TRIMMING WITH TACT
THE ANATOMICALLY CORRECT TRIM
CREATED BY LINDA J HARRIS
(Membership in the TACT Global Hoof Care Association)
Trimming strategy called TACT. It is a protocol that focuses on the true anatomy of the horse's hoof.
During our work with the rescue here and our commercial trimming business, we have seen its powerful and consistent results. Every trim now is a TACT trim, because it is the trim that works with the horse's anatomy and gets good results every time. I opted to join the TACT Global Hoof Care Association (The Anatomically Correct Trim Global Hoof Care Association). The Association has only just officially launched as the international movement has pretty much demanded it. Here is some information about the movement from the website.
This is from the Association:
TACT is simply The Anatomically Correct Trim for shod, booted or barefoot horses, it follows the anatomy to trim.
Over 10 yrs+ worth of research. Most of it with the dissection of cadavers. Looking at disease processes and conformation.
The trim is mapped out so that new trimmers know the anatomical parts of the hoof by defining them, to give them a knowledge base. The physiology of each anatomical structure is described, and the different sizes dependent on bred, what causes a distortion and what can be done to correct it.
All this work is by Linda J Harris, there is TACT group, where trimmers aren't afraid to share their horses and details of their work, whether they be farriers, or barefoot, then there is Sound Hoof Trimming Group, The Natural Hoof Pro, TACT Mini, The Happyhoof ACT Hoofcare Community, TACTvolle Hufpflege, plus others, then a many Private Practitioners.
Most people have had their horses destroyed by incorrect advice and trimming methods started by Strasser, (the 30 degree hairline, the major cause of trimming induced Mechanical Laminitis) and many have followed suit, repeating incorrect information, under at new name. It is good that they give their version a name at it enables one to follow them or avoid.
Linda Harris is very passionate about the horse and can be controversial and doesn't back away from the anatomy, that speaks for itself. There are a lot of You Tube Videos but as she has millions of subscribers, and they have requested she not delete the old videos of research, she says to watch only the recent few years to keep up to date with continuing current research.
https://www.youtube.com/user/thehappyhoof/videos
All this is done for free, due to her passion.
There is also a live forum, where the anatomy is discussed and where individual cases are assessed, with the trimmer providing the story and videos and pictures of the horse in the case. .
http://thehoofschool.tactteamtraining.com
Again it is free but people demanded that they be allowed to donate to help assist with the production.
With TACT, the anatomy lessons and dissections are invaluable.
All the training is free, weekly webinars free, mapping, videos https://www.youtube.com/user/thehappyhoof, very active international forum, FB groups. It costs $20 USD to join the Association, (after learning TACT) but no one has to join the Association in order to be able to access all the training, videos, webinars etc.
In the past, barefoot-trimmers were taught to take down the heels to the level of the periople skin/tags at the heel bulbs, or close to it so that after a couple of years of these kinds of trims, the horse ended up walking on its heel bulbs as the heels were trimmed off the horse. The remaining 'heel' is easily recognised as being a false heel as it is not heel buttress at all, but hoof wall that has been twisted and pulled out of its proper place. However the theory was that this trim was going to 'give the frog ground support' and to get the hairline at 30 degrees so that 'P3 sits parallel to the ground.' It was taught that P3 was 'suspended' by the laminae which is completely untrue and easily proved by the study of the anatomy of the hoof. I believe that Dr Pollitt still teaches this 'fact.' However far from helping the horse get its frog to have ground contact, in fact, the digital cushion was crushed, the frog stay was pulled down and under the foot so that there was nothing to separate the heels which of course then contracted and all the coriums were crushed. Instead of the frog stay separating the heels, cushioning the frog corium when P3 was fully weighted, that support was removed and navicular pain the obvious result. The importance of the toe stay, the frog stay and the heel buttresses - the true heel buttresses - are not mentioned or considered, or as I suspect, not even recognised as being of vital importance to hoof health.
