I first met Inca in 2000, overweight, “cresty” and suffering with foundered front hooves. I offered to take the horse and was excited to try some methods I was certain would help her. After xrays were taken to determine the extent of damage to the coffin bone, farrier Frank Strange used a wedge pad under her front hooves in order to steepen her hairline angle. We did this by reversing the pad and holding it in place with a shoe nailed on with four nails very close to the toe. Inca had 3 sets of these shoes with reverse wedge pads over 3 months time. Her hooves began growing out at a new angle, parallel with her coffin bone. She began feeling better and also losing weight.

Once I began my natural hoofcare training at the Internation Center of Equine Arts, I was able to shape the bottom of Inca's hooves to give her concavity and keep her heels low. I was unable to reach a 30 degree hairline due to her coffin bone deterioration and development of a ski-tip (see xray). Inca now remains sound and happy. She is in work as a 1st-2nd level school horse and is used frequently on the trail, always barefoot, treeless and bitless!