I recommend downloading and reading the book, then after some practical work re-read….
even more than twice and of course contact me for any support.

I am a parrot of Maureen
Which is a good thing ✔️

Let’s take a look
Here is one of my horses Hara.
She is 16.2 and has pretty big hooves.
We are going to compare her trim on May 26 2022 and the latest trim June 25 2022.
I was surprised in May at how her sole looked, and then wow the transformation back to a nice smooth sole.
Rock crunching no matter how they look different. We notice things but this doesn’t change the trim.

Pre trim June 25 2022
You can see in the pic below her fast rate of growth 5 weeks…6mm of wall above the sole on the fronts.

Hooves are dynamic and amazing to study from trim to trim….take those pictures!
Happy HGM Trimming.

This could happen…..today after 9 years of taking hoof pics my phone got stepped on!
Hehe….
Hara 😖

When we trim a foal, a mini or a pony ( under 13.2 ) we have a slightly different trim.


Here are the exact rules...HGM P.M.F ( pony, mini, foal )

• Clean the hoof very well especially the seat of the corn, exfoliate any crumbly and or flaky sole/bars.
  

• Trim heels flat to sole level measured at the seat of the corn.
  
• Using a 20degree bevel bring wall to sole level from heel to heel rasping through the whiteline to the edge of the sole. You want to see a clean whiteline from heel to heel. If there is a sole ridge or a flat plateau ( these will be behind the whiteline ) then start your bevel just in front of these.
  

This is a mini trim (founder rehab), he has been totally great ( sound ) since his first HGM trim and is now in his 3rd year. Even though he has been totally sound the for the whole time it has taken these years for his hooves to “look” better....this last trim was really exciting because for the first time his soles are looking really good
Look closely at the whiteline no dirt present, heels are at sole level ( measured at the seat of the corn ) also no dirt present.
You can see with this trim my bevel starts way behind the whiteline because there was a clear ridge, and was really necessary. Also you will notice the toe is backed ( because of his founder ).

Here are some examples of dirt left in the whiteline ( we don’t want to do this )

Thank you Kristin Moses for permission to use your trim pics.
Kristin is a practicing Veterinarian living in Jamaica, she is in the process of learning the HGM trim. Ashwa is a 12 week old foal.

This is his first trim, top row are post trim, bottom row pre trim.

Top row post trim, bottom row pre trim

Top row pre trim, bottom row post trim

Top row pre trim, bottom row post trim.

Always feel free to contact me if you need some support...

We implemented the track system in 2019.

Having the horses on a perimeter track is brilliant!
We are able to control the amount of grass the horses eat,
encourage movement on surfaces that will trim the hooves naturally and control over grazing in the pastures.
Horses are meant to eat fibre (dried up grasses), not lush green grass (high in sugar),
most horses can tolerate green grass but a few can become insulant resistant (like a diabetic that cannot tolerate sugar) ,
which will cause the fatty tissues in the body to inflame causing pain in movement.
A Track system gives the ability to control the sugar intake, control obesity! Yes obesity in a problem for horses too!
Our track system has two....
Neko our sweet Andalusian is an IR horse so he lives on the outside track and we have the ability to better control his sugar levels.
For all horses living domestically, movement is the key to their good health and great hooves.
And this works 100% with HGM!

​The Track System credit goes to Jamie Jackson
​

Inside Track
​Cinder, 11, Quarter Horse.............Hara, 6, Andalusian X.............Miel, 14, Andalusian..................Star, 27, Anglo Arab....................Bella, 16, Shire X Arab............

Outside Track
Neko, 6, Andalusian

Thank You Track!

A couple of days ago I spotted these picture on FB, these are hoof pics of an Australian Brumby (feral horse). Sadly they were taken right after this mare just died, that's why you can see blood on the hooves.
​From an educational stand point these hooves give us an amazing opportunity to get close look at some wild hooves.
​
With HGM trimming we don't try to make our horses hooves look like a wild hoof, we simply mimic the action of the ground, by following the simple HGM trim rules. If you try to mimic the look of wild hoof for example "take the heels down" you will start a cycle of hoof problems.....hoof imbalances, which are the cause of all hoof pathology's.

​.
Fronts
We can see this hoof is not perfect! imbalanced heels, frog, collateral grooves and sole,
there is also a clear sole ridge.
The frog looks contracted compared to my domestic horses hooves.
​Remember....the ground has no knife and no agenda.

​.
Wall is at sole level with not such a steep bevel angle, a little height at the seat of the corn and nice sole with good concavity.
We can see the white line and excess laminae at the wall quarters and no peripheral loading lines on the wall.

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Hinds
We see the same thing in this hind, not perfectly balanced.
But still a beautiful hoof.

​.
​Now lets compare some of my domestic horses hooves to these Brumby hooves.
Well pretty close....the exception being the back of hooves, frogs and angle of the wall, the larger bars are part of the the angle of heel.
My horses are turned out 24/7 but their footing is grass and their amount of daily movement doesn't come close to that of a wild horse. 
Things to note I never trim their bars and only balance the heels at the seat of the corn if necessary.
My horses hooves don't look exactly like wild horse hooves because my horses are not wild! But they are sound on all surfaces. Functional domestic feet.

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Here ​is a comparison to a domestic horse that lives on a gravel surface.

