Fw: [naturalhorsetrim] Re: Barefoot Endurance/Ride Managers

["Sandy Bolinger" <bolinger@bigsky.net>]

> I'm a long time endurance rider and have been following this thread on
both
> lists..I am also a ride manager AND I am TRYING to be barefoot!! The only
> point I agree with as far as sometimes needing some kind of hoof
protection
> is the following...Many of these endurance riders are extremely hard
> core...in that they condition allot and do allot of endurance rides...If
you
> figure 700 miles of rides in one season...40 miles a week of conditioning
>  at least in the first part of the season...(once they start going to
rides
> on a regular basis they don't need to condition so much between rides)
> You're talking about allot of miles.  In the past when I was hard
core...In
> a six week period I would wear a set of shoes down to paper thin.  I've
> crewed on a 100 mile ride where shoes have, literally, worn right through!
> Until I see it for myself...there's no way anyone can convince me that a
> hoof  is harder than a shoe..Also...there are ALLOT of endurance riders
out
> there who have thousands of miles on their horses and never have had ANY
> problems with their feet or legs and the horses are healthy and
happy...with
> shoes on. Most of these riders are extremely educated about the best
shoeing
> possible...which is probably why there are so few problems for them. So to
> convince them that barefoot is better...in light of the fact that they
have
> had no problems related to shoeing...and have successfully put on the
> thousands of miles that they have...is going to be a hard, if not
impossible
> sell.
>
> I'm also a ride manager and would of course let barefoot horse enter my
> ride...I believe that if ride managers are going to prohibit barefoot
horses
> from entering, they also need to turn away horses with terrible shoeing
> jobs, horses with bad fitting tack and horses with ignorant riders. If a
> horse shows up at a ride barefoot..it is immediately obvious if the horse
is
> barefoot because the owner is too cheap or lazy to put shoes on....or he's
> barefoot because of a well thought out, educated program...all you have to
> do is look at the feet.
>
> If the hoofs aren't able to handle the conditions...it will show up at the
> vet check and the horse will be pulled.
>
> The reason I am going bare foot is mainly out of curiosity to see if I can
> make it work...I love the way my horse moves barefoot and I really enjoy
not
> having to constantly be fretting about  the shoeing job.  I've also slowed
> WAY down as far as the miles I'm putting on in a season...I honestly don't
> know if I would be trying this if I was still putting on the miles I used
> to.
>
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