[RC] Where when and why barefoot won't work - Andrea Day
I don't care how committed you are, how great your horses feet are, or what a fabulous barefoot program you're following, your horse won't be able to go barefoot in some of the terrain in the Snake River Plains country, which is basically one big volcanic basalt lava flow. There are plenty of nice sandy or desert trails here, but there are some trails to ride that are nothing but lava rock and pumice.
Is there anybody riding barefoot out there that doesn't use a rasp when they trim their horse?
If you do use a rasp, I will show you areas where you can NOT ride your horse barefoot. These are not just rocky trails across the desert or up in the mountains, although we have more than our fair share of rocks here. These are trails and cross country rides across lava rock that will take the foot right off a horse in six or seven miles and leave him so short he can't hardly walk.
Mustangs coming out of this country have some of the hardest feet in the world, but mustangs aren't stupid, and they preserve their feet by traveling on ground that avoids the worst parts of the pumice rocks. My old neighbor was a mustang runner back in the nineteen thirty's, and he said they would capture mustangs without a corral by running them cross country till their feet were so sore they couldn't hobble. He said if you weren't careful, you could cripple the horses you were after, and they'd never be worth anything afterward.
The colts I've raised hardly knew who the farrier was till they got their first set of shoes--spring and fall I'd ask him to make sure they were balanced, and *maybe* he'd have to wave a rasp around a bit, but he never charged more then a couple of dollars, because he said unless he got the nippers out of the box, and spent more than 5 minutes under the horse, it didn't count as a trim! Think of the money saved not trimming every six weeks! These colts were ponied out into the desert and turned loose, and they wore their feet naturally, but you don't overdo it, because it's possible to wear a foot so short you can flex the sole with your fingers. The horse might look like he's going sound, but you're begging for a stone bruise, at the least.
Barefoot is great, but there is terrain and there are ways of using a horse that demands shoeing.
Horseshoes were not invented because our ancestors liked shiny things on their horse's tootsies. I'd bet our modern horses don't have near the quality of hoof that horses had 500 years ago. We don't have to live on horseback, and we don't cull the unfit. We have the luxury of resting a horse if he goes too short; our ancestors didn't. The best of hