Re: Horse Shoes and Pain Relief

["Heidi Smith" <heidi@sagehillcmk.com>]

> If you have a horse's hoof that is conditioned to the terrain on which he
> is running which means his hooves don't excessively wear during the course
> of the ride, what good do shoes do for that horse?

"Conditioned to the terrain" is an interesting phrase....  Our horses that
are out 24/7 on our rocky hill are certainly "conditioned" to some pretty
tough terrain.  And riding them on it will condition them further.  But wear
is also a matter of the number of MILES that one does on that terrain.
Conditioning to really serious terrain will only go so far, and then the
wear still exceeds the growth.  If you want to limit your riding to fit your
horse's growth patterns, fine.  If you want to use some form of hoof
protection other than shoes, fine.  Those are not workable solutions for
many who are riding hard for a great many miles.

BTW--feet also "condition" to a large extent while shod.  Virtually all of
our shod horses that are working hard have faster-growing and tougher feet
than those who are not.  Contrary to what some have tried to assert here, I
find that I can pull shoes in the fall from a horse that has campaigned all
season and still ride more (relative to hoof wear) than I can with a horse
that is not fit.  But the bottom line is still that when the wear exceeds
the growth rate, you either have to curtail your riding or put protection of
some sort on the feet.

Heidi