Re: Barefoot Endurance?

["Lynette" <helgeson@ndak.net>]

What kind of shoe do you use? The one that my farrier uses has some give to
it like the hoof naturally gives.

You made a comment about hooves not being harder then metal, You are right
they are not, but the hooves are not going to wear the same as metal too.
But the thing to understand is how the hoof functions, it is flexible,
unlike metal, and so will not wear down as fast as something that has no
give to it. Also because the hoof is functioning naturally, the hoof wall is
flexing to absorb the impact, the frog is coming in contact with the ground,
and the blood is flowing freely, the hoof grows faster, is more flexible,
less apt to break and therefore is tougher and lasts longer and wear down
slower. I know that I am probably doing a real bad job explaining this.
Maybe someone can explain it better.

But there must be someone out there who has done some 50's barefoot? How has
things gone in other people's experiences.

I understand how hard it is first of all to find a horse that can do 50's,
to put the time into training that horse and then risk going barefoot and
laming the horse with a stone bruise, which could happen even with easy
boots or shoes, but does it not make sense that the tougher and healthier
the hoof is, the less apt it is to bruise?

What do others think?

Lynette
Last year at this time, people were deer hunting in their T-shirts.  A
couple of nights ago  we had 4 below F 0 temps, and we already have had over
a foot of snow. YUCK!

>     Thanks Lynette, for responding.
>     We use the Natural Balanced Shoeing Method, I think a lot of riders do
at > this point in time.  Or should I say my son, Levi does.  He is our
farrier.
> Which, is about the same, only with metal on the bottom of the hoof.  I
can't
> even think that our horses could go barefoot with the riding we do.  I can
> see maybe a once a month, 50 on a ride that has good footing but... Do you
> really think a horse could go barefoot with your method for maybe 2 to 3 -
> 50's per month?  Not to mention what we do on multidays of 250 - 300 miles
in
> five days of riding?  Gosh, we even foam on Easyboots over shoes.  We've
> always like to take an extra precaution against a stone bruise.  Horse's
can
> get foot sore just doing the miles, with weight on their backs and at an
> unnatural speed to boot without extra protection, even with shoes.  Of
> course, this depends on the terrain and the horse.  What do you think?
Would
> you say it might work?
>     I feel that nothing is natural about having your horse traveling this
> many miles with extra weight on their backs.  I would like to see how you
do,
> once your in the upper mileage of competition.  Since we even wear shoes
out
> in 4 weeks time, I can't imagine hoofs being harder than metal.
>     Good Luck, and keep us in touch, on your success.  This could be
> interesting.
> Tammy Robinson
> Trail-Rite Ranch & Products
> 661/513-9269
>
>
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