About Evolutionary Horse and Hoof Care

The concept of 'Evolutionary Horse and Hoof Care' has a simple scientific basis:

1. Horses as a species have evolved in response to specific types of environments.
2. The traits of those 'evolutionary environments' stimulate the optimal health of the species.
3. Thus, emulating the influences of thoes environments when caring for domestic horses will make them more resilient.

Evolutionary processes 'select' for genetic traits that promote the adaptation of each species to survive and prosper in specific environments. Thus, the development of optimal levels of health and vitality for any speices will be promoted by exposure to the qualities of the environment in which it evolved. Domestication typically removes animals from their evolutionary envrionments and life styles. If we wish to promote optimal health and soundness for horses, then we must attempt to provide conditions that emulate those for which they are genetically adapted.

The horse's single digit hoof is the most unique expression of its evolutionary adaptation. The hoof attains its most reslient form and healthy function in drier climates where horeses range continually across wide open landscapes. The quality of hooves on domestic horses thus depends in large part on limiting exposure to moisture, promoting an active, socially motivated lifestyle, providing feeds similar to those the species evolved to consume, and shaping hooves in a manner that mimics wear created by continual movement over the drier terrains in which the speices evolved.

Evolutionary Hoof Care tools have been designed to facilitate the 'fine tuning' of the hoof's bearing surfaces to mimic the form these take in an evolutionary envirionment. The creation and maintenence of a smoothly rounded edge to the hoof wall is essential to preventing hoof wall deforminty and the subsequent debilitation of the hoof and leg's healthy functions. The shape and contours of the hoof determine how the forces of weight bearing and locomotion effect the form of the hoof capsule. The horse's optimal performance and soundness thus are promoted by maintaining relatively compact, straight walled, short toed hooves with concave soles--because these traits make hooves more durable, promote efficient circulation of the blood in the leg, and mimise the locomotive stresses on the limbs. Thus the concern of Evolutionary Hoof Care is to emulate evolutionary influences that optimize the horse's genetically endowed adaptive traits.