So the trimming strategies gradually trimmed the internal foot out of the external capsule by making the external capsule too small for the internal foot. Then as the 'disease' or 'condition' progressed, the typical foot pathologies appeared - thrush in the central sulcus, flaring of the hoof wall which presents as WLD, FFS; medial/lateral imbalances, overgrown/overlaid bars, bruising and abscessing on sole and coronet band, contracted heels, sheared heels, navicular, negative palmar angle keratomas and so on. The internal foot was pushed back and in some cases, which I have seen, forced completely out of the external capsule.
After doing several hoof trimming courses and studying under hoof care professionals who taught various versions of the Strasser trim, the wild horse trim etc, I found the results to be very disappointing. In fact, I became convinced that their trimming strategies actually injured horses. I had serious hoof issues on rescue horses so I began investigating the trim strategies of other barefoot trimmers including Gene Ovnicek, Pete Ramey, Cheryl Henderson and farriers Andrew Bowe (trimmer and farrier), David Farmilo (master farrier) etc. I also checked the theories of Dr Hiltrud Strasser and Dr Christopher Pollitt (who you would know from ACEHP). These trimmers and farriers did not present any trims that 'worked' for my rescues and rehabs. They had/have the best of intentions, but sadly they were ignoring some of the fundamental facts about the anatomy of the hoof.
My work was with rescue horses and many of our horses needed corrective hoof work, but I was not seeing rehab results. I was in fact, seeing harm done to the horses who were often sore after the trim. Finally in 2011, I found the TACT trim. Finally our rescue horses started to get better and stay sound. One mare in particular went from 4 footed founder (repeatedly founded each November and at other times when feed contained too much sugar or that caused a high oestrogenic reaction) to gravel-crunching, barefoot pocket rocket. Sure we had to get her diet right, but without TACT, she would never graduated out of padded boots and EponaShoes.
Thankfully we have been able to help other horses from euthanasia from founder, laminitis and hoof tenderness. We now trim and shoe only according to the TACT protocol.
As part of the rehabilitation process that we use with severely laminitic or founded horses, after the initial inflammatory stage is over (4th or 5th day) we cast and glue on EponaShoes. We also used EponaShoes on my daughter's racehorse (nailed on) when he was transitioning to barefoot. He has competed in them on grass and sand tracks without a problem.
As you can tell I'm passionate about TACT. If you are interested in more information on trimming with TACT, please feel welcome to watch the many videos on TheHappyHoof youtube channel. I'm just sharing my experiences and thoughts.
During our work with the rescue here and our commercial trimming business, we have seen its powerful and consistent results. Every trim now is a TACT trim, because it is the trim that works with the horse's anatomy and gets good results every time. I opted to join the TACT Global Hoof Care Association (The Anatomically Correct Trim Global Hoof Care Association). The Association has only just officially launched as the international movement has pretty much demanded it. Here is some information about the movement from the website.
This is from the Association:
TACT is simply The Anatomically Correct Trim for shod, booted or barefoot horses, it follows the anatomy to trim.
Over 10 yrs+ worth of research. Most of it with the dissection of cadavers. Looking at disease processes and conformation.
The trim is mapped out so that new trimmers know the anatomical parts of the hoof by defining them, to give them a knowledge base. The physiology of each anatomical structure is described, and the different sizes dependent on bred, what causes a distortion and what can be done to correct it.
All this work is by Linda J Harris, there is TACT group, where trimmers aren't afraid to share their horses and details of their work, whether they be farriers, or barefoot, then there is Sound Hoof Trimming Group, The Natural Hoof Pro, TACT Mini, The Happyhoof ACT Hoofcare Community, TACTvolle Hufpflege, plus others, then a many Private Practitioners.
Most people have had their horses destroyed by incorrect advice and trimming methods started by Strasser, (the 30 degree hairline, the major cause of trimming induced Mechanical Laminitis) and many have followed suit, repeating incorrect information, under at new name. It is good that they give their version a name at it enables one to follow them or avoid.
Linda Harris is very passionate about the horse and can be controversial and doesn't back away from the anatomy, that speaks for itself. There are a lot of You Tube Videos but as she has millions of subscribers, and they have requested she not delete the old videos of research, she says to watch only the recent few years to keep up to date with continuing current research.
https://www.youtube.com/user/thehappyhoof/videos
All this is done for free, due to her passion.
