idea for me to post some statistics. They are stats which have been given to me by owners - they haven't been independently verified, haven't been double blind tested, but I believe they are accurate.

Why?  Because if rehab horses have taught me anything, its that owners are the first people to spot lameness and are the most picky - owners know their own horses inside out and back to front, and there is NOTHING like riding a horse to give you a feel for that horse's lameness or soundness.

So with that in mind, have a look at this  - the top 4 relate to horses who have been trimmed, the last stat is for horses who aren't currently trimmed. Remember, these are only the horses I've been notified of recently:

• Ex rehab horses who have been lamed or had their performance measurably impaired following a trim: 10
• Ex rehab horses who have been regularly trimmed with no ill effects: 3
• Other horses I am aware of who have been lamed or had their performance measurably impaired following a trim in the last 3 months: 9
• Ex rehab horses who show a slight improvement following a trim: 1

• Ex rehab horses who are not trimmed and are going from strength to strength: 9

I hope you can see now why I am becoming more and more enamoured of celery in place of trimming, at least for rehab horses.  To recap, the non-trimmed group are all doing well.  In the trimmed group we have, immediately post-trim:

• a slight improvement in 1 horse; 
• damage or lameness to 19 horses; and
• no effect on 3 horses.

This is only a straw poll, but it mirrors my own experiences and its enough of a trend to confirm that trimming may not always even be neutral, let alone beneficial.

Bear in mind also that ALL of the horses who were lamed or damaged were trimmed by registered UK farriers or trimmers who had qualified with a recognised organisation (UKNHCP, EP or AANHCP).  They were trimmed with the best of intentions, and sometimes - I am sorry to say - by farriers or trimmers who went back and made the same mistakes at their next visit.   

This is not a post I ever wanted to make but I think the warning needs to be out there.  As owners you need to be extremely careful about who you allow near your horse's feet - and above all listen to your horse.

In my opinion you should NEVER accept that a horse should be worse after a trim and if this is ever the case with your own horse, discuss it with your trimmer or farrier and - if necessary - their professional governing body.  We all make mistakes, but (as professionals) we shouldn't keep on making them.

By all means, enrol the help and expertise of a qualified hoofcare practitioner to help you optimise your horse's hoof health.  The best of them will spend a lot of time with you and your horse, give you superb advice and will leave you with a sounder horse.  Occasionally this may involve trimming but they may also tell you that your horse will not benefit from a trim. A good hoofcare professional will undoubtedly also be someone who counts many hard-working barefoot horses on their books.   

There are some GREAT hoofcare professionals out there, but there are a lot of trimmers (and farriers) who don't know basic anatomy, don't understand biomechanics and still think that they know more about hooves than your horse.  People like this can do an awful lot of harm if they set about trying to "improve" or "re-balance" your horse's feet and ignore what your horse is trying to tell them.

Do you remember the chapter in "Black Beauty"? 

"I know he meant no harm, I never said he did; I know he is not a bad boy. But you see, I am sore myself; that horse is the pride of my heart, to say nothing of his being such a favourite with the master and mistress; and to think that his life may be flung away in this manner is more than I can bear..."

"Well, John, thank you. I knew you did not wish to be too hard, and I am glad you see it was only ignorance."

John's voice almost startled me as he answered:

"Only ignorance! only ignorance! how can you talk about only ignorance? Don't you know that it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness? -- and which does the most mischief heaven only knows. If people can say, `Oh! I did not know, I did not mean any harm,' they think it is all right. "

Difficult questions

Here's a post that has been in my "draft" pile since I put up my most recent "celery" post last month, because it was just too difficult to finish(!)...I had lots of great comments in response to the original post as well as some fair challenges about the whole concept of "celery".

Generally, people liked the idea of horses being able to self-trim but weren't confident it was necessarily practical in their own situations (BTW, the photo was one I found on Google but I thought it could be perfectly captioned: "Celery scepticism!").

