Re: ridecamp-d Digest V00 #234

[MBlanchrd@aol.com]

In a message dated 02/10/2000 3:25:10 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
ridecamp-d-request@endurance.net writes:

<<   How do you know if your horse is better off
 barefoot if he's never been that way (in your care, under saddle,
 being worked)?  Would you have to protect with easyboots for a while,
 or just go cold-turkey and cut back on exercise, slowly working up to
 shod levels?
  >>

I think a lot has to do with the hoof the horse already has. My husband's 
horse, Smoke, was one of those horses you didn't DARE allow to go barefoot. 
Two weeks after buying him, (and on after having him shod when he came to us 
barefoot.....now we know why....) he lost one shoe and tore another off, and 
removed part of the hoof along with it. It took a year of judicious shoeing, 
careful riding, and lots of Farrier's Formula just to grow his feet out 
enough to be sure that he can keep a shoe on. And we would never ride him 
without bell boots.

 His Appaloosa feet could only be described as iffy. Just when you think we'd 
finally gotten his feet into usable shape, he'd tear another chunk off while 
horseing around in the pasture. So..........he will never go barefoot.

 On the other hand, my Arabian came to me with feet solid as rocks. I had his 
shoes pulled and he was a bit tenderfooted for the first two days. We stayed 
off the hard roads and stayed on soft trails, for about a week, but only 
because I thought it was a good idea, not because he got sore or bruised. 

 Since then.....his feet have gotten harder, if you can imagine that. My 
farrier says he now has "textbook feet"...when they go looking for the 
"perfect hoof", he says he'll send them to see Jordan. And he's NOT on 
Farrier's Formula.
So........talk it over with your farrier. I like the idea of a barefoot 
horse, my horse seems to be happier for it....but it's not for every horse.
I hope I don't need to say this, but I will anyway. Just because he's 
barefoot doesn't mean your horse doesn't need to be trimmed regularly. I have 
Jordan trimmed every six weeks.
Michelle and Jordan (I like being barefoot so much that if I had toes, I'd 
wiggle 'em.)
MBlanchrd@aol.com