Bare Hoof Natural Hoof Care Lisa Habbley

07/15/2026

07/02/2026

06/15/2026

🚨 THE "ECVM" DEBATE: THE GAME-CHANGING NEW EVIDENCE EVERY HORSE OWNER NEEDS TO SEE 🚨

If you own a Warmblood, Thoroughbred, or sport horse, you’ve probably heard of ECVM (Equine Complex Vertebral Malformation).

For years, a massive debate has raged between horse owners and traditional veterinarians. Owners frequently share heartbreaking stories of horses suffering from unexplained neck stiffness, stumbling, or sudden behavior changes under saddle. Meanwhile, the mainstream veterinary establishment has often remained skeptical, arguing that because up to 40% of some horse populations have these C6/C7 variations without ever showing symptoms, it should be viewed as a "normal anatomical variant," not a disease.

But a groundbreaking new 2026 study has just completely changed the game. Leading researchers Dr. Sharon May-Davis (the anatomist who first discovered the condition), Dr. Audrey DeClue, and Kate Workman have published a peer-reviewed paper in the journal Animals that finally bridges the gap between science, veterinary imaging, and what owners are experiencing on the ground.

Here is exactly what this new research means for YOU and your horse:

1. It highlights the "Domino Effect" Inside the Neck 🧩
Skeptics have long argued that a slight bone variation doesn't automatically mean a horse is in pain. However, this study looked at the most severe form (Grade 4 Aplasia), where a crucial bony anchor point on the 6th neck vertebra (C6) is completely missing and transposed onto the 7th (C7).

By examining these cases, researchers showed that this skeletal defect creates a severe domino effect on the surrounding soft tissue:

The Muscles: The longus colli muscle—the absolute core stabilizer of your horse's neck—is left severely altered or completely asymmetrical because its structural anchor point is missing.

The Blood Flow: In 13 out of 20 cases, the malformation actually deformed the bone channel (foramen transversarium), which could directly disrupt or destabilise the vertebral artery, which supplies vital blood flow to the horse's brain.

2. No More Veterinary Guesswork 📸
In the past, vets struggled to diagnose this accurately on a live horse because standard field X-rays of the lower neck are notoriously hard to align. This study changes that. The researchers successfully established a precise, concrete protocol using specific bony landmarks. Vets can now reliably diagnose this severe structural deficit in live horses using standard field radiographs.

3. It Validates Horse Owners 🐴❤️
If you have been told your horse is just "being difficult," "resisting contact," or "unwilling to work," this paper provides a massive sigh of relief. It indicates that these severe structural variations could be directly tied to localized neck pain, neurological coordination issues, and severe biomechanical instability. It isn't a training issue; it is a physical defect.

What should you do next?

Look at the Whole Horse: Because symptoms like stumbling or stiffness overlap with other issues (like kissing spines, ulcers, or hock arthritis), traditional vets worry owners will stop looking for answers once they see a neck X-ray. Use this new data as a tool, not a catch-all.

Talk to Your Vet: If you have a horse with unresolved, chronic neck pain or unpredictable behavior, ask your veterinarian about this specific 2026 study. Vets now have an exact radiographic blueprint to look closer and get you definitive answers.

Our horses can't speak, so they rely on us to look past the surface. This new research gives us the power to finally see the full picture, make informed breeding decisions, protect horse welfare, and provide our equine partners with the exact care they deserve.

📝 SCIENTIFIC PRECISION UPDATE: To ensure we interpret this brilliant new data with absolute clinical accuracy, it is important to note a specific detail regarding the study's scope!

While the paper provides an incredibly compelling, highly logical anatomical framework for why these horses experience issues—mapping out exactly how the longus colli muscle and vertebral artery are structurally altered—it is an anatomical description of end-stage, symptomatic horses rather than a dynamic biomechanical study. Because it didn't include a healthy control group, strict science means it doesn't prove direct causation or the exact firing mechanics of the pain itself.

What it does definitively prove is a massive game-changer for diagnostics: veterinarians now have a validated radiographic blueprint to accurately identify this severe Grade 4 defect in live horses. It gives us the structural pieces of the puzzle so we can stop guessing and start looking closer! 🎯

If you are interested in reading the paper here is the link below:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/16/3/482

04/12/2026

You may have noticed over the past several years that an increasing number of horses at the pinnacle of the showjumping sport are competing barefoot, Annika Kortlang writes. This includes highly successful horses such as King Edward, United Touch S, Donatello 141, and more. At the 2024 FEI World Cup Finals, the top three finishers were all barefoot. The 2025 winner, Julien Epaillard, keeps all his horses barefoot. Riders and grooms of these elite barefoot horses have indicated in interviews that they believe their horses benefit from being barefoot.

