Re: barefoot horses

["Robyn Levash" <questarabians@inreach.com>]

Sorry, my post never intended to mean the horse stands in a mud puddle. In
my post I said to put a sand or pebble base to eliminate mud. I should have
said to put a extra tough vapor barrier at the very bottom with sand and
gravel over it so that minimal water is wasted. The idea here is to soak the
feet in water not mud. Sorry for the confusion.
Robyn
----- Original Message -----
From: Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>
To: <questarabians@inreach.com>
Cc: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 10:11 AM
Subject: RC: barefoot horses


> >>Another alternative, atthe bare minimum, is digging out a water pool
> around the horse's water tubso their feet can soak ( the pool needs to be
> deep up enough to cover the>>>>coronet band) >>>>while they take a drink.
>
> I totally disagree with this practice.  Maybe things are different where
> you are, and where this was written, but around here if a horse stands in
> water, he stands in red clay mud.  Go out and put your hands in it for a
> few minutes to "moisturize them" then take them out and let them dry.
> Now do that for a few days and see how dried and cracked your hands get.
> Nothing will draw the moisture out of your skin like that drying mud.
>
> So...why are my hands not dried and cracked?  Because the moisture comes
> from inside.  What dries my hands out the worst?  Washing them too often.
>  Do I always use soap?  No.  I teach High School Art.  That means I have
> to teach pottery.  I dip my hands in water and work the clay, then dip
> them in water again.  When I need to get them clean I just wash in water
> and go on.  My hands eventually dry out and begin to split at the
> knuckles.
>
> I have a pond in my field.  Thank goodness my horses stay out of it.  I
> sold a mare with good feet to some people with a pond in their field and
> she got the habit of standing in it.  Her feet were destroyed.  They
> owned her for a couple of years and then I got her back for 1/2 price.
> She'd been unshod during that time.  The hooves split bottem to top all
> the way around and it had gone deep. I traded her for even less money to
> get rid of her on the condition that they use the money saved to help
> bring her hooves back.  They didn't stay with it and the last time I saw
> her the hooves had taken on the look of a cow with cloven hooves.  It was
> awful.
>
> I guess there may be instances where the moisture would help.  I have
> been known to massage hoof cream into the coronary band, but I don't
> recommend that anybody put a mudpuddle next to their water trough around
> here unless they're going to wash them off and towel dry them afterwards.
>
> Angie
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