Re: [RC] This is one enlightened vet! - Barbara McCrary
I'm reading this exchange with interest. I
agree that bad shoeing is worse than no shoeing, and I have seen a lot of bad
and mediocre shoeing. I have also seen some expert shoeing. I write this to call
your attention to the difference between riding a horse 50 or 100 miles at
endurance pace, and the fact that Mustangs tend to wander around, grazing,
looking, rarely covering long distances at speed. Can you possibly compare
the wanderings of a herd of Mustangs with the efforts of an endurance horse
covering 50 miles at speed?
I have now a young farrier who seems to be
doing an excellent job for us. He is a kind and experience horseman, so
the horses trust him. He also works hard to solve problems. One of our horses
was bitten on the pastern by a rattlesnake 3-1/2 years ago, and even long after
the wound healed, the horse was not predictably sound. The pressure from the
swelling distorted the hoof growth pattern, causing a badly underslung heel and
a tendency to force the hoof into a pigeon-toed position. The farrier and I
believe that rotation was causing stress on the joints, and the horse would
be off after 35-40 miles. Gradually, through careful shoeing, the horse is
landing square on his foot, although one side is longer from the coronet to the
ground than the other side. He is no longer pigeon-toed and he is no longer
periodically lame. We're keeping our fingers crossed and will see how it
goes when we next take him to a 50-miler.
I
do wish I had a for-sale sign on my oceanfront property here in
central Idaho....
That said, if you truly want to listen to an
"enlightened" vet, you should listen to Dr. Olin Balch, whose
presentation on hoof care at the recent PNER convention was superb.
Like most of us, he does not "knock" having horses go barefoot--but
unlike the above-cited web site, he has an open mind. He is honest
and frank--you CAN ride barefoot, provided you first choose a horse that
has extremely superb feet, and second, you spend a considerable amount of
time conditioning (think years), and third, you carefully choose your
venues and the frequency with which you ride. Unless those and a few
other parameters are met, you are apt to damage your horse by not
providing hoof protection. (Certainly, you can boot instead of
shoeing--but if you do, you also run other risks, such as putting stress
on tissues by only introducing the weight and increased toe length added
by the boots at the time of riding, without allowing the horse to
acclimate, etc.)
If you do not do the above, your horse's hoof wear
will exceed his growth rate, and damage will result.
Dr. Balch
showed some great pictures of successful barefoot horses--and also showed
the damage that occurred to their feet on LD rides on
ideal footing. He also showed hoof problems that could not be
corrected by trimming alone, but that could be corrected with good
shoeing.
In general, enlightenment does NOT lead to the sort of
extreme position stated on the above web site. The site does make
some very valid points--but sure draws some far-fetched
conclusions.
Bottom line--there is a lot of bad shoeing out there,
but that is not cause to try to claim that all shoeing is bad. It
behooves people to REALLY educate themselves--not to just follow some of
these self-professed hoof gurus
unquestioningly.
