RE: barefoot on the WRRT

["Tracey Ritter" <Tracey_Ritter@yahoo.com>]

Tiffany,

Thank you for your reply!  One thing I have learned in some of the clinics
I've attended is that hoof growth does eventually catch up with the amount
of wear; however they do need a good deal of consistency in the amount of
wear they do get in order for that to happen - something that not everyone
can achieve, regardless of their best intentions!  Very similar to hair
growth in humans... when I had short hair years back and had it cut every
4-6 weeks, it would grow back like gangbusters... now that it's longer and
*still* growing out, it is taking short of forever to regenerate at the same
rate as it did before.  Definately not the same type of tissue, but the
concept is similar. Mother nature has a great way of stepping in when
needed, albeit not as quickly as we'd like.

Same thing goes for conditioning the hoof for gravel... the horse needs
consistent exposure so that they will get used to it, which they eventually
do, in combination with being trimmed correctly. My horse's full brother has
taken *forever* to adjust, but he hadn't been getting the right combination
of exposure and correct trimming.  Now, he's remarkably better, but still
not as able as my gelding over similar surfaces.  Just one of the
idiosyncrasies of this method, I guess.  But, still very much achievable.
And I still say having hoof protection handy in a cantle bag just makes too
much darned sense to not do!

I'm getting all sorts of very interesting responses, which I do appreciate
and value greatly.  Thanks for taking a moment to respond to me on this.

Kindest Regards,

Tracey Ritter
Portland, OR

-----Original Message-----
From: Tiffany D'Virgilio [mailto:dvirgilio@mindspring.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2001 3:20 PM
To: Tracey_Ritter@yahoo.com; Dot Wiggins; PNER LIST
Cc: ride camp
Subject: Re: RC: RE: barefoot on the WRRT


on 9/23/01 7:19 AM, Tracey Ritter at Tracey_Ritter@yahoo.com wrote:

>
> Since not all riders are this dedicated to proper conditioning for gravel
> road rides, I think it's important to insist that they bring along hoof
> protection, as they probobly don't realize what their horses are in for
> after so many miles of gravel.

Horses are individuals as has already been stated. One mare that I have
needs shoes. I have tried her barefoot and even though she has great feet
she gets sore pretty quick. The other mare has never worn shoes or
easyboots, though I just bought her two as I want to really start
conditioning her. The ground here in the So Cal mountains is rocks, gravel
and more rocks with very few soft trails. I believe that if I started really
riding mare #2, she would need protection of some kind. Even with hard
hooves the constant pavement and rocks and gravel just wears the darn foot
down too much. Never had shoes on in her life and I am going to try to keep
her unshod and just easybooted.
In six weeks on this ground riding three times a week shoes are worn thin.
Pretty amazing.
Tiffany