There is also a live forum, where the anatomy is discussed and where individual cases are assessed, with the trimmer providing the story and videos and pictures of the horse in the case. .
http://thehoofschool.tactteamtraining.com
Again it is free but people demanded that they be allowed to donate to help assist with the production.
With TACT, the anatomy lessons and dissections are invaluable.
All the training is free, weekly webinars free, mapping, videos https://www.youtube.com/user/thehappyhoof, very active international forum, FB groups. It costs $20 USD to join the Association, (after learning TACT) but no one has to join the Association in order to be able to access all the training, videos, webinars etc.
In the past, barefoot-trimmers were taught to take down the heels to the level of the periople skin/tags at the heel bulbs, or close to it so that after a couple of years of these kinds of trims, the horse ended up walking on its heel bulbs as the heels were trimmed off the horse. The remaining 'heel' is easily recognised as being a false heel as it is not heel buttress at all, but hoof wall that has been twisted and pulled out of its proper place. However the theory was that this trim was going to 'give the frog ground support' and to get the hairline at 30 degrees so that 'P3 sits parallel to the ground.' It was taught that P3 was 'suspended' by the laminae which is completely untrue and easily proved by the study of the anatomy of the hoof. I believe that Dr Pollitt still teaches this 'fact.' However far from helping the horse get its frog to have ground contact, in fact, the digital cushion was crushed, the frog stay was pulled down and under the foot so that there was nothing to separate the heels which of course then contracted and all the coriums were crushed. Instead of the frog stay separating the heels, cushioning the frog corium when P3 was fully weighted, that support was removed and navicular pain the obvious result. The importance of the toe stay, the frog stay and the heel buttresses - the true heel buttresses - are not mentioned or considered, or as I suspect, not even recognised as being of vital importance to hoof health.
So the trimming strategies gradually trimmed the internal foot out of the external capsule by making the external capsule too small for the internal foot. Then as the 'disease' or 'condition' progressed, the typical foot pathologies appeared - thrush in the central sulcus, flaring of the hoof wall which presents as WLD, FFS; medial/lateral imbalances, overgrown/overlaid bars, bruising and abscessing on sole and coronet band, contracted heels, sheared heels, navicular, negative palmar angle keratomas and so on. The internal foot was pushed back and in some cases, which I have seen, forced completely out of the external capsule.
After doing several hoof trimming courses and studying under hoof care professionals who taught various versions of the Strasser trim, the wild horse trim etc, I found the results to be very disappointing. In fact, I became convinced that their trimming strategies actually injured horses. I had serious hoof issues on rescue horses so I began investigating the trim strategies of other barefoot trimmers including Gene Ovnicek, Pete Ramey, Cheryl Henderson and farriers Andrew Bowe (trimmer and farrier), David Farmilo (master farrier) etc. I also checked the theories of Dr Hiltrud Strasser and Dr Christopher Pollitt (who you would know from ACEHP). These trimmers and farriers did not present any trims that 'worked' for my rescues and rehabs. They had/have the best of intentions, but sadly they were ignoring some of the fundamental facts about the anatomy of the hoof.
My work was with rescue horses and many of our horses needed corrective hoof work, but I was not seeing rehab results. I was in fact, seeing harm done to the horses who were often sore after the trim. Finally in 2011, I found the TACT trim. Finally our rescue horses started to get better and stay sound. One mare in particular went from 4 footed founder (repeatedly founded each November and at other times when feed contained too much sugar or that caused a high oestrogenic reaction) to gravel-crunching, barefoot pocket rocket. Sure we had to get her diet right, but without TACT, she would never graduated out of padded boots and EponaShoes.
Thankfully we have been able to help other horses from euthanasia from founder, laminitis and hoof tenderness. We now trim and shoe only according to the TACT protocol.
As part of the rehabilitation process that we use with severely laminitic or founded horses, after the initial inflammatory stage is over (4th or 5th day) we cast and glue on EponaShoes. We also used EponaShoes on my daughter's racehorse (nailed on) when he was transitioning to barefoot. He has competed in them on grass and sand tracks without a problem.
As you can tell I'm passionate about TACT. If you are interested in more information on trimming with TACT, please feel welcome to watch the many videos on TheHappyHoof youtube channel. I'm just sharing my experiences and thoughts.