Category Archives: Natural Hoof Care

Natural Hoofcare LIVE!

Only 2 spaces left. PENZANCE’s Natural Hoofcare 101 is open for our 10 week session. Mons. starting Feb 6th at 8 pm ET LIVE on ZOOM. TOPICS:

Topic 1

The Natural Horse

Topic 2

Anatomy & Physiology of the Equine Digit

Topic 3

Natural Feed & Nutrition for Healthy Horse & Healthy Hooves

Topic 4

PENZANCE – Handling Horses Through Partnership

Topic 5

Pathologies of the Equine Digit Part I

Topic 6

Pathologies of the Equine Digit Pt. II

Topic 7

Alternative and Complimentary Hoof Health

Topic 8

THE TRIM – STEP BY STEP PT. 1

Topic 9

The Trim Step-By-Step Pt. 2

Topic 10 – REVIEW or/FINAL EXAM

Practicum to be held in Canterbury, CT Spring 2023. DTBA.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you’d like more information. 😃

gwen.santagate@gmail.com TEXT: 774-280-4227 Prvt Msg: m.me/gwenyth.santagate

A RANT —

A bit of a rant this morning — I’m seeing alot of information about mechanical and topical care for hooves that are dx’d as ‘navicular’. Navicular has become the catch-all word for heel pain. TRUE navicular ‘disease’ is something different than navicular ‘syndrome’ but the proper and EFFECTIVE treatment of balanced hoof trimming as well as other topical, systemic and mechanical relief is basically the same.

With respect to Homeopathics … navicular may or may not be ACUTE – remember, acute is a condition that will repair/resolve itself with no intervention. Chronic is long term condition that will NOT resolve on its own and Constitutional is something within the individual that is needing proper life force balancing.

That being said, ALL ASPECTS aka the WHOLE individual MUST be tended properly for complete recovery/cure.

Now, I see ALOT of stuff being thrown around in recommendations for treatment of Navicular – like the brand of minerals, feed choices, supplements etc. Let me say something — anything that is manufactured, processed, etc is going to inhibit healing! It may appear to help for a bit, but then, long term, after the ‘condition’ is apparently resolved, the ‘symptoms’ WILL re-appear again if the WHOLE individual, including stress control via herd management and husbandry, is not addressed properly – that is, organically.

I’m speaking from over 60 years of living with horses; 36+ of them tending hooves with the last 20-25 yrs of my care being resolving/restoring/recuperating SEVERELY pathological hooves. Pathological as in all 4 coffin bones dropping through the soles at once in severe founder. Navicular that was deemed ‘incurable’ by multiple vets/farriers … etc. NONE of the hundreds of horses over the years whom I treated would have recovered if the owners were not diligent about the care they gave. NONE of the horses would have recovered as well as they did if they remained on chemically processed ‘specialty feeds, supplements, injections, etc. and in shoes. NONE … and I say that in complete confidence because – I was always called in as a “last resort” because – NOTHING had worked prior to my treatment. Sometimes YEARS of treatment and the horse was still not recovering.

Now, granted, when I began this work, specialty feeds for PPID, IR, etc were just being developed and introduced to the public. I was against them then and am even more vehemently against them now. Our commercial feeds are tainted horrifically with all sorts of chemicals, additives, preservatives, artificial coloring and flavoring — being manufactured from “franken-grains” …

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT is a well-known adage and IT IS TRUTH! The horses MUST be fed organically with nothing but FORAGES … specific veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds along with individually determined herbs for healing bone, ligaments, tendons, antiinflammatories etc. This is to complement free 1st cut good quality HAY, all-round NATURALLY chelated minerals, sea or himalayan salt and fresh water. The stress must be reduced with natural environment … that means NO STALLING for extended periods of time. … turnout on VARIED terrain with other horse or horses … NO PAIN RELIEVERS …the body’s way of keeping an animal from injuring itself further is to produce pain …

By emulating the NATURAL lifestyle of a horse healing can take place and the homeopathics chosen can work to their fullest exent and they WILL restore the animal to a balanced state of being — Homeopathic CURE. It is the ONLY treatment known that can. But only when all the other parameters are met as to the NATURAL WHOLE horse with diet being of paramount importance. RANT OVER.