What might these benefits be?

While I don’t show at the 5* Grand Prix level, I do compete my barefoot horses in the junior hunters and equitation divisions at A shows up and down the West Coast. My horses did not come to us barefoot, and I have been involved in transitioning all four of our horses from shod to barefoot. In the process, I have learned how to seek out science-based information about hoofcare, what transitioning horses to barefoot entails, and how transitioning to barefoot can help some horses.

The equine foot is a marvel of engineering. We usually see just the tough keratin exterior, but encapsulated in the hoof is a complex apparatus of bones, tendons, ligaments, vasculature, cartilage, and other soft tissues that are designed to absorb shock and return energy to the horse. Metal horseshoes, which have changed little in over a thousand years, provide obvious protection to the perimeter of the underside of the hoof. They do so, however, at some cost to hoof function and internal balance.

As explained by Dr Stephen O’Grady and Dr Hilary Clayton, two widely published equine veterinarians and researchers, “The equine foot has evolved as the interface between the limb and the ground. Its functions include accepting the weight of the horse, providing shock absorption, dissipating the energy of impact, and providing traction. A structurally healthy foot in its natural or barefoot state outperforms the shod foot in these functions. Furthermore, the structures of the foot have an inherent ability to change shape, strengthen and improve over time through the process of adaptation” (O’Grady, Stephen and Clayton, Hilary (2024) “Barefoot methodology as a viable farriery option.” Equine Veterinary Education Vol 36(8)). Open-heeled metal shoes concentrate load on the perimeter of the hoof, prevent the heels from expanding and flexing independently, and refer shock back up the leg.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/04/20/are-you-curious-about-barefoot/
📸 Photo © Helen ST via Flickr

03/17/2026

Respect for space.
When I talk about respect for space, I’m not trying to win an argument about dominance or prove I’m the “boss.” I’m talking about something far more practical: a horse cannot be the one making the decisions. Not because the horse is “bad,” and not because the horse is plotting against you—but because a thousand-pound animal making independent decisions in a human world is how people get hurt.

I’ve spent my life around horses, and I’ll tell you the truth as plainly as I can: a horse making the decisions is dangerous for the rider. It’s dangerous in the obvious ways—spooking, bolting, running over you—but it’s also dangerous in the subtle ways people excuse for years until something finally happens. The little decisions become bigger decisions. The small boundary becomes no boundary. Then one day the horse makes a decision at the wrong time, and it turns into a wreck.

So when I ask for a horse to respect my space, what I’m really doing is asking for one essential thing: let me be the leader. Not the bully. Not the dictator. The leader.

Because leadership is how the relationship works. Leadership is what makes the partnership safe. And safety is what allows both the rider and the horse to get what they want out of the relationship.

The Horse Doesn’t Get to Decide Where My Body Goes

Here’s the simplest way I can put it: if a horse can move my feet, that horse is already in charge.

A lot of people don’t realize that’s what’s happening. They call it “he’s just being friendly” or “she’s just a little pushy.” But in the horse’s world, movement equals control. If the horse crowds you and you step away, the horse just learned something. If the horse drags you to the gate and you go with him, he learned something. If the horse leans into you at the mounting block and you adjust to make it work, he learned something.

None of this is evil. It’s just horses being horses.

But if the horse is allowed to make those decisions on the ground, it becomes very likely that the horse will try to make decisions under saddle too—especially when the horse gets worried, excited, tired, frustrated, or distracted. And that’s when it gets dangerous.

So I don’t treat “respect for space” as a manners issue. I treat it as a leadership issue.

A Horse Making Decisions Looks Like This

Most folks think a horse “making decisions” is a big dramatic thing like bolting or bucking.

But the truth is, it starts long before that. It looks like:

stepping into you when you stop

pushing the shoulder into you when you lead

swinging the hip into you when you’re trying to move around them

walking past you instead of with you

drifting into your bubble while you saddle

crowding you at the mounting block

turning their head and leaving you mentally, even if their feet are still standing there

Those are all decisions. They’re small, but they’re real.

And here’s why they matter: a horse that believes it can decide where to put its body will eventually decide where to put its body when it counts. That might be into you, over you, away from you, or through you.

I’m not willing to gamble on that.

Leadership Isn’t About Being Mean—It’s About Taking Responsibility

This is where people get confused, because they hear “leader” and they picture somebody roughing a horse up to prove a point.

