Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Why I require hoof protection (was: Barefoot endurance) - k s swigart

Kathy Sherman said:


If the barefoot horse is ouchie, it'll get pulled, right?


In my experience few riders and very few vets at endurance rides can
tell when a horse is footsore on all four (or even just two fronts or
two hinds) until the horse is in absolutely excruciating agony from its
sore feet such that it is obvious to everybody (and, as often as not, it
is obvious to everybody but the person who is riding the footsore
horse).

Consequently, there are several reasons that I have required some form
of hoof protection on the rides that I have managed so far:

1) Many riders of barefoot horses don't know that their horses feet are
sore.

2) Barefoot horses have to be really (and I mean REALLY, REALLY, REALLY)
sore before they will get pulled for being sore on all four when trotten
out in hand.

3) Many riders of barefoot horses will argue with the vets when told
that their horses are foot sore because they are unwilling to believe
it.

4) As a consequence of 3, many vets are loathe to pull barefoot footsore
horses because they don't want to get into an argument with an adamant
rider.

So, no "ouchie" horses don't "get pulled"

And

5) I don't want to have to trailer horses out of remote locations for
being pulled for being foot sore when I knew that the terrain and the
footing was such that the chances of a horse successfully negotiating
all 100 miles under saddle without some form of hoof protection are slim
to none.

I won't even let horses start that do not have hoof protection on all
four feet (no "shoes or boots in the front only" for my rides), since
this makes it even harder for both riders and vets to detect horses that
are sore on their unprotected feet.  As horses that are sore on the back
feet but not the front feet will "limp" (i.e. favor the sore ones) by
transferring their weight from back to front.

BTW, that is what "limping" is, transferring weight from the sore one to
the not sore one.  Favoring a left foot over a right foot is the kind of
limping that vets and riders are used to looking for.  Favoring both
front feet over both back feet provides no lateral asymmetry at the trot
(which is the way that ride vets evaluate horses at vet checks), but
rather exhibits itself as "shifting a bit of weight onto the forehand"
and there isn't a ride vet on the planet that will pull a horse for that
until the horse is SO sore on the hinds that it is absolutely
excruciating because the horse won't bear any weight on them at all.

So, there you have it.

The reason I require hoof protection on my rides is that I don't trust
either riders or ride vets to know when a horse is foot sore.

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=