At the seminars of Academia Liberti we pay great attention to the practical part and interaction with horses through the science of each department Academia teaches. It is very important to us to keep our seminars at places where the horses directly can benefit through excellent knowledge and education of Academia Liberti members. This is the herd which could take a benefit from it this time.

According to the report:

— all the horses were from zoo initially, what means the optimal hoof form was already compromised in them;

— the limited area of living — limited number of plants, partly cultivated pastures, limited movement;

— the herd consisted only of mares — what suggests they never could have enough proper kind of movement received usually from the wild games.

 

So, the laminar connection was already compromised in them through the not optimal hoof shape they had at least part of their lives. All the limitations their area of living brought them became the trigger for developing bad inflammatory process in their hooves and the following inability of quick self-healing.

Natural selection may play a part in differences in foot health and morphology observed between populations of feral horses. While the Kaimanawa horses live a relatively protected existence free from predators and with little pressure on feed and water resources, the feral horses of North Queensland must endure attack from predator dingos and crocodiles, culling operations carried out by man, and severe periodic drought which kills horses regularly. Greater variation from the ideal foot type may then be better tolerated in the less demanding environment of the Kaimanawa Ranges but not in the more extreme conditions where survival is a greater challenge.

Humans put them under such conditions, when there're no more so tough natural selection rules applied, so they can afford poorer hoof shape as far as it doesn't create too big discomfort and make them unsound even for living such 'laid back' life. 

So, a purpose of our trim is to give to a domestic horse the same what nature gives to a wild horse — such optimal hoof form, which would secure comfort in its hooves, which would not create health problems in its body. Even doing our best, we mostly can't provide our horses the same lifestyle as the wild horses have: the same amount of movement on different terrain and the same style of movement, the same variety of plants to eat, possibility of mating in spring, when spring grass is intended to cause a hormonal response in the body to activate it towards breeding season, etc. So, under domestic conditions correct trimming becomes of the utmost importance for our horses. Correct trimming — it is trimming for removing any tiniest levers which could bring damage to the hoof and consequently to the whole body. This is why we need often shorter bars, deeper concavity and more of such nuances, which, as it seems, nature doesn't always care about so much in the wild horses hooves.