A comment from C voiced a general concern:

"I can't help worrying, though, about those owners who just can't do the work and how they get it right, particularly with rehabs. 

The barefoot horses with caudal hoof lameness that you've had seem to suggest that peripheral loading is to blame. If you can't get the work into the horse because of dark nights and work or school, then there's no option but to trim to stop the peripheral loading ..... or am I missing something?"

This is a tricky situation, for sure, because work on hard surfaces can be contra-indicated if horses are landing incorrectly.  In a healthy landing, you would expect to see a hoofprint like this, with plenty of weight taken by the heels and frogs and some by the sole and hoof wall. 

Peripheral loading (where the weight of the horse is mostly taken around the edge of the hoof, as if in a shoe, below) is not ideal but that in itself doesn't seem to be the biggest problem (at least with the horses I see).  

Far more problematic are horses who are landing toe first (whether shod or barefoot) because that tends to mean the whole shock-absorbing mechanism of the back of the foot is compromised.  


Once a horse is landing toe first there is extra strain on the DDFT; therefore increasing work is likely to be counter-productive as it also increases strain and the risk of injury and lameness - and the harder the surface and the faster the work, the greater the risk.

So the solution for these horses has to involve more than simply doing more roadwork - but we are back to the catch-22.

Most horses with caudal heel pain have that pain because some structure at the back of the foot (whether its internal soft tissue, frog, heels, fibrocartilage or a combination of these) is compromised, weak or inadequate.

In response to this pain, heels can become high as the horse shifts weight from a painful area but trimming heels lower isn't an analgesic and can only remove hoof wall; with many horses, lameness will become worse if the painful area is overloaded so trimming should be undertaken only with caution as backing up a toe or lowering an apparently high heel may put too much weight on an already compromised frog or digital cushion.

I really wish I could give a "magic wand" answer  - I wish it was simple and that I could just say "Yes, trim x then y and the biomechanics will be sorted and all will be well", but as you already know, that's not always possible.

There may well be a place for trimming sometimes, but it will only be a minor place because, as we are increasingly aware, the reality is more complicated.  Fitness, whether for muscles or for hooves is a product of correct work, correct nutrition, correct biomechanics, blood, sweat and tears...and there aren't always quick fixes available.  

Put DOWN the rasp and pick up the celery...

It was over 7 years ago that I wrote my first post about celery: http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/04/dont-even-think-of-touching-that-hoof.html 

I didn't realise it was potentially explosive to suggest that farriers and trimmers should try NOT laming horses when they trimmed.  I certainly never imagined that so far down the line I would STILL need to be posting the same message but in fact I not only blog regularly but am also covering the topic every time I give a workshop. 

You can see if you search this blog for celery that its a theme I keep having to come back to, and the reason is because horses are still being lamed by trimming. 

Here is an email I picked up this morning, about a rehab horse who went home a few weeks ago. 

"Up until about a month ago, he was doing amazing.  I had heel-first landings and he was really steady and level on his gait."

Shortly after this he had a blip with too much grass, as many people did when the drought broke and the grass flushed. This is always a shame but is normally sorted out completely with a few days of going back to limiting grass during the day. For this horse, however the problem was compounded because a trimmer came to see him that day and rather than assessing the situation correctly she decided that it would help if she removed some hoof. 

The owner's email tells its own tale:

"She then rasped the medial "flare" that he has on both fronts, she rolled his back toes, took the bars back, trimmed the frog, and as she said "tidied his feet up".  

Well I know even in my little experience, that tidy feet don't make sound feet! He's not been walking comfortably since..."

Three weeks down the line the owner is understandably wondering whether her horse will recover. The answer is that he probably will but it will take several weeks.

Aggressive rebalancing of a horse's foot is almost never a good idea and it is DEFINITELY not a good idea when a horse is rehabilitating from long term lameness. In addition trimming a horse who is in the middle of a reaction to grass is a risky strategy and one which will rarely leave a horse sounder and more comfortable.

