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RE: [RC] [RC] [RC] [RC] Barefoot/Shoeing - heidiAlso, my horse's feet are not symmetrical, and the breakover is not dead center on all hooves. How would a shoer set the shoe "back" to allow for that need? It is a simple matter for a shoer to set the shoe to accommodate a horse whose breakover is not in the center--and in fact, with a shoe that has not had its front edge tampered with in any way, the horse will quickly establish his own breakover point on it. (Just go look at any worn set of shoes!) If need be, the farrier can slightly flatten the shoe at the horse's natural breakover point--but I've never found that to be necessary. We did have a mare several years ago who was pigeon-toed and whose breakover point was considerably to the outside of the center of the hoof--although when her feet were on the ground, the breakover was nearly straight ahead. This mare had pretty tough hooves, but "shoeing her to herself" kept her problem from getting worse. One would have crippled her by trying to force a breakover at the center of the foot--but with unaltered shoes, she could break over at the point that was right for her. (This is one reason why I DON'T like squared toes, etc.) I figure that most of my horse's 720 hours in each month are not being ridden, or ridden barefoot. That leaves only about 20 hours per month ridden with boots (that have a beveled toe for breakover) doing less than 20 miles per ride. Since there is usually only one day in that 4-6 week period the horse is ridden 50 miles with boots, it doesn't put enough theoretic strain to make him need to wear steel 24/7. It's not like horses with shoes don't go lame . . . Often, the very fact that he DOES wear the shoes 24/7 can KEEP him from going lame from the abnormal stresses, since he has the opportunity to aclimate to the shoeing. (Yes, horses with shoes can go lame--and yes, there is bad shoeing done that contributes to it sometimes. But one cannot conclude from that that it shoeing that makes most shod horses lame.) The point here is that the horse runs the 720 or so hours that you mention without anything on his feet, and then you put something on his feet to which he is not acclimated and ask him to go do an athletic event. Imagine if you will that YOU went barefoot most of the time, and somebody handed you a new pair of running shoes and asked you to go run a trackmeet. Odds are you would be really uncomfortable, and might even do yourself damage. But if you wear those same shoes until they are well broken in and your feet are used to them, they can be an asset. When either you or your horse wear a set of shoes regularly, they become second nature. If they don't fit, that is certainly bad--but if they do fit, they are an asset. The goal of shoeing is to apply shoes that fit and that don't mess with Mother Nature, so that the horse benefits. 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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