Mark Johnson Farrier - another way?

12/09/2026

This is a very interesting read and you don’t need to be surrounded by agricultural land for this to still have an impact!

Airborne drift and water infiltration need thinking about

The nastiest laminitis cases I’ve worked on have I believe been driven by a chemical assault but that is only my belief and unsubstantiated

Glyphosate causes insulin resistance and metabolic disorders, disrupts the gut microbiome and the effects can be heritable.
(Please note, I am not saying it is the ONLY cause)

Last year I made a post about laminitis that was quite popular. In the post, one of the points I mentioned was the potential roll of the use of herbicides/pesticides in the widespread development of metabolic disorders in our horses for the past few decades.

I want to elaborate on that point, because it's something that people often roll their eyes thinking I'm part of the tinfoil hat brigade.

But my inital statement is not opinion, it is not speculation and it is not even surprising. It is scientific fact, being proven in study after study. Wide spread use of Glyphosate is altering our metabolisms, our immune systems and our DNA.

But don't take my word for it.

A study done in 2025 entiled ' Prenatal exposure to dietary levels of glyphosate disrupts metabolic, immune, and behavioral markers across generations in mice' by Barnett JA, Josephson JK, Yuzbashian E, et al.
States:
"Prenatal glyphosate reshapes gut, metabolism and behaviour across multiple mouse generations

Harmful effects arise at 0.01mg/kg/day, a dose far beneath current safety limits.

Gut barrier damage, mucin loss and inflammation persist into the F2 generation.

Glyphosate-linked microbiome shifts disrupt endocrine and tryptophan pathways.

Dose- and generation-based host-microbe rewiring suggests heritable gut-brain-immune dysfunction "

Another study done in 2022,
'Impact of Glyphosate on the Development of Insulin Resistance in Experimental Diabetic Rats' by Monisha Prasad et al states:

"Glyphosate aggravated ROS, altered antioxidant activity, disrupted the glucose homeostasis, altered insulin action in liver via NFκB signaling in liver. As the primary organ for metabolism and detoxification, the liver is affected by oxidative stress caused by glyphosate, which could change crucial regulatory pathways including insulin signalling and JNK, resulting in insulin resistance and inflammation."

There are many more studies out there, and of course, unfortunately they have not been done on horses by if you are curious, The Humble Hoof Podcast did an episode with Elizabeth Hilborn where she discusses the devestating impact the use of pesticides had on her own farm and the animals that lived there and the book she wrote about it called "Restoring Eden". I immediately read the book and it really made me realize what I was noticing in so many horses, and ourselves!

I got into hoofcare because I wanted to know the "Why?" behind so many common hoof problems. When I would ask why, I would only be given answers that were bandaids, not solutions, and definitely not prevention. That spurred my deep dive into all things hoof. That was over 22 years ago, and a lot of things have changed in the world around us, and wide spread use of Glyphosate is one of those things.

I don't know what the solution is now, as it is now so intertwined in all aspects of the food we eat and feed. The desire to have "w**d free" monocrops, roundup ready alfalfa, canola, corn. Oats, wheat and straw etc sprayed for uniformed drying. Our commercial feeds, our hay, our water sources etc are all affected.

I have seen more and more cases where people are feeding hay that should be deemed safe in sugar content, they aren't getting any grass etc and yet they still are metabolic and will tip over the edge into a lamintic episode with even the slightest insult. Horses under the age of 10 being diagnosed with PPID due to sky high acth levels. These things are not normal.

We need to be aware of what is causing the dramatic uptick in cases of insulin resistance, EMS and other gut microbiome diseases we are seeing so we can stop treating the symptoms by restricting our horses diets to manage disorders that the very feed we are trying to help them with, may be creating. Yes, there is a web of contributing factors that lead to laminitis, but we are fighting a losing battle if we aren't addressing what is sending our bodies and the bodies of our horses into this dysfunction in the first place.

So what can we do?

