Cruel Shoes?

[Tracey Ritter <tracey_ritter@yahoo.com>]

Cruel Shoes... Hey, wasn't that a Steve Martin skit from way back?!
;-)

OK, I've been following this thread since it started, primarily based
on my interest in the topic.  From the digests I've read recently
(and some not-so-recently), I can't for the life of me find any posts
where someone came out and said that.  Maybe someone did and I
completely missed it, and if that's the case, please copy, paste and
send it to me so that I may stand corrected.  Gee, not even *I*
believe that shoeing is cruel or inherently evil!

Ridecamp exists to accomplish many things... to inspire, to motivate,
to educate, and among other things, to share ideas and experiences.
I seriously doubt that Ridecamp is the right forum for inflammatory
hyperbole, as it does nothing in the way of educating people and
serves little more than perpetuating misinformation and trying to
"get personal"  with either topics or the people sharing in them.

I can't help but feel that some folks on this forum take some things
waaaay too personally instead of merely accepting whatever exchange
of ideas and experiences that are being discussed as being just that
and nothing more.  If someone wants to share their "fly-free"
experiences that may or may not be a result of having their horse/s
barefoot, then that's OK.  Are they presenting these experiences as
scientifically proven fact or Gospel truth?  No.  They are *just*
experiences.  Did they rule out any other variables?  Not that I can
recall.  And it's perfectly OK if someone wonders if it's more than
just a correlation or not... that's the only way they'd get any
feedback on it one way or the other in order for that person to come
to their own conclusion.  Trust me, I just *wish* that my barefoot
horse shared in the same wondrous phenomenon, but alas, those buggers
are just as friendly to us as before.  Susan, what do you think?  A
garlic deficiency?!  :-)

So, it's OK to disagree (as we all know!), so long as your public
disagreement is based on something with merit.  Let's try to keep the
alarmist approaches to replying for some other forum.

Just *my* observation... nothing more, nothing less.

Respectfully,

Tracey Ritter
Portland, OR

Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 12:04:10 -0700
From: "KIMBERLY PRICE" <kmprice51@hotmail.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: RC:  why would shoeing be cruel?
Message-ID: <F222VMczi9yzu23LiC10000cf7b@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
ok, probably making trouble here, but I don't see why in the world
shoeing a
horse would be considered cruel?  The nails do not hurt the horse so
what is
the problem?
Mystery has rock hard feet and spent the first 6 years of his life
shoeless
in a 100 acre hilly pasture.  His feet are still rock hard but I
found years
ago if I had him barefoot he would get very deep rock bruises which
didn't
come out for months.  Plus, arena sand works like sandpaper and ate
away at
his heels.  So is it cruel to protect him from yearly abcesses or
worn
heels?  I think not...
All because you can only see one variable in an equation doesn't mean
others
don't exist.  Common sense has to take into account that maybe my
horse
doesn't sweat or doesn't have flies because of something you aren't
thinking
of, like better condition, cooler weather, that nest of
sparrows..something
that has a correlation.  In my opinion, saying it is because your
horse
doesn't wear shoes is like saying because his fly mask is green this
summer
instead of blue!
And those of you who have flamed Susan, shame on you!
Kimberly (&Mystery the Morab)