The secret of a successful trim

I posted yesterday about the surfaces on the tracks here, and how they help horses self-trim, to a certain extent.

Several of you have commented in the past that self-trimming is not always practical and I completely agree.  For my own horses the tracks aren't enough once they switch to light work and so trimming inevitably comes into the equation.

I've also posted before about the harm that the wrong trim can do and how this is all too common.  Ironically Solomon, who was one of the horses who prompted that post, had hoof wall which was too long when he came back here, but it was over zealous trimming which had caused his lameness.

So if the answer isn't over-trimming, and its not (always) no trimming, where is the middle ground?

I've been thinking this over a lot particularly with the horses who've arrived recently.

For instance, Flynn and Saffy arrived with overly "long" hooves, as did George and Pocholo.

In all these cases, I didn't trim them but let the tracks do their job.  In most cases, 24-48 hours walking around on the tracks is all that is needed to get rid of overly long hoof wall and the horses get to do it in their own time and more gradually and gently than if they are trimmed.

By the way, with a sound horse, a few hours roadwork would do the job equally efficiently.  The tracks and surfaces are important for rehab horses with weak feet but really aren't necessary for a sound barefoot horse in work. 

So what is the secret (IMO) to a successful trim which will help and not harm the horse?

Its not about "rebalancing" the hoof.

Its not about creating the "correct" angles.

Its not about sculpting a model "wild hoof".

Its obvious when you think about it - a good trim simply allows the horse get rid of excess hoof wall that he can't otherwise get rid of on his own.

Thats all -  thats why a trim is most relevant to horses in lighter work or kept on softer surfaces, and thats why a trim is such a small part of the complex equation that is hoof health.

So whats the problem?  The problem is that we all too often mistake appearance for substance, and I've been as guilty of this in the past as anyone else.

Humans have a tendency to think that if we can make a hoof look like a healthy, functioning hoof it will actually be a healthy, functioning hoof.  This is one of the reasons why concepts like a "wild hoof model" or a "high performance hoof model" are appealing but often don't work in practice.

Solomon was in a similar position when he came back here in May for a few weeks.  In this picture of his hoof the day he arrived, the temptation is to get trimming - sort out the untidy bits, get rid of that wall and lower those long heels.  That would certainly make the hoof look a bit more like the functional hoof in the picture below.

The problem is that this approach doesn't take account of the fact that hooves can be weak not just because there is too much of one structure but also because there is not enough of another.  Trimming can only help the first, because all a trim can ever do is take away.  To build a foot up,  "celery"* is  far more beneficial.

For Solomon, you would do no harm lowering his long hoof wall at the quarters (though roadwork or the track would do the job as well) but the back of his foot is a different issue.

Its not that his heels are too high, its that his frog is too weak.  By lowering his heels you would put more pressure on the frog, but putting pressure on an already weak structure won't necessarily make it stronger - in fact it can overload it and cause a worse problem.

Look at the difference in his caudal hoof over a 2 week period:

Day one

After a week

After 2 weeks

The long hoof wall has gone, but its not his heels which have dropped, its his frog which has developed, and thats not down to trimming, its down to celery* and surfaces :-)

So the most fundamental part of a successful trim (IMO) is knowing when to stop.

* For those new to the concept of a "celery" trim, the explanation can be found here and here!

Celery in practice, hoof balance and "The hooves are wearing too short!"

My new found love of celery as a trimming aid means that I am tending to leave even long hooves alone to see how they react to our tracks.  

These are Saffy's hooves on the day she arrived (I had asked for her to be left untrimmed - she had been shod before and you can see the old nail holes).

The same foot a couple of weeks later.  The long hoof wall wore away very quickly - within days.  If she were going to a show I would tidy up the hoof wall with a rasp but functionally she has done a superb trimming job for herself.  