Links to studies etc in the comments

Photo of stretched lamina present in a laminitic miniature horse

11/09/2026

Sharing this spurred on by having been alerted to a local (ish) livery adopting HM principals and no I’m not sending any publicity their way

If you’re on the fence, contemplating or whatever the HM direction I have first hand experience now of the ramifications for some of those HM failures so think twice and do your research!

I belive it is my social duty to tell the truth in respect of the evidence I have collected. This is for the purpose of protecting equines and their owners around the world.

Hoofing Marvellous aka Lindsay Jane Setchell is lying to you.

I believe Hoofing Marvellous is the biggest equine cruelty scam the UK will ever see.

Lindsay Setchell is aware of equine suffering and euthanasia in horses who have been trimmed with her experimental HM long toe low heel method. However, she continues to tell the world she is healing horses.

She is aware of multiple euthanasia after this method is applied. But blames the owners. These were NOT last chance horses.

She is aware and compliant in horse owners being directed to use a track livery facility when the horse has deteriorated after some time under the care of the HM trimmer.

She is aware of multiple owners ditching HM trimmers because their horses are suffering.

She is aware of multiple vets advising trimmers to cease this method because it is causing harm. Some vets have been challenged in their diagnosis by the trimmers. (Who have just "qualified")

She is aware of horses who have left *a* track livery recovered and sound, only to be crippled by HM trimming over the subsequent weeks.

She is aware of pedal pe*******on and euthanasia occuring after her trimmers have worked with horses who were previously sound.

She is aware of the subsequent nerve death associated with solar fracture, necrosis and infection, but she insists on keeping horses going through this torture. Because she might claim a win despite the suffering.
(The hoof keeps trying to fix itself)

Lindsay Jane Setchell is selling you a lie.
Please, do not fall for it. Do not fall for the slick marketing and the long medical words she uses. Do not fall for the nonsense about trimming to anatomy or the silly measurements.
Do not consider her an expert in hoof care.
She is an expert in marketing and manipulation.

There is no proof supplied for her unfounded method. It harms horses. If your horse survived the method, you were very lucky. Many do not.

How can I make these terrible accusations?

This is called qualified privilege.

The Defense of Truth: Under the Defamation Act 2013. If you can prove that the substance of what you said about a criminal action is true, a defamation or libel/slander claim against you will fail. [1, 2]

This is why Setchell doesn't sue me. Everything I'm telling you is 100% true and I can evidence all of it. The truth is law.

There is far more to this situation than you might imagine. It's taking time, but it will all come out.

HM followers.

Many of you are already in discussions with me. This is because I don't shut you down, block you or belittle you. I want to help you and your horses. I want you to understand you have been scammed. This is a tough admission. I know. I can help you to connect with real professionals who will help your horse, and help you to understand this is not the way to go. You've been hoodwinked by someone who does not see equine suffering, and has somehow passed on this 'skill' to her trimmers.

We are now in peak PPID season. The grass is turbocharged after lying dormant for months without rain. Inevitably we will see a spike in laminitis diagnosis. I implore of you, please do not consider HM 'care' for your horse. Please please, if you need some help look beyond HM. Come to me. I can point you to some wonderful people. Please 🙏 do not fall for the HM bull s**t, because laminitis is FAR beyond their understanding. You need reliable honest experienced professionals on your side. I can help you find them. Just don't fall for the HM crap. Please. For the life of your horse. 🙏.

I will follow this post with a list of top notch reliable sources of help and information. Stand by to be connected to some amazing people and quality science backed education and resources. They will all provide unbiased genuine help to any owner who needs it. No blocking, no filtering, no restrictions, all questions welcome...... you get it.

There is no personal vendetta here. That's not how I operate. If you saw this evidence and spoke with all these heartbroken owners, I would hope that you would also use your platform to end this terrible abuse and prevent further suffering.

Before anyone tells me I'm unprofessional and I'm wrecking my business. I know this. I don't care. Don't waste your time telling me this. It's working, and that's what counts for me.

I will dismantle this abusive horse murdering scam if its the last thing I do.

And I'll do it for your horse.

