Hoof Care Neglect, as published in the Dally Times, March 2017

In my experience, hoof care neglect is one of the worst things that can happen to your horse. When the foot grows too long, it creates a lot of leverage and stress. This stress causes hoof distortion, stretching of the laminae in the foot, and in turn, weakening of the hoof. Length creates leverage, and when the toe grows too long, it puts significant stress on everything, specifically the tendons. This alone is a bad circumstance, but if a hazardous situation occurs, such as deep footing, serious injuries will follow.

In addition to serious injury, hoof neglect negatively affects performance. Imagine if you were trying to compete as an athlete with athletic shoes that were twice as big as they should be. (insert conclusion of why this is bad)

If there is ever a chance of infrequent shoeing or neglect, in most cases, I recommend trimming instead of shoeing. A benefit of trimming is that when trimmed, a horse will usually wear down his own feet.
God Bless America.