The same steep hoof form is also responsible for a deficiency of blood flow and chronic overload of the dorsal part of the laminae, which sets the stage for acute laminitis. A 12-year study of more than 200 coffin bones from slaughtered horses shows that rarely does one find a coffin bone not deformed and damaged by improper hoof shape. The palmar processes of a healthy coffin bone form an opening parabolic shape, while in contracted hooves it shows an elliptic arch. The length of a healthy coffin bone equals its width; the commonly deformed coffin bone is narrower than it is long.The horse's weight, with each step, is equally distributed onto the laminae. (In a calculation, this results in about 8kg per sqcm of laminae, at a canter.) Horses live with this for 30-40 years even in rocky areas.

At our new facility we offer dressage training / lessons, natural horse boarding, hoof trimming and rehabilitation from laminitis / founder, navicular and other hoof problems.
Our programs look individually at the problems of the horse and / or rider.
Our goal is to help you to find friendship with your horse and a willing partner who loves to work with you in a partnership.

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A barefoot horse is capable of performing all the tasks that could be expected of a horse, without requiring any kind of protection of the hoof, PROVIDED that the hoof has not been weakened or deformed by the actions of man through unnatural treatment and living conditions. When looking at literature dealing with hooves, the one constant reference is the damaging effect of shoes. For about 200 years, the ill effects of shoeing have been increasingly documented. The textbook written by I.C. Gross, teacher of shoeing at the Royal Veterinary School of Stuttgart, clearly states in the preface that "the question of whether shoeing is the means by which to keep hooves sound, is to answered in the negative."