Barefoot

[guest@endurance.net]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net


Having ridden an assortment of horses both in endurance and in training
barefoot, with shoes,
and with assorted protective boots over the last ten years.

Here is what I have found (understanding that most of my riding and
training has been done
iin the Desert southwest).

Realistically speaking, no matter how "conditioned" a horse's foot is for
rocks, hard ground,
gravel, etc., even a horse with the best feet in the world cannot compete
barefoot in endurance
more than 50 miles about once a month.

Some of the disagreement that is being seen here is coming from the fact
that different
people have different definitions of what it means to compete in
endurance.

Personally, I am a multi-day rider.  Riding a horse in a multi-day ride
barefoot is, as far as
I am concerned, a non-starter.  The horse needs SOMETHING to keep from
wearing off
too much foot (which is what steel shoes do, better, in fact, than
anything else I have either
tried or seen).

Steel shoes have some substantial advantages:
1.  They last a long time.
2.  They are "no brainers" (i.e. after you nail them on, they need very
little care or attention
until the next time you have to pull them off and nail them on again).
3.  They are relatively cheap.
4.  If applied properly, they have little effect on the flight of the foot
(IF applied properly).
5.  They provide the best traction in mud (yes, better than bare feet).

Some disadvantages of steel shoes:
1.  They reduce the shock absorbing capability of the foot and transmit
some of that shock up
through the horse's leg.
2.  If applied improperly, they can affect the flight of the foot.
3.  If applied improperly, they can contract the foot (however, if applied
properly they can
actually help the foot to expand--horses that my shoer shoes routinely
move up in shoe size
within 6 months of him starting shoeing the horse--even a horse that has
been barefoot its
whole life).
4.  They don't provide very good traction on pavement (and some other hard
surfaces).
5.  They don't go on and off easily and taking them on and off often
compromises the hoof
wall.

I consider number 5 to be the biggest draw back to using steel shoes as
protection against
excess wear, and the big advantage that there is to using protective boots
instead is that
it is easy to take the hoof protection off for the time when the horse
does not need hoof
protection (e.g. between rides, while it is standing in its stall, etc.)

However, protective boots have their drawbacks to.
One of which is that they are much more expensive than steel. :)

But the other is that I have yet to find a design that competes with
advantage #2 of steel
shoes.  You can't just put them on and forget about them.

Easyboots without foam just don't stay on barefeet.
Easyboots with foam, I have gotten to stay on barefeet for 125 miles, and
if they come off
during the ride, it is NOT easy to just foam one back on...and if you
don't foam it on...you will
be worrying about it coming off for the whole time you are riding
(although I "tie" them on around
my horse's ankles so I don't lose them), but as soon as they become
"unfoamed" (which seems to
happen sooner if conditions require water crossings), they are now
something you have to
consistently concern yourself over.

Old Mac boots I am still experimenting with, and will let you know if they
meet the "no brainer"
criteria that I require for something to be useful for competition.  I am
currently using them
for training (since I don't mind having to "worry about it" a bit while
training).

Horsneakers (the ones where you make a mold of your horse's foot) are just
plain too expensive
for me to even consider trying (especially since my inquiries to the
company gave me no assurance
that if they didn't work as promised that the manufacturers would make
good).

But for all of you who say, "my horse does just fine barefoot for 5-10
miles so I see no reason
why it shouldn't be able to do endurance after its feet are 'conditioned'
for it;" all I can say
is this, "My horse/s have done just fine for about 50 miles (assuming I
don't do it too often), but if
you want to go any further than that, it is unlikely that the wear will
not outpace your hoof
growth."

Oh yeah, and the harder the ground you keep them on, and the more
"turnout" they get between
rides, the LESS mileage you are going to be able to do with them under
saddle (because they will
wear off their feet just walking around in their pasture).

A horse's foot is naturally designed to grow just as much as it wears when
the horses is just
walking around and grazing.  If you put more miles and/or more weight on
it than the foot is
naturally designed to bear...then you are going to have to do something to
reduce the amount of
wear.

