“My horse won’t cope barefoot”…I would like a pound for every time I have heard this statement. I’m sure every horse can cope barefoot, and indeed I personally am running out of reasons why I might ever put a metal shoe on a horse, but I know not every owner can cope barefoot.
Barefoot can be a hard choice. It would have been very easy with Cal for me to believe that my horse won’t cope barefoot. It’s been incredibly hard for me to keep looking for the metabolic issue, to get to the diagnosis of the systemic problem that is stopping him from being a good rock crunching barefooter. It would have been so easy for me to slap shoes on it and just carry on but then I would have missed the ulcers, had even less warning about the COPD and would never have treated the boderline Cushings, luckily getting his ACTH levels down with herbal supplements. It is difficult for someone who hasn’t read about barefoot properly or thought to question the status quo to understand that everything they know about horse husbandry is designed to wreck the healthy hoof. Most of the ways that we choose to look after horses are for our convenience and not for the horse’s health. I know this, I have been there. I had the “best” looked after polo ponies within the M25 when I was grooming all those years ago. I hated some of the Argie methods but I learned a huge amount from the polo itinerants, and from other horseman in Australia, Scotland, Germany. I have continued to listen and learn ever since, with a completely open mind. And I have checked the science, the research and the evidence, as I would for my human cancer patients. We should be in a Golden Age of horsemanship. We have rigorous scientific methods, amazing equipment and skills to analyse and interpret data. We are in a position to test every aspect of horse care and the effects on the horse’s health and mental wellbeing. Unfortunately much of the science is paid for by those with vested interests, and those who belive they know horses the best don’t feel the need to question their knowledge.
Horses are designed to move, 12-15-20 miles a day in the wild. Horses are built to trickle feed on a variety of poor grasses. They would choose outdoor life in stable social groups with a reassuring hierarchy and plenty of space to get away from the dominant bully. They are not meant to stand overnight in shavings soaked in their own urine and faeces, eat too much sugary starchy food, go out for a few hours a day in an individual turnout paddock, deprived of crucial contact and rituals such as mutual grooming, stuff themselves full of lush grass and work for only a few hours a week.
A friend today told me how their half TB horse won’t cope barefoot because she has typical thoroughbred rubbish feet. I understand where she’s coming from- I used to feel the same way. Paddy had the worst feet in Cheshire: despite industrial amounts of farriers formula, he could never hold shoes and his hoof wall was thin and crumbly. Plenty of other people have felt the same way, watching their horse with his unconditioned hooves gimping across the yard when he loses a shoe. You would gimp in exactly the same way if I took your shoes off and asked to you to walk on hardcore or gravel straightaway.
When I took Paddy’s shoes off, many people, including the vet and the farrier told me that I would find that my horse won’t cope barefoot. However, Paddy forced me to try barefoot, by nearly killing several farriers, including the horse whispering blacksmith, and what I found was that his hooves and his brain improved immeasurably. He became sure-footed, confident and healthier. He stopped rushing his fences and I could feel him balancing his body underneath me. It took time; in Paddy’s case about three months, to get him to rock-crunching go-anywhere status. Now at 20 he is sound and still going strong. He had four fantastic seasons eventing barefoot, then taught my husband Gary to ride, hunt and team chase and is now giving my step-daughter Lizzie the confidence to explore the forest.
Paddy is 7/8 TB; it’s nothing to do with TB genes. There is actually no significant genetic difference between all the modern horses around the world. Traits, yes, genetic alteration, no. The only exception is the recessive Hoof Wall Separation Syndrome in Connemaras, a recessive syndrome. This tragic syndrome would cause early death in the wild and therefore the aberrant gene would be weeded out as it is a disadvantage to survival.
The reason thoroughbreds are thought to have rubbish feet is that they are kept confined from a young age, fed starchy food and shod regularly from the age of two. The hoof doesn’t finish developing until the horse is about 6; if it is compromised from an early age of course it will be sub-standard. Alois Podhajsky recommends that mares and foals move daily from night pasture to day pasture a couple of miles down a rocky track to help the foals’ limbs and feet develop. In the wild foals hit the ground, stand up, suckle and immediately start travelling with the herd, quickly averaging 12 miles a day in their early lives. There are trainers successfully racing thoroughbreds barefoot
http://www.simonearleracing.com/how_we_train_our_horses.html
and many stories of off the track thoroughbreds being successfully rehabilitated to new lives barefoot.
Stacey, my neighbour, http://www.forestholidaycottages.co.uk/ put it beautifully today. She said “what we call footy, a person who didn’t understand barefoot would call lame.”
Better qualified people than me have answered the same question
http://www.unshod.co.uk/articles/guide_healthy_hooves.php
So Con today was great on smooth tarmac, striding out beautifully on fine gravel and small stones but picked his way carefully and a bit more slowly over larger stones and hardcore. His ears never went back, he never made a pain face, if his foot landed on a sharp stone he hopped off it like a sensible pony and occasionally he chose to use the soft ground at the side of the path on the very challenging ground. Some might say that this means my horse can’t cope barefoot. We hacked for 45 minutes around Delamere and had a couple of good trots and a short canter. Once we turned for home he positively marched back to the house. Is he lame???
Which then leads me to more questions-
how do we define lameness?
how do we do a full five stage vetting on a barefoot horse?
This is so interesting. I was wondering if you had a source for your remark about the hoof continuing to develop until the age of 6? I’m an advocate for not starting horses too young because the growth plates aren’t fully closed before 6 years, so would love to know more about hoof development as well.
Hi Ilye- that was slightly lazy writing. We know that the long bones and the coffin bone continue to increase in girth until the 6t year- as per Dr Deb’s Ranger article, so stands to reason the hoof at the bottom of it all will also increase in girth and substance if not inhibited by shoes. My baby warmblood is 6, and has feet that now match his knees – they previously looked quite petite in comparison 😂
Interesting subject. I have the same (?problem) I’m not so sure if it is a problem as I have been beating myself up about my mare not being rock crunching. She jumps, gallops, hunts you name it she can do it but not on small rocks that are on Tarmac or concrete . I’ve tried nearly everything. From increasing road work to decreasing, changing feed, soaking hay( my god she lost sooo much weight) .But tbh after 5 hours hunting I see little wear and she is 100% sound on anything but stones on unyielding ground yet gimps over stones or hops sort of over them. Even solid summer ground. Would that be classed as lame?! Good question!
I would say they are meant to hop off big stones- it means they can feel what’s under their feet. Lame for me would be if they are sore after a day’s hunting or a days Eventing.
Mine is really careful through water because they often use hard core as a base for BE water jumps. He charges around the rest afterwards though 😀
I agree with Fran, I have the same with that sort of footing out hunting or hacking out. Hops off or hops over these sort of stones but immediately fine afterwards. Even a days hunting(5 hours). I like to take my mare around the block to feel if she is fine the morning after hunting and she is turned out a lot . 3 seasons on I’ve been ok and my horse. Still not rock crunching though. So makes me think are some horses just more “mindful” about their toes?? I know my mare is mindful about getting over a jump and honestly I can count on one hand how often she knocks a fence. So she is naturally careful. I also think if it’s really only on rough tracks and unforgiving stones on tarmac and otherwise your horse is 100% sound and no bounding pulse or stretched white line, then I’d say the horse IS FINE . Love to hear what other people say and what they have experienced. 🙂