[RC] the big argument about barefoot boils down to this - LTYearwood
In a message dated 2/2/2005 12:03:17 PM Pacific Standard Time,
tiffshorse@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
You
cannot avoid conditioning on rocks here. I'm resigned to the fact that my
bare mare will need shoes when seriously conditioning. The ride doesn't
come first with me ever either, but my horse
does.
But what you are saying here is that the ride does come first. At
least you are saying that the ride comes before being barefoot. You have decided
your horse will be an endurance horse.
In other words, your goal appears to be a long-distance horse. Not a
barefoot horse. To some people these are one in the same and to some poeple
these two goals never come together. If seems that what you are saying is
that if your horse's feet, when barefoot, can't stand up to the ride,
then you are putting shoes on him.
What I am saying is that some people will say: Barefoot comes
first. In that decision, these folks will say -- I'm staying barefoot
no matter what because barefoot is better for my horse. If an endurance
ride and the conditioning it requires poses too big of
a challenge at that time to their horse, then these folks will opt out
of the ride.
This is where the big controversy and accusations come -- when a
barefoot person says that it is better --even if you can't ride a certain
ride because of the terrain -- to stay barefoot.
Because in the end, some people do not believe it hurts a horse to shoe him
"correctly." And some people believe that no matter how "correctly" a horse
is shod, it is not as healthy as barefoot. THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE START
GETTING REALLY MAD.
I, personally, believe every horse has its life and its purpose in its
persons life. And that people who love their horses do the best they can for
their horses. And that that is THEIR business, not MY business.
I just wish people would get honest about what it takes to be barefoot and
stay barefoot.