And this is how the loading of a hoof changes once the hoof wall is no longer too long.  On the day she arrived, she is balancing on hoof wall - peripherally loading her hooves, exactly as she would in a shoe.

Today, loading not just hoof wall but the frog as well and look at what a difference that has made to her overall hoof balance.    Its a good demonstration, I think, of why its so much easier for horses to have good medio-lateral balance (ie balance which is correct for their own limb) out of shoes AND once the hoof which is loading correctly.

It also illustrates why some people take their horses shoes off only to worry that the hoof is "wearing away" or "wearing too short" once the horse works on hard surfaces.  That overly long hoof wall, which is so useful if you want to re-shoe a horse, is actually not what the horse or the hoof want to be loading.

As soon as you put that sort of hoof on a hard surface, the excess wall will chip away until you have a hoof which is loading in a more biomechanically effective, correct way.  The frogs also improve dramatically with stimulus.

The problem is that if you are used to a shod hoof, this  - the same foot 2 weeks later - looks incredibly short.  

Its actually getting much closer to what the horse needs and is a much more effective hoof than it was 2 weeks ago.   She is extremely comfortable on this new foot, as well, which is critically important.

Again, you could pretty it up with a rasp but functionally, she has already done most of what she needs to get that hoof working properly for her.  

Of course, if horses don't work on harder surfaces, that's when trimming can be necessary but I think its interesting to see how little we sometimes need to interfere :-)

Cautionary tales

This is a post which will be old hat to many of you, but as I haven't done a "celery" post for a while, and as I am hearing a lot about trims going wrong - as well as untrimmed horses going well - I thought I ought to post a couple of (true) cautionary tales.  I could have posted many more...

[For those of you who are new to "celery", there is an explanation and lots of additional info here. Please read this link if you haven't already done so!].

The tale of the trimmer who didn't listen

Once upon a time there lived a good horse who had been working barefoot a long time. The good horse was sold to a new home where she lived with a very conscientious owner who knew that all horses' feet need a lot of care and attention, whether shod or barefoot. The owner carefully monitored her horse's diet, exercised her regularly and did her best to ensure that the horse had all she needed to keep her hooves healthy. 

After a few weeks, the owner - who was very conscientious - booked a trimmer to come and see her good horse. The trimmer took great care to watch the horse move and took photos of her feet. After the trim, the horse was a bit footy and the owner asked me whether this was ok. 

I said, not really, but talk to the trimmer and tell him about this. Next time, perhaps he will either trim differently or he may decide (since the horse is in regular work) that she doesn't need trimming at all.  

The owner was unhappy that her horse had been footy but, as she was very conscientious, she booked the trimmer to return in a few weeks. After the next trim, the horse was again footy. 

The owner asked me whether her good horse was footy because she was not exercising the horse correctly. I said, not really, because when you exercised the horse the day before she was fine, wasn't she? She said yes, she was fine the day before the trim, but footy the day after, just like last time. Well then, I said...

To be continued...

The tale of the princess and the 2 trimmers

This is the tale of 2 trimmers, both of whom lived in a land far, far away. There came to this land a princess with a beautiful horse - who was barefoot, naturally. This horse had overcome hoof problems early on in her life and had gone on to great things, amazing everyone with her high performance hooves. The only strange thing about the beautiful horse was that her feet didn't look perfectly symmetrical. 

The princess - who was another very conscientious owner - wanted to do the best for her beautiful horse and of course she wanted the best care for her high performance hooves. So she called on a trimmer, who was very interested in the beautiful horse and carefully examined her high performance hooves. 

The trimmer asked all about the problems the horse had overcome and noticed that her feet were not symmetrical. This bothered the trimmer and she told the princess that she wanted to re-balance the horse's feet. 

The princess, mindful of the problems her beautiful horse had overcome, and mindful of how well she galloped on her high performance hooves, said to the trimmer, no, you may not re-balance those feet.

At this, the trimmer grew angry and said, woe betide you if you don't let me trim as I wish - leaving those feet as they are will bring nothing but trouble. 