Laminitis

Laminitis :: Lami=laminae Itis=inflammation. There are 4 stages of “Laminitis” … Stage 1 is the Developmental stage and most horses go through this stage at one time or more during their lifetimes and present with no clinical symptoms. Owners have no idea that the hooves are in this state and most don’t realize until a month or two after the episode. This is when you’ll see a ring or two ‘appear’ about an inch or so down the hoofwall from the coronary band. This indicates the horse had an episode of laminitis (Developmental) but was able to itself without progressing into Stage 2 Lamintis – Acute Laminitis. Acute stage presents with the clinical symptoms we all dread to see. From there it will either resolve within 72 hours or then progress to Stage 3: Founder. Stage 4 is the Refractory stage. Most horses don’t ever reach this stage as most western/traditional practices will have deemed it necessary to euthanize the horse prior to this.

MOST Laminitis is caused by metabolic issues although there are cases of mechanical laminitis that occur as well.

What goes into the horse grows out through the hooves.

Check this out if you have a footy horse!

Oh.my.GODFRY … I can’t even. I’m seeing more and more and more inquiries as to “why is my horse so sore!?” and it’s KILLING ME … my motto is now NO HEEL=NO HOOF=NO HORSE!!! It’s that simple. If your horse doesn’t have 1″ of depth of the collateral groove under the seat of corn and heel platform then your horse does not have enough heel! It’s THAT SIMPLE Folks … NO HEEL=NO HOOF=NO HORSE!!!!! Here’s what your horses’ hooves should be lookin’ like from the side: Do y’all see HEELS? From the back of the hoof? You want to be seeing about 2″ between the hairline (straight and NOT “V” shaped!) and the ground! … Take a look and I’ll challenge ya — post a pic of your horses’ hoof here in comments or send to me and I’ll do a quick commentary
(I’ll be positive! 🙂 )

MESSAGE TO ME ON FACEBOOK: m.me/gwenyth.santagate
TEXT to me with images: 774-280-4227
Or EMAIL to me: gwen.santagate@gmail.com

May be an image of animal and outdoors
May be an image of horseNo photo description available.

Woo Hoo! it’s done!

Natural Hoof Anthology

Wow – finally. Over 600 pages of full-color photos and illustrations all about …. Instant download in easy PDF format! An amazing offer at just $97!! Priceless information in this anthology that you won’t find anywhere else.

NATURAL HOOF ANTHOLOGY

Yvonne Welz, Editor of “The Horses Hoof” has reviewed it and says,

Gwen’s passion for the horse shines through in this beautiful compilation of articles. There is a huge amount of info in here!! Whether you are a beginner to natural hoof care or a seasoned expert, you will appreciate the wealth of tips, advice, and things that make you go “hmmmm”! All articles are written from the “whole horse” perspective – that every single thing we do to the horse affects every other part of the horse. Gwen covers just about every topic related to horse care and hoof trimming you can imagine, with much food for thought, and excellent photos/illustrations. An enjoyable read for everyone on that eternal quest to create more natural lives for our beloved horses!

David Jones, Founder and Owner of HoofArmor LLC has also reviewed it and says,

When I switched from Engineering to Hoof Care 28 years ago, the cutting edge was aluminum horseshoes. The accepted procedure was to balance the hooves, perhaps symmetrically, 50 degrees in the front and 55 in the back, and nail on the proper size horseshoe. There were choices … you could get keg shoes, barrel shoes, rim shoes, gaited horseshoes, with or without pads and that was about it. Over the years I have learned a lot and out of necessity, by trial and error and observations, I found things that could actually help horses, barefoot hoof care being one of them. Now, with this book, you don’t have to go through that. I learned that there is more to hoof care than fixing the hooves, and that there are an enormous amount of factors that we are still learning about. Much of that is in this book and it will give you the head start that I wish I had. Don’t ever stop learning because your horse is depending on you.