​.
Hind comparisons.
These 3 hinds are post trim...you can see how little I did....wall to sole level to the whiteline-20 degree bevel on the wall. 

The thing about HGM is, we see the hoof and what it tells us but it doesn’t change the trim....
Because our trim is mimicking the ground and the ground is just the ground! Not terribly scientific....
This is why Maureen taught us....
”It’s not rocket science”
“Are you as smarty as the ground”
“The ground doesn’t think”
“ The ground has no agenda”

THERE ARE NO MEASURING OF ANGLES, NO ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL THE HOOF
​
Basically what happens when you start trimming with the HGM method is you will stop trimming the heels ( or only rarely need to )  and address toe...only from the sole.

What we see on the outside does not affect our trimming....Our trimming guide is the sole!
​
If you are questioning or are not yet totally trusting the trim you may be shocked by what you see, when you look at the changes to the heels.

 4 year old Andalusian, LF post trim, trimmed 4 years with HGM. He has upright hooves.

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Clients horses, top pic is 3rd trim, below pic is second trim
This hoof was in bad shape, the toe was very long and the heels were trimmed totally flat, causing the split and the this hoof was much longer than the matching hind hoof. 
Note I did not cut the wall on the on the corner of the split.
All I did was follow the trim rules. First trim I put a 20 degree bevel on the wall and took the toe back a very small amount. Second and third trim there was a very strong sole ridge present and I was able to take the toe back a little more.
We can see the crack is healing and starting to grow out.

Andalusian, 12 years old, top October, middle September, before HGM July bottom, 4 months with HGM
These hooves were imbalanced medial/laterally, posterior/anterior and all different sizes.

Happy HGM Trimming.

When I first started trimming my with HGM, I never imagined I would end up trimming HGM professionally....and I certainly never imagined trimming a donkey!
Donkeys are nothing like horses.....and this also goes for the trim!

Here is everything Donkey HGM I learned from Maureen.

​YEP! THEY ARE CUTE. THEY HAVE MY TOTAL RESPECT!

A nice trim example

When you are trimming a donkey, you have to forget all the HGM Horse trim rules!
The donkey trim rules are basically rasp the WHOLE foot flat, heels, wall and sole. No bevel angle on the wall, heels level with each other.
Angle the rasp down towards the toe, till you address the toe going through sole if it’s present.
This is removing the wedge.

The goal is to have the wall edge parallel with the horizontal peripheral loading lines.
These lines are a nice guide.

This is a trim consult of one of Maureens clients.....You can see she didn’t follow the trim instructions to well.
The toe is still long and heels weren’t taken to sole level. I’m sure the trimmer was just scared to do more because then she would have gone more into the sole. But donkey hooves are not meant to have concavity.
The blue line shows the angle of the rasp could have been more steep towards the toe.
But still a big improvement.

Yep when I first started working with donkeys, this scared me!

I hope sharing this information will help my trimming friends out there....
Please feel free to contact me if you need any support.

Here we have the before on the left side of the picture, the front left and below the front right, the after on the right side of the picture top left front and below right front.
The pictures are 5 trims apart.
What is so apparent is the rebalancing of the hooves anterior/ posterior, and front right to front left.
The right front was more clubbed than the left but we can see these 2 hooves after a few trims have better simitry to each other.
The back of the hooves are opening and the frogs are less stretched, less contracted, less weak and less receding up the back of the hoof. The heel bulbs are opening and the whole shape of the hoof is changing.
As the back of the hooves open and the rebalancing starts, look at the toe, a very obvious ridge, showing us were the toe wants to be. Or we can say next trim we will trim to just in front of the sole ridge.
Oh yeah! and the collateral grooves are opening part in parcel with the decontracting hoof.
You might be thinking....these are small changes for 5 trims, but really with hooves they heal on their own time, and for myself I think these changes are wonderful, a great HGM beginning!

A year before Maureen died she had developed diabetes and passed out for three days. It was her horses that alerted the neighbours....Maureen told me her horses saved her life. After this happened I mentioned to my HGM trim friends “ we can’t loose Maureen “......
I have been trimming with HGM for 5 years now and Maureen was always there to guide me through working with clients and their horses.
I had the idea after our move to our new property in a more central location in B.C. Canada to start bringing Maureen up to Canada, I was hoping once or twice a year to teach HGM....I had visions of an HGM school in Clearwater, B.C. Canada. Yes I was thinking big....because I saw the amazing, brilliance of this simple trim. But then the worst did happen and Maureen did die. Before Maureen died I would send people to Maureen’s website to connect with her and hopefully take Maureen’s trimming course so they could learn the trim, we would work together and I could give real time support. After Maureen died I felt very strongly that I had to continue spreading the HGM trim. So that’s what I did....I started my website and have made HGM trim videos and share everything I have learnt and experienced. I also offer Maureen’s course and mark ups and trim horses for clients. Yes I charge for my time but my true intention is spreading the HGM trim knowledge. I would love to see as many people as I can guide to become professional HGM trimmers....because this trim is unbelievablely amazing, so beneficial to horses and so simple that any horse owner can learn to trim their own horses.
I still have visions of an HGM trimming school and hoof rehab!
Using the name HGM is in honour to Maureen Tierney and her legacy.