For ten years now I have been looking for something better than steel
shoes for this.....

..and (unfortunately, because I am well aware of the disadvantages of
steel) I am STILL
looking. :)  So far, I have found nothing better than steel.

In the interim, for the times that I have to use steel (i.e. when I am
competing more than one
day--for a one day 100 I am willing to use foamed on EasyBoots) I will
keep using a good farrier
who knows how to put on steel without messing up the shape of the horse's
foot.

And yes, such farriers do exist.

-------------

Rides I have done with a barefoot horse:

EHSC 30 miler
Bill Stucky Mt. Laguana 25 (yes, including down Noble Canyon, 8 miles of
rock hell).
The last half of the the EHSC 50 (when my horse threw his shoes during the
first
part of the ride and I didn't bother to put them back on...since it was
the first time
he had worn them).
Bear Valley Springs 50
Camp Pendleton 50 (top ten and highest vet score)
Death Valley Encounter IV 50 (drag riding)
The last half of Day 2 of the Old Outlaw Trail (the slick rock day)
because my horse had
worn through his "plastic" shoes in a day and a half. :)

The one I tried to do with a barefoot horse, but had to stop at about 75
miles because the
horse was just plain old too short in the foot:

20 MT 100.

The one I tried to do with EasyBoots (no foam, it wasn't on the market at
the time) but had
to stop at 55 miles because the horse has gone 20 miles with one Easyboot
missing (didn't
notice) and threw two others more times than I can count, but by that
time, he was stiff in the
right hind from having protection on the right hind and not on the left.

Southern California Extravaganza 100

The one I tried again with no foam in the EasyBoots (but put the foam in
at the lunch check):

Death Valley Encounter I 50

The ones I tried with EasyBoots foamed on over barefeet (for the whole
event):

Mt. Carmel (lost one EasyBoot at about 30 miles into the second day's
ride--just took off
the other hind and finished the ride without them).
Fort Schellbourne (lost 2 EasyBoots before the vet check on the third day
of riding--reset
them at the lunch check...but no foam because the foam is too much of a
pain in the ass to
be messing with at a vet check :)  Lost them within 2 miles of the lunch
check, so I just
stuck them in my saddle bag and did the last 20 miles without them).

If I decide to do it with them (still testing them in training for the
rest of the month), I will
let you know how the Old Macs work out at the Grand Canyon next month (3
day ride).  But,
I MAY decide that it is much "safer" to just nail on steel.  And no matter
what I decide before
I leave, I WILL be bringing steel shoes (already shaped) with me to the
ride, since they are
pretty easy to nail on if necessary.

I definitely WON'T be trying to ride my horse for 150 miles without SOME
form of hoof
protection (been there, done that...it does NOT work, but if you want to
repeat my
experiences, go right ahead).

But, rest assured, "just use protective boots" isn't that simple.  And I
would NOT recommend
protective boots (because they make the horse's foot bigger) for any horse
that has a tendency
to interfere (i.e. kick itself with the leg on one side as it goes by the
leg on the other side).

And if I don't find something better than steel for an endurance horse, it
won't be for
lack of trying. :)  And it is worthwhile to note that more than half the
rides that I have not
finished have been because I have been "experimenting" with alternatives
to steel shoes.  So,
be warned, it is not totally without its risks (although I have not, as
yet, done any permanent
damage to any of my horses--partially because I now always bring steel as
a back up :)).

kat (somewhere over 4000 miles of endurance, I don't keep that close of
track, most of which
was AFTER I had discovered that endurance horses can't go barefoot for
very long).
Orange County, Calif.

p.s.  I have yet to go to a ride where they wouldn't let you start your
horse barefoot--and
know plenty of people who, even here in the desert south west where the
ground EATS horse's
feet, have done LD rides with barefoot horses.  However, I understand that
Tevis won't :).