John Muldoon

For three owners, John Muldoon is the personification of both the art and the science of shoeing. We have included five horses in our endorsement of Muldoon’s work because we think the examples they provide cover a broad range of the problems that can happen to horses. We also emphasize that Muldoon believes that the successful farrier works with veterinary clinics.

SA Willhedu+, owned and ridden by Judith Brown, is an Arabian/Appaloosa cross performing at the dressage FEI level. He is big and burly and looks like a tough guy.  His feet are tough Arab feet and, to the uninitiated, never have any health problems even though he is barefoot. However, in his pre-purchase exam when he was two and a half, the veterinary x-rayed his right front foot and found the horse already had navicular changes, due to incorrect shoeing, that could have jeopardized his career for life. In addition, although he had excellent gaits, he had slightly incorrect posture, which meant that he dragged his back feet and his hocks were stiff and unexpressive when he moved. He was also very wide behind.

By addressing the posture question and the lurking navicular through correct trimming, the horse is never lame and has a successful show career on a national, regional, and state level.  The horse has to be trimmed every three weeks because the blood flow to his feet is so good due to his correct posture that his feet grow quickly. Also, his feet tend to get out of balance in that amount of time and the attention to his balance keeps him functioning at a high performance level.

Sau Paulo+/, ridden by Judith Brown and owned by Jennifer Phillippa Hankins-Brown, is a small Arabian confirmation champion who is working at the Grand Prix dressage level. Again, he has the rock hard Arab feet which would make you think that he was a dream to shoe if you didn’t know that his natural front angles make him pigeon-toed and that his left back foot flares. In addition, he has an old injury to his left hip that causes him to use his right leg harder to compensate for the left leg.

Although he began his career barefooted, as he moved up the levels he literally pounded down the left back foot. Muldoon shod him to protect the hoof from that pounding and to give him the added support needed for pirouette and piaffe. Also, to protect his stifles from the strain of “sitting” which is required by the higher-level movements, John uses a shoe with a wider outside branch. Like SA Willhedu+, Sau Paulo+/’s feet never cause him to be lame. Sau Paulo+/ is also shod every three weeks because his healthy feet grow about 3/8s of an inch in that time and his legs are too short to absorb that much growth. He, too, has won numerous national awards, as well as regional and state championships.

Another example of Muldoon’s skill is Royal Destiny, owned by Judith Brown and ridden by Pippa Hankins-Brown. This smallish Thoroughbred off the track broke his neck. Initially not expected to live, he quickly showed that he would survive. While still in the hospital and certainly in pain and drugged confusion, he let Muldoon trim his feet without being tied because Muldoon is so gentle with horses. About six months later, he heat foundered. Muldoon treated him so effectively that there is no sign of the founder.

Tank Force, owned and ridden by Pippa Hankins-Brown, is the epitome of the hoof nightmare. A big Thoroughbred, he has the typical poor feet of the breed. An early career on the track did nothing to improve his feet. An apt description is that he has three back feet, one of which is on the front. The other front foot defies definition but some of its more endearing qualities include no heel as well as both navicular and laminitic problems in the same foot. Each condition has to be treated in a way that is anachronistic to the other condition so each time he is shod, Muldoon has to determine the priorities in front of him that day. When we first got him, Panzer’s feet were being kept too narrow for their size. He went through a period of abscesses and hematomas until we could resolve these questions. Then he went to England to college with his owner.

The conditions in England were difficult for the horse and, after ten months, he appeared to be sore for no particular reason. He was taken to every farrier and vet that could possible help and they all said they could not find anything wrong. In desperation we flew him home and took him to Muldoon and the Oakridge Equine Hospital. They looked at the x-rays taken in England and immediately said that he had rotated.  The rotation on the left foot was 6 degrees and on the right foot was 8 degrees. In addition, there was only 5 mm of sole, instead of the normal 10 mm. Muldoon threw the book of founder treatments at him but warned us that it had to be up to the horse as well because there was so much damage. In two weeks, the horse was sound and in a horse show. In four more weeks, the horse was second place in the nation in the USDF Thoroughbred All-Breeds Awards. After two years of assiduous treatment, Panzer had 19 mm of sole in his left and 18 mm in his right foot. The right foot, because of its navicular and laminitis conditions, is always a problem. It is constantly addressed and, as a result, the horse is a successful eventor and dressage horse.

Alouetja, owned and ridden by Clydette Womack, affectionately called “Louie,” is a 7-year-old Dutch Warmblood. Louie has had a difficult case of white line disease. We purchased Louie as a four year old. He had very good feet so we kept him barefoot. The problem with this was he developed cracks in the front of each front foot. We do not know if he had white line before or after the cracks developed. The diagnosing veterinarian, Dr. Brent Hague, and Muldoon feel Louie had the disease for a long time. Since coming under the care of these men, Louie has undergone major resection work for the past year. Muldoon worked with Oakridge veterinarians Hague and Chad Zubrod. Each shoeing cycle, we x-rayed and removed any new diseased spots before shoeing. Special support shoeing techniques were required. 

For several months, both feet were stabilized by plate’s custom made by Muldoon. In addition, his right foot was in a cast for several months. After his last shoeing, I was given permission to ride Louie at a walk for ten minutes and a trot for five minutes. Without the expert farrier care that Louie received from John Muldoon, I don‘t believe I would have a sound horse today.

— Jennifer Phillippa Hankins-Brown