Re: barefoot

[Abigail Aiyagari <abby1@itsa.ucsf.edu>]

About trimming sole and frog: I wouldn't recommend that ANYONE trim AT ALL
without at least doing a lot of reading first, and preferably getting
hands-on help.  There are certain areas that should not be touched, and
certain areas that might need trimming under certain circumstances and
hoof types but not others, and other areas that are very important to keep
at a proper length (for the INDIVIDUAL horse--and learning to use
markers within the individual hoof takes practice!  Even the same horse
may need 4 different trims, one on each foot). There is no such thing as
a "formula trim" that will work for all horses, which is IMO where things
like the Natural Balance system and 4-point shoeing fall short.  You can't
force a foot to fit certain parameters, except in the case of maintaining
a 30 degree hairline, which is predetermined by nature in the horse
species in order to have a ground-parallel coffin bone.  Other things,
such as amount of concavity, toe length, heel height, etc. are all
determined by the individual horse's foot type.  If you really do the
research, you'll see that the Strasser trim does not specify hard numbers
for anything except the hairline angle, and estimates for heel height.
The toe angles they state are simply reporting the results of measuring
lots of coffin bones, they don't try to force feet into certain angles.  I
think that the Strasser trim often gets oversimplified when people explain
it, and I just want to clarify that it IS tailored to each individual.
There are a lot of folks out there jumping on the bandwagon and selling
the "natural" trim (how hard can it be?  Just pull the shoes and trim the
feet, right?), which isn't nearly as scientific or flexible as a true
Strasser trim.

I'm certainly not going to claim that every horse can do rocky endurance
rides barefoot...but it's not because of the horse, it's because of a host
of other factors over which the owner has more or less control.  If there
is no access to rocky areas to train, or the horse can't be kept in
pasture, or, or, or...it's not going to work.  People are right in saying
that we're asking unnatural things of our horses, but I still think that
the horse's innate adaptability makes them more able to be conditioned to
different situations than we might think they are.  It takes a lot longer
to condition a horse's feet and skeleton than it does his muscles and
lungs.  With that in mind, I'm not going to do anything with my horse that
is beyond his abilities because I think it would be unfair to him.  I'm
not saying that I'm not going to do anything "unnatural", because that
would mean I'd be trailering him out to Colorado and letting him loose,
just that I'm not going to do anything that requires me to artificially
enhance him so that he is capable of doing what I ask.  If that means I
don't compete, so be it.  I'd rather have a happy and sound pleasure horse
than put shoes on him and win at endurance.  That's just my personal
feeling about it, I'm not saying that anyone should not shoe, just that
this is why I choose not to.  Others may decide that shoeing will keep
their horses more comfortable and happy, and that's fine.  It sure is a
heck of a lot of work to do a good job with a barefoot horse.  But I do
hope that in the future I won't have to worry about being prevented from
competing because of my barefoot horse (or at least, that I'll be able to
determine before traveling to a ride that barefoot horses are not
allowed!).

Abby (help, I can't stop typing!)
& Cola (mom, would you get off the internet and take me for a ride?)