RE: newbie-pulse lower at canter?

[Karen Standefer <hrschk@yahoo.com>]

It would be interesting to see them do a study with
bare hooves, trimmed ala Natural Horse Trim, vs shod
hooves.  All bare hooves are NOT created equal, nor do
they benefit the horse equally.

Darolyn was not talking about lower heartrates with
regard to being more comfortable or alleviating a pain
factor.  It has to do with the hooves serving their
intended purpose, which is partially to help the heart
push blood from the hoof.  This won't occur on all
barefoot horses.  It only occurs if the digital artery
is working as intended.  Bare or not, if the heel is
higher than nature intended, it will shut off much of
the circulation from that artery and cause more work
for the heart to move the blood from the hoof and back
up the legs.

>>FWIW, Cal Poly did some research a few years ago
looking at what factors change the speed at which
individual horses naturally seem to want to shift
gears into a different gait.  The presence of shoes
did *not* make a difference, so I'm not convinced that
any comfort of being barefoot or not has a measurable
effect on heart rate, assuming the shoeing job is not
causing outright lameness and trauma.  If the shoeing
job is causing outright pain (and I'm talking things
like a hot nail, not just any shoeing
job), then I could reasonably see that affecting heart
rate.<<




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