Local farrier promotes wooden clogs as a cure for lame horses

By Jamie Keyes

                                                                                           Scott McKendrick photo

Ranch and recreational horses are vulnerable to chronic laminitis, also known as founder. Founder is a painful condition that effects a horse’s hoof and often results in death. Scott McKendrick, a Cache Valley farrier who is certified by the American Farriers Association, uses wooden clogs as horse shoes to solve this problem and save horses’ lives.  

“This is an alternative for lame horses, rather than putting them down,” McKendrick said.

McKendrick and Son Horseshoeing is one of the few certified farrier services in Cache Valley. Scott and his son Chansey McKendrick service horsemen by taking care of all their hoof care needs, including healing a foundered horse, an unfamiliar practice in Cache Valley. McKendrick discovered the idea three years ago.

“It’s pretty simple,” McKendrick said. “You get a ½ inch piece of plywood and put it together for height, and then shape it to the horse’s foot.”

Founder can be caused by toxins in the bloodstream which flow to the hoof. The coffin bone, the lowest bone in a horse’s foot, begins to swell and rotate. The hoof begins to deteriorate causing pressure and pain.

According to McKendrick, the wooden clog takes pressure off the hoof and makes it like “walking on a cushion for a horse.”

“The clog stimulates production of the sole,” McKendrick said. “It is a way to remodel a hoof.”

Plastic clogs are available commercially, but McKendrick said he would rather use wood.

“Wood is more shock absorbent, and wears naturally,” McKendrick said. “It forms to the horse’s foot.”

Screws are used to attach the clog, preventing pain of hammering a nail into the hurt hoof. Wooden clogs can also be used for horses with thin soles.

Freeda Lashley, a native of Cache Valley, owns a horse with thin soles. She said that her mare is proof of the “incredible work” that wooden clogs do.

“The vet said my horse had some pretty serious issues going on,” Lashley said. “She was a competitive barrel horse and the vet said to lay her off.”

McKendrick applied the treatment to Lashley’s mare and within two days she was moving again. 

“It provided constant protection necessary for the hoof to heal,” Lashley said. “Now she has structural soundness to her hooves and she is back running.”

McKendrick has applied the wooden clogs to approximately two dozen horses and he said it is now his go to remedy.

“We have a great rate of recuperation of foundered horses,” McKendrick said. “You’ll know the success in the first treatment.” 

McKendrick is confident in the treatment and hopes to have the opportunity to educate people about it.   

“The old time rancher’s mentality is if a horse founders, it’s done,” McKendrick said. “We just want to share it with more people and, as a result, help save more horses.”