That’s not leadership. That’s insecurity.

Leadership is simple: I take responsibility for the decisions so the horse doesn’t have to.

A horse is always looking for someone to answer a question: “Where should I be? What should I do? Is this safe? Are we okay?” If I don’t answer those questions, the horse will. Not because the horse is disrespectful, but because the horse is wired to survive.

And the horse’s survival decisions don’t always match what keeps the rider safe.

A horse’s decision might be: “I’m leaving.”
A horse’s decision might be: “I’m running through this pressure.”
A horse’s decision might be: “I’m going back to the barn.”
A horse’s decision might be: “I’m crowding into you because I feel better close.”

All of those decisions make sense to a horse. None of them are what I want happening with my feet on the ground or my seat in the saddle.

So my job isn’t to punish the horse for being a horse. My job is to show the horse a better system:

You don’t have to make the decisions. I will. And if you follow my leadership, you’ll end up safer and more comfortable than you would on your own.

That’s what a partnership actually is.

Partnership Means Both Sides Get What They Want

A lot of people say they want a partnership, but what they really mean is they want the horse to cooperate while the horse is still in charge.

That’s not partnership. That’s negotiation.

Real partnership looks like this:

The rider gets safety, control, and reliability.

The horse gets clarity, fairness, and relief from having to guess.

That’s the deal.

When I’m consistent about space, what I’m really building is a horse that trusts leadership. Because a horse that trusts leadership will stop feeling like it has to manage everything.

And that changes everything under saddle.

A horse that is allowed to manage you on the ground often becomes a horse that tries to manage the ride: it chooses the speed, the direction, the distance from the gate, the amount of effort, the level of focus. It decides how much it wants to give. It decides when it wants to quit. It decides when it wants to argue.

That’s not a partnership. That’s a horse running the relationship.

A horse can’t run the relationship safely. The horse doesn’t have the same goals as you do. The horse doesn’t have the same understanding of risk. The horse doesn’t think like a human. And the horse should not have to.

“Respect for Space” Is Just the First Leadership Test

I like to keep it simple. Respect for space is the first place I check whether the horse accepts leadership.

If the horse won’t respect space, it’s usually not a training problem yet. It’s a leadership problem.

Because space is the easiest thing in the world to understand: “Don’t walk into me. Don’t push through me. Yield when I ask.”

If a horse can’t do that calmly and consistently, then I already know what I’m going to get later when the questions get harder.

And I’m not saying that to be dramatic. I’m saying it because I’ve watched the pattern a thousand times.

The horse that crowds on the ground becomes the horse that leans on the bridle.

The horse that drags you to the gate becomes the horse that sucks back to the barn.

The horse that won’t yield the shoulder becomes the horse that falls in on circles and ignores leg.

The horse that walks through you becomes the horse that walks through pressure.

It’s the same mindset—just different settings.

What It Looks Like When the Rider Is the Leader

When the rider is truly the leader, you can see it without anybody having to announce it.

It looks like:

The horse stays out of your space unless invited closer.

The horse matches your pace when you lead.

The horse yields the shoulder and hip when asked.

The horse stops when you stop and doesn’t step into you.

The horse waits at the mounting block instead of crawling into your lap.

The horse stays mentally with you, not scanning for its own plan.

And the horse doesn’t do those things because it’s afraid. It does them because it understands the system.

The horse understands: “If I follow this person, my life makes sense.”

That’s what leadership creates—a world that makes sense.

The Rider Being the Leader Doesn’t Mean the Horse Has No Opinion

This matters, because someone always hears “leader” and thinks it means the horse gets treated like a robot.

No.

A horse can have feelings. A horse can be unsure. A horse can be fresh. A horse can be opinionated.

But the horse doesn’t get to turn those feelings into decisions that put the rider at risk.

That’s the line.

I want the horse to be able to express itself within the relationship—without taking control of the relationship.

That’s why I correct space issues. Not because I hate the horse being close. But because I refuse to let closeness become control.

The Big Takeaway

If your horse is crowding you, pushing into you, leaning on you, or moving your feet around, I don’t want you to label your horse as “disrespectful” and get angry.

I want you to label it accurately:

Your horse is making decisions that you should be making.

And any time the horse is making those decisions, your risk goes up—on the ground and in the saddle.

So the goal isn’t dominance. The goal is leadership.

Leadership gives the rider what they want: safety, control, and progress.

Leadership gives the horse what it wants: clarity, fairness, and the comfort of not having to guess.

That’s how you build a partnership that works for both sides—because the rider leads, and the horse follows with confidence.