Now have two horses...This past winter, I removed shoes from both
horses. One had no problems and the other ended up very sore about 6
weeks before I was ready to put them back on. BUT we had a very mild winter
here...wet, muddy, nasty, rainy. His feet ended up too soft and walking
over any bit of rocks like the gravel driveway made him walk on egg
shells. .....
A friend of mine always removed shoes for the winter. One of her
horses was so sore after removing shoes that she had to put them back on a
week later. She was fine after they were back on. Now she won't
remove shoes on that horse.
*Our Arab mare was like that....take shoes off
and she was instantly crippled. I had an excellent farrier and we fought
for years to keep toe back, did natural balance trim, and natural balance
shoes, and she did okay, although big, rough canter, and bouncy
downhill. Taking the shoes off for the winter meant not riding her at
all....and then we had to fight the constant run away toe.
Last August, shoes came off as I was going to
give her a break and didn't want to pay for shoes, PLUS, see if she could
transition to barefoot. I played with the initial trim...and Linda
Cowles worked on it a few months later. Her feet had already improved
some. She had "wry" feet (not straight from fetlock joint), severely underun
heels, contracted heels, weak heel buttresses, rotted white line at
quarters and very bumpy soles. She was uncomfortable at first, and had
to be ridden in boots at first. We got through a very wet winter,
keeping after the toes, and keeping the hoof wall rounded and beveled. I
encouraged daily movement on all the horses and rode her short rides
frequently.
Over the spring, major good changes on feet;
heels started to uncontract, heels got stronger and eventually I caught up
with the rotted out white line at the quarters. Mare shed bumpy sole,
shed old frog, developed toe callus. Feet are changing shape, mare now
has smooth trot and goes down hill much better.
Last several rides we have gone comfortably over
very rocky terrain,, it is really looking great, her body shape is better,
it's a win, win. Do I blame the farrier, no....he did everything he
could to keep after that foot. But, even with barefoot horses, some do
seem to have a tendency towards underun heels....what I do blame is 7 years of
shoes that I do believe impair hoof mechanism.
Question for Heidi......my understanding is that
the digital cushion is designed to absorb shock from the descending flexor
tendon and bone.....with a good digital cushion, I don't see how flexor tendon
get stressed.....seems far more stress on one from improper shoeing....or hoof
(we see SO MANY) with 4 nails, AND clips.....then....how does the hoof flex,
and where does the pressure go?
