Barefoot Stats

[Randy H Eiland <renegade12@juno.com>]

Karen,

 

In general I am just reading these posts on barefoot horses, but I do want to respond to your most recent post and its question in the 1st paragraph:

 

The shoe helps keep a horse sound and "fit to continue" in rocky areas by keeping the foot in one piece.  When a horse loses a shoe on most New Mexico endurance rides, and does not get an easyboot put on immediately, the foot will chip out in dramatic fashion from the hard, rocky terrain, even wear down as if it had been rasped, and the results are a foot that is extremely sore because the outside wall of the hoof chips so high that the horse is sore just putting weight on the foot (sometimes the chipping is so bad that the farrier may have to do reconstructive work on the hoof just to get a shoe back on).  In addition to shoes, most NM & other SW riders use pads or easyboots over the shoes to keep their horses from going lame.  This is very basic knowledge in NM and I don't think you will find any endurance riders with competing horses that are barefoot in NM..although I have seen some endurance horses that are barefoot on the rear feet, but they are riding our desert rides and not the mountain and/or rocky rides that make up most of our competitions.  Of the 17+ rides I manage a year, the only rides a horse "might" complete without shoes are those I put on in the desert, and even then the horse won't be going very fast if they are to finish sound and fit to continue....and most likely, the sand will actually "file" the hoof down so the horse is lame after 50 miles.

 

There is a reason the Apaches rode their horses all day and then ate them that night...the poor horses couldn't go another mile because they were lame...this fact comes from the study of numerous historical accounts of the Cavalry and Apache wars in the Southwest.

 

Randy Eiland

 

On Wed, 19 Dec 2001 09:33:30 -0800 Karen Standefer hrschk@yahoo.com wrote:

That doesn't answer my question.  How does the 3/8" rim of steel make a
horse painless when travelling on rocks vs a barehoof which most on the
list consider to be in pain and uncomfortable when travelling on rocks?
Can you, please, explain the pain/no pain issue?
 
In the stats that I compiled earlier, ONLY Darolyn's barefoot horses were
compiled and only 50+ miles, not LD.  The thing that I didn't get was any
of her horses that didn't have the DJB prefix.  Darolyn confirmed that the
horses I had posted were in fact barefoot (except her horse on one 100
which she booted for 20 miles and then did the 80 remaining miles
barefoot) But, at the time they were compiled she was not ever shoeing.
We don't have a way to track barefoot entries.  The numbers are good, but
they could be better and they are not accurate because they are missing
some horses. They are also missing all of Robyn's rides.
 
I'm not going to go back and forth about the completions anymore.  If you
guys want proof, just watch the next two years.  You'll get plenty.
 
The debate started out discussing the pain issue of barefoot horses vs.
shod horses.  On that count I still have not heard any theory that makes
any sense as to why a shoe prevents pain in a horse when travelling over
rocks.  Can we get back to the original subject?  Can someone answer my
question with something other than:  "It pretty much goes without saying"
?
 
Karen