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Re: [RC] HEIDI'S BAREFOOT POST - heidiPlease Reply to: MELANIE SCHALLOCK MLS3003@xxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================Well, as a first-time RideCamp poster, I come with heart in hand (and a feeling I should be a good "ducker")to reply to one of Heidi's "barefoot" posts. If I understood her correctly, the post stated much time, effort, and commitment would go into keeping your horse barefoot, and the reward would be a horse capable of only "light" performance. I can hardly agree with her more on the former statement; the latter, however, I found to be a rather incredible (or uncredible) statement. I was trained in performance barefoot trimming by Pete Ramey, a foremost barefoot trimmer in the SE and auther of "Making Natural Hoofcare Work for You." His experience, alone, contradicts your feeling that a barefoot horse is only suited for "light" performance. Melanie, please reread my post. (Additionally, my comments are not a "feeling" but come from considerable experience with barefoot horses being ridden endurance, never mind our own experiences in keeping our horses barefoot as long as possible before we shoe them.) What I have stated time and time again is that there is considerable variation among horses, and that for each horse, there will come a point when the work will exceed the ability to grow foot. For some horses (and in my experience, these are very exceptional horses), that point is even up to the level of doing endurance on a limited basis in good footing. The "gurus" such as Darolyn Butler who actually RIDE endurance on a regular basis do not refute that--in fact, they even shoe their horses on occasion when the terrain to be ridden is more severe than feet can take without incurring damage--and yes, I suspect that Darolyn's shod horses have had the time and effort put in to have good bare feet. Part of the problem with this whole type of discussion is that the proponents seem to be under the impression that only their chosen "gurus" have "experience" and the rest of the world only has "feelings." On the contrary, quite a number of us have "experience" that does not support the notion that the world would be a better place if we simply all abandoned horse shoeing. I'm about as unemotional about these sorts of things as anyone can be--what I share IS my experience, and that of colleagues whose observations I respect. And the bottom line remains that even if you DO put in the time and effort (and God help your horse if you don't), there is still a point out there somewhere where the hoof can only grow so much in response to the mileage. If you don't care to cross that line, that's fine. But I hope you care enough about your horse to determine where that line is, and to be honest about what that particular individual horse can do. Some can do very little barefoot, no matter HOW much time and effort you put in. Others with very good feet have been able to do quite a bit. It is also interesting that nobody seems to be hearing the voices of people like Karen who made every possible effort to do the barefoot thing and do it right--and nearly paid the price with sore and crippled horses. THAT is experience--not just "feeling." Again, nobody is knocking your choice to barefoot--only making the point that the barefoot capacity of any given horse should never be exceeded. And for many horses, that means wearing shoes. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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