Ellen x

03/09/2026

This was posted by a FB friend and their privacy has been set accordingly but I do have permission to screenshot and felt this was way too interesting not to share it

“Normally with my pony posts , it is all s**ts and giggles, ( apart from sad days). Anyway , those who know me , know i am a "why" girl , i need to know why in everything .
Last year i bought Kyle, who had been diagnosed with sweet itch , but i was unconvinced, so i set about researching and experimenting ( because i cannot help myself) and found out plenty of information from vets worldwide and along with my own observations and theories ( with thanks to all the lovely Mongolian herders i have met and their superbly hardy horses ).
My thoughts have never changed about our overfeeding horses, in fact what i have learned has convinced me i was on the right track .
This is what i have learned .....
The sugars in grass result in insulin spikes , which we all know already causes laminitis, EMS and PPID. These spikes also cause inflammation and can trigger a variety of other immune based conditions .
Horses are not designed to eat grass and grain . They thrive on very rough forage, the rougher and drier , the better.
They do not need to be eating 24 hours a day either.
Our breeding practices have disrupted and ruined their dna .
So to take Kyles case , yes he gets very itchy , but no evidence of the midge chewing at his skin, then i get to hear that his sire( Balmoral Squire) has had to be gelded as he is producing itchy offspring ( kyle is not a one off , and it is genetic) . Some of you know my thoughts on how obese the Highlands at Balmoral were and it was stupid to have them on the lush fields in front of the castle instead of being out on the hills eating heather and coarse grasses as they would if left to be wild .
Vet papers have revealed that insulin resistance can be passed down ( hereditary) to offspring if they had obesity issues as parents causing the foals to be compromised
Thus yesterday i conducted a wee experiment as i always keep my ponies lean i needed a trigger , so i let Kyle have approx two square feet of grass from behind the electric fence and i was shocked to see that , that was all it took to trigger an immune response to a small insulin spike. He ate his grass and two hours later was rolling to rub his neck ( there is nowhere else for him to rub in the paddock). When i brought him in the lower mane was gone and the neck caked in soil ! 🙄
I put on a protective hood so he could not rub on stable walls ( he kept it on , so new one is working fab ) and he is back out on hay balls and low sugar diet . !
The results have shocked me in that it took so little in the way of amounts of grass ingested to trigger the immune response! So you can imagine how little it takes to trigger laminitis or how much of these responses are hidden from our eyes, if we are not aware!
I will continue to adjust my horses metabolism to a more natural and ancient state before man interfered.”

26/08/2026

A bit more on this sweet 37 year old chronic laminitic with arthritic knees etc ....

The squish pads from The Shoeing Lab Home of More Aid Hoof Care continue to deliver comfort and support, we are 4 weeks in on this application and I want to push for 6 weeks before I re shoe

What this pony needs above all else is the return of some sole depth and the icing on the cake would be some concavity, allowing I hope, a better option for circulation

22/08/2026

I happen to know Sam currently has 2 spaces available for top notch equine nursing / rehabilitation care and with her and her staff on site 24/7 there is no lack of attention to detail

https://loddingtonequine.care/

21/08/2026

As promised Matthew Jackson and myself get into discussing what can be one of the most worrying seasonal changes for horse owners, the shedding of retained frog and sole material

This often occurs after a long period of dry weather followed by wet, yet it is normal

So if you have an hour to spare come and join us for the chat 😊

Whenever we have climatic change horses and their feet go through an adaptive process and right now in the U.K many horses with retained sole and frog material are beginning to shed this with in some cases alarming effect.But this is a natural pro...

20/08/2026

Easy access building and loads of parking! 😊

19/08/2026

It’s easily likely I’m well behind the game with this, but whoever came up with the tip to glue the cuffs with superglue around their periphery to act as a glue dam for the acrylic backfill, (probably Garrett though I can’t remember) thank you! I will be deploying it from now on 👍

18/08/2026

Why are some hoof boot clients so “needy”?

“My pads are worn out and will need them replacing”

There is AT LEAST! A good 20 minutes, if not half an hour of life left in these 🙄😄