Shelley Read - Barefoot Hoof Care

12/06/2026

Whole horse dissections are incredibly valuable. Having attended one myself I can assure you that I will never look at horses the same again. I carry the mare I bore witness to with me to every horse I meet. Behaviour is communication and not enough of us are listening.

10/06/2026

9 months into laminitis rehab for this gorgeous little shetland gelding and I think it's safe to say it is going very well!

It wasn't until I checked back on my photos from his first trim with me that I realised just how contracted his heels were! Particularly the right fore.

I am delighted to be helping facilitate this for him 👌🏼

09/06/2026

6 month check in for a very sweet British Riding Pony Gelding.

Presented with bilateral forelimb lameness.
MRI's performed.
Findings - Moderate bone odema in both forefeet, most likely consistent with osseous inflammation secondary to trauma.
Vet unhappy with foot balance and so I was asked by the owners to begin trimming him as I see several of their other lovely herd members.

I am very happy with the changes so far. Overall, balance and hoof shape restored and frogs and soft tissues improved. Not perfect but we're getting there 👌🏼

06/06/2026

Ex racing TB 🐎
British Riding Pony 🐎
Warmblood 🐎
Irish Draught 🐎
Hoof Boot Fitting 👟
Cob 🐎
🫡

06/06/2026

Two very different horses, same environment.

02/06/2026

Today's feet included an almost brand new set!

Foal feet! 😁

Her human was gracious enough to send me photos when she was only hours old and still sporting her foal feathers 😍 The scientific name for these rubbery, finger-like projections is Eponychium and they are designed to protect the mares uterus from kicking during gestation and then during birthing they protect the birth canal from tearing. 🤓

I am so excited and privileged to be a part of this young lady's life right from the start 🥰

Because her human is so switched on she is already beginning to offer some of her feet for very short durations of lifting 👌🏼

I have been on a foal high all afternoon ☺️

01/06/2026

Weaning doesn't have to be abrupt, stressful, or remotely eventful 👌🏼

Here is Laura’s foal led, fence weaned yearling having a lovely sleep in the foreground (right blob on the floor 🤣) while his dam is the horse you can barely see in the distant background 👌. Good job Laura!

31/05/2026

👌🏼

Nikki Scheppe has asked a question in response to our recent video on the waterline:

“I’ve heard some people advise on putting a moisturiser on the hairline, not the whole hoof wall? Your thoughts?”

Clive says:

I think we should be asking the question “Why are we so obsessed with making hooves moist?”

It's always interesting to me how much time we spend worrying about keeping hooves "moist". Why are we so convinced that a healthy hoof should be soft?

In most cases, the hoof is simply responding to the environment it's living in. If a horse lives on dry, hard ground, the hoof often becomes harder and more resilient because that's exactly what's needed. If the horse lives in wetter conditions, the hoof will adapt differently.

The important thing to remember is that the hoof receives its moisture from within, through the horse's circulation and overall health. Applying products to the outside of the hoof, including the coronet band, doesn't change the way moisture is delivered to the structures that matter. If we're concerned about hoof quality, growth or resilience, we should be looking at the horse's overall health, nutrition, movement and environment rather than searching for something to paint on the outside.

The bigger question is: what problem are we actually trying to solve? If the hoof is healthy, growing normally and functioning well, does it need moisturising at all?

Sometimes we've become so accustomed to the idea that hooves should feel soft and supple that we forget their primary job is to protect the horse and cope with the environment. A hard hoof isn't necessarily a dry hoof, and a soft hoof isn't necessarily a healthy one. The hoof's job is to adapt to the conditions the horse lives in, and often what we're seeing is exactly that adaptation taking place.