The princess was brave and knew she should listen to her horse instead of the trimmer so she sent the first trimmer away. But still she wanted the best for her beautiful horse and the best care for her high performance hooves. So then she called on the second trimmer. 

The second trimmer was also very interested in the beautiful horse and he also carefully examined her high performance hooves. He too asked about the problems the horse had overcome and he too noticed that her feet were not symmetrical. 

But then he looked further. He looked at the whole horse and he saw that the beautiful horse's limbs required asymmetric hooves in order to load evenly, and that in fact  - far from needing to be "re-balanced" they were already perfectly balanced for the limbs above. He understood that this was how the beautiful horse had overcome her earlier problems and that this was why she galloped so well on those high performance hooves. 

Of course, the second trimmer had no need to "rebalance" the feet; instead he looked again at the whole horse and talked wisely with the princess about how best to care for those high performance hooves. 

And they all lived happily ever after, even the first trimmer, who finally realised how important it was to look at balance from the horse's point of view. 

OK - I made up the last bit...

Don't even THINK of touching that hoof with anything sharper than a stick of celery

This is a post for any of you who tended to agree with yesterday's post about shoes and scaffolding :-)

For me, its been a week of highs and lows.  Rehabbing horses has to be one of the best jobs in the world, but as well as giving you tremendous exhilaration and happiness, it can also bring sleepless nights and intense worry.

It was wonderful to get the fantastic news about Frankie and Lady over the weekend, both looking a million dollars and back doing what they clearly love.

When I get bad news about ex-rehabs though, its a real kick in the teeth because once they have left here, its almost like waving goodbye to one of my own horses, and I really, REALLY, REALLY want them to carry on doing well and I get really, REALLY, REALLY upset if they don't.

Fortunately, those sorts of set-backs don't happen very often, and its usually something which can be sorted out - a problem with too much grass, or an issue with saddle fit, or an injury which has given the horse a minor setback but which just needs careful handling to get the horse back on track.

What makes me VERY angry, though, is if a rehab horse goes home and is harmed by a trimmer or farrier.    The problem is that most owners - quite rightly - feel that they want their horse's feet checked over by a professional every few weeks, but  most trimmers and farriers - with the best of intentions - cannot leave well alone.

Very few will turn up, walk and trot the horse, admire its feet, have a cup of tea and then leave.  They have a compulsion to fiddle and unfortunately for the horses, they tend to fiddle with knives and rasps in their hands.

Now, none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes - in my case plenty of them - but where I start to see red is if it happens not once but twice, and if the person whose made the mistake refuses to listen to what the horse is telling them - or worst of all, doesn't even bother to find out whether their bright ideas are benefitting or harming the horse.

I always send rehab horses home with a detailed report which covers feeding and exercise, and I used to include a paragraph about trimming as well - usually something terribly diplomatic about the horse likely to need only minimal (if any) trimming, and about the importance of allowing the horse to assert its own medio-lateral balance.

I think though that I will be a bit more radical in future, and send horses home with a final sentence that simply reads:

DO NOT EVEN THINK OF ALLOWING A FARRIER OR TRIMMER NEAR THIS HORSE'S HOOVES WITH ANYTHING SHARPER THAN A STICK OF CELERY.

Celery, surfaces and another wet summer

I tried to add this earlier but Vimeo is not a happy bunny at the moment so I've switched this back to Youtube for now...Lots of you will have seen this before but I've added some more footage on surfaces and its a fun reminder of how well feet trimmed "by celery" deal with surfaces.

Keen-eyed blog readers will notice that this was from last summer, when I'd just started riding Felix with no bridle - lots of fun!

I was encouraged to be reminded that last summer was just as wet as this one and yet we all survived and eventually even managed to make fantastic haylage, so keep smiling, folks ;-)

Step AWAY from the celery...

