[RC] Barefoot at Gator Run and barefoot in general (sigh) - Jonni JewellI'm sorry, but if you "barefoot" advocates, that like to brag up how well your horses did at a recent ride while all barefoot, really want to impress some folks on this fad, then tell us where you went to some rides that were not soft and sandy, had less than perfect footing, and still had wonderful completion rates. Go to some of these rides that have crappy footing, and show me that what you are doing with these horses in their hoof care, benefits the horse, and they are finishing sound and happy, with no hoof protection. Do a ride down in Bandera TX, or up at Cedar Lake OK. Finish Old Dominion, Virginia City, Silver State, or any of the other Nevada rides in that area. Beaver Creek CO., Cosequine Challenge VA, or many of the New Mexico rides. How about Tevis? Show me that these barefoot horses can CONSISTENTLY finish rides with footing that is less than perfect, with no protection. That might make a few more folks at least go "hummmmm" and ponder the whole barefoot thing more.(until then, I bet most go "oh no, not this crap again") Our local trails that I ride here in North Texas, at the LBJ Grasslands is made up of footing that I would have no problem riding my horses on it every day barefoot. I could pull their shoes in the morning, and ride them out there in the afternoon, and I bet they would not be sore! I bet most of the horses owned by the riders on this list could handle conditions like that barefoot. Funny how we never hear of the failure and lameness stories where the barefoot horses could NOT finish a ride. I'd think we could learn something from those stories too. Oh, and Terry, as to your post that "Nailing steel to living tissue is an archaic, Mediaeval hoof-management system", I have a question...then why would you take sharp nippers, rasps, and hoof knives and cut on it then??? Sounds just as archaic, doesn't it??? I mean...as you said, it is living tissue....you know, where those nails go through.... Jonni =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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