Regards

Clive

31/05/2026

🌊Soaking hooves with nappies in preparation for trimming🌊

▪️I use supermarket brand nappies in size 5️⃣

▪️Pour around 200-300ml of plain water in to the nappy.💧
▪️Wrap the hoof in the nappy. Repeat for all hooves. 🐴
▪️Let your horse stand (with a haynet so they don't fidget around and pull the nappies off!) for around half hour before your hoof care provider arrives. ⏳️
▪️Let the HCP remove each nappy as they go, this way they get an even longer soak and will be even easier for your HCP to trim and then they will love you forever! 😁
▪️Be amazed at just how much extra hoof it is possible to remove (if it is ready to go!) when you follow the above steps! 🤯

30/05/2026

I first met Nino on 1st of April 2023 (yes sometimes it has felt like the biggest april fools joke of my life!😆) He has honestly been one of the trickiest horses I have ever met! I don't mind admitting that quite early on I remember assessing his hooves at one of my monthly visits and turning to his human and saying "I'm honestly not sure what to do with these" 😬🙈

EMS & PSSM separately are difficult enough, both together almost impossible! Keeping him stable has been a daily battle for his human! She deserves a medal I can tell you 😁

Helping her to keep him comfortable on his feet has also felt impossible at times, and to see him now, stomping his way over loose lumps of limestone without so much as a misstep was something I honestly never thought we would see!

It's not even just the positive physical changes either, once upon a time I would almost tiptoe around him hoping not to get told off or nipped. Now he asks me for scratches and grooms me in return 🥹

To see him thriving the way he is now is a huge relief. That's not to say that previous yards he's been kept at haven't tried their hardest, but the management system he is now in is clearly perfect for him with all his extra needs. 🧡

What 11.4 stone/ 72kg of weight loss looks like!

Nino's journey so far

Top pic October 2025 - 495kg
Bottom pic May 2026 -423kg

Nino arrived at AVL at the end of Sept 2025 and in 8 months he has lost a whopping 72kg 😮 Now he's a healthy weight it's time to start building muscle, on track and in ground/ridden work.

Nino has EMS and PSSM which means track life is perfect for him. He also needs a little TLC; he currently has 2 feeds a day and due to PSSM he struggles to regulate his temperature, so is rugged quite heavily when the weather is cold.

He arrived at AVL from another track system (not locally) that wasn't working for him due to management issues; hay was regularly running out which I think triggered Nino's insulin into overdrive. When you starve an EMS/ metabolic horse it can actually cause them to gain weight; their body goes into overdrive and starts to pile on the fat pads as a survival instinct.

Horses like Nino also gain too much weight on grass, and on ad lib loose hay, so getting the balance right is hard work. Low sugar/starch meadow hay in slow feeders that doesn't run out, is the ideal solution.

Well the proof is in the pony, and Nino has gradually lost weight, slowly and carefully on our track. Not only that but his hooves have changed completely for the better, which has been witnessed and commented on by his trimmer Shelley Read - Barefoot Hoof Care .

Weight loss should be gradual, and fast weight loss should not be applauded as it is not healthy, for horses or humans! Time and time again I see people starving overweight horses in order to get quick results and it really isn't the way to do it. Nor is applauding quick weight loss from the horse being thrown onto a new track system with a new herd, without any slow introductions, and losing the weight through being bullied off of hay by other horses. Starving also causes serious stress and negative effects on mental health. Horses are designed to eat little and often, constantly, and running out of food triggers a survival response telling the horse that if he doesn't eat soon, he is going to die. Can you imagine how stressful that is?

This is the first stage in a process we call the "unraveling". Often when horses are overweight their lack of muscle is hidden under a layer of fat. As the weight falls away this becomes obvious, as it is now with Nino and another horse who's here, Bo, who's going through a similar process. Now that he's a healthy weight his owner can start adding in ground work exercises and light ridden work to build muscle. It all takes time, this is the first step.

Lots of people reach for feed to add fat to hide the lack of muscle, rather than putting the work in to build muscle. We are conditioned to seeing fat horses.

Slow, careful intros and extra support into their new life, and slow gradual weight loss, is key for long term physical and mental health. 🙌