I had a right old rant in my "stick of celery" post last week about ill-judged trimming and the disastrous effect it can have.   Its been on my mind since then because its an ongoing problem.  Trimmers and farriers have a primal urge to jump in and trim hooves and in my opinion its high time they stopped and took a step back.  

For those of you who've read "Feet First", I apologise for re-stating the obvious, but overall hoof health and good hoof function owe very little to trimming.

By far the most essential elements for healthy hooves are correct nutrition and correct biomechanics; a trim is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg.

You can sometimes improve a hoof slightly with a trim, particularly if the horse isn't doing much work; I'd say the margin for improvement is (at the very most) 10% and with a healthy bare hoof in normal work its probably considerably less than that.

A safe, effective trim can make a healthy hoof look pretty and - if you are very lucky - it might even nudge the horse who owns that hoof towards slightly better biomechanics.  That is the most it can do.

Here is the dangerous bit, though.  If you trim and get it wrong, you can cripple a horse, upset its biomechanics and cause serious lameness.   The harm when it goes wrong FAR outweighs the benefits when it goes right so any trimming should be undertaken with EXTREME caution.

However much we'd like to think it, its just not possible to merely"trim" your way out of most hoof problems.  In reality, this means that you are HIGHLY unlikely to make a lame horse sounder just with trimming.  [Trimmers and farriers, please read that last sentence again.]

This is true of any barefoot horse, and its doubly true of a rehab horse, whose hooves are undergoing enormous change.  Even a well-meaning attempt to nudge the horse closer, faster towards better medio-lateral or dorso-palmar balance can backfire - possibly just because the right change has now happened too fast.

As I said in my last post, I know all about this because I've made these mistakes before...BUT there is a way of avoiding mistakes, and that's to listen to the horse.   Any horse which walks away worse from a trim shouldn't be trimmed again until something has changed and if a horse is already lame, think beyond trimming, because that alone probably won't help.

• If grass (or another nutritional problem) is causing sole sensitivity, the owner needs to discuss management options with the farrier or trimmer.

• If the trimmer or farrier has been over-zealous, they need to be informed that the horse didn't benefit and, unless they take that information on board, they shouldn't be allowed near the horse again.

• If the trim overloaded a weak structure of the hoof, that area needs to be strengthened before any further attempt is made to increase the load.

I can understand that owners want a professional opinion on their horse's hooves at regular intervals - that is completely understandable and is how it should be.  But the emphasis HAS to change.  The title "trimmer" should be abandoned for a start - although its so much snappier than "hoofcare professional" that we are probably stuck with it.

Nevertheless, there should be a clear understanding by owners and professionals that trimming is (or should be) only a tiny part of hoofcare for a barefoot horse.

A competent hoofcare professional should expect to spend most of their time on a visit advising on nutrition, biomechanics and management and may - or may not - end up trimming the horse.

In this sense, its more like being an instructor than a farrier (thanks to Wiola for this photo!).

The professional may need to assess where and how the horse is kept, will certainly need to evaluate the horse's diet, and should always observe the horse's movement and how the hooves are loading.    If trimming is necessary, it should be done only as part of a wide picture, with caution and the horse should be extremely closely monitored before and after.

Whereas with a shod horse the owner's responsibility for hoofcare may simply be to book the farrier at regular intervals, with a barefoot horse at least 90% of the horse's hoof health becomes the owner's responsibility.

Really, the professional's job isn't to trim, its to work with horse and owner and give THEM the tools to achieve optimum hoof health within the practical limits available.

It can be difficult for hoofcare professionals to get their heads round the idea of being paid for their time, knowledge and expertise rather than just for wielding sharp instruments but they need to start doing just that.

They should be talking to owners, giving them tailored and detailed advice on every aspect of hoofcare, not just billing £x for "a trim" and leaving the most important elements to chance.

The sooner we get away from the idea of hoofcare professionals being "paid to trim"and feeling they have to do a bit of cutting and rasping, no matter what, in order to justify their bill, the better for the horse...