And then Nick Hill, owner of V&T Hoof Specialists in Bulgeria … he has seen it and wrote,

I would urge anyone who is interested in horses to read Gwenyth’s book,  You may or may not agree with everything (like most things written), but it is written over several years from personal experience by a very experienced professional who really cares about horse welfare and is always willing to share knowledge. So go get yourself a short cut to experience!!

I am both humbled and sooooooo excited to be able to offer this amazing compilation of 3 years worth of writing about NATURAL HOOFCARE to YOU now. It’s up online, it’s released to the public and you can get your copy as simply as clicking below:

Just $97 for over 600 pages, in instant downloadable format, of incredible Natural Hoofcare information such as what to do about Thrush to Foundered Hooves, how to correct imbalanced hooves, anatomy of the internal hoof, how the hoof works with the rest of the lower limb and body, how you can improve your horse’s strides with dental work and so much more!

Suited for anyone who has anything to do with horses … from the backyard horse to the performance horse.

DON’T WAIT! DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY TODAY!  You can start helping your horse tonight!

Natural hoofcare anthology

This anthology on Natural Hoofcare is a compilation of all my educational articles for Scoot Boots, Inc. over the last 3 years. Over 600 pages all related to preventing hoof dis-eases to healing hoof dis-eases taking the WHOLE horse into account; not just the mechanical hoof – in an easy to download and print PDF format.

It includes all the diagrams and photos in the articles, in high quality full color.

It is designed in an easy-to-read format with a comprehensive Table of Contents for simple searching a topic of interest.

Suitable for reading on your computer or tablet, and also to print off from your desktop printer if you prefer.

• Links in the pages are current and easy to access.

• Easy to print off from your desktop printer if you prefer to read on paper – One article at a time or as many as you’d like for reading anywhere off-device.

• Very easy to navigate as each subject in the contents page has a link that takes you directly to that page and there is also a button at the bottom of each page that takes you back to the contents.

• Hundreds of full color photographs and illustrations that load up quickly and can be sized to your choosing.

• Instant download available, so no waiting for delivery.

PRE-ORDER HERE FOR ½ OF RELEASE PRICE:

As of January 15, 2019, NATURAL HOOFCARE ANTHOLOGY will be released to the public and the price will increase to $97.

GET YOURS COPY RESERVED TODAY FOR ONLY $50!

Oldies but goodies

While going through some old PENZANCE Natural Hoofcare website pages that I had created back in the early, early 2000’s, I ran across some good Q & A’s from Dr. Tom Tesky on NATURAL HOOFCARE that I thought would be interesting to re-post and review. Here is the list: (I hope they are visible in mobile devices but if not, I know they are on a PC.)

ASK DR. TOM ARTICLES

HORSES & HERBS

50% OFF this CYBER MONDAY – WEEK!

HORSES & HERBS HOME STUDY COURSE
from PENZANCE Equine Integrative Solutions!

Study in your own time and at your own pace yet still have PERSONAL COACHING and TEACHING when you need it!

TUITION IS 1/2 OFF! (So if there’s another course you’d like then you can actually have a BOGO!!)

Register here and allow 24 – 48 hours to receive your instructions to access your online, HOME STUDY course.


Cyber Monday Courses


Find out what herbs horse can eat,  their uses for health, deworming, wound care and more …

This is just a sampling of some of the beneficial herbs for horses –

  • Echinacea.
  • Calendula.
  • Plantain Leaf.
  • Peppermint Leaf.
  • Parsley Leaf.
  • Marshmallow Leaf.
  • Chamomile Flowers.
  • Lemon Balm.

What are they used for? When are they to be administered? How often? How much? What else can I use to help my horse?

Register today … and start learning more!

Offer ends this Friday, November 30th at midnite.


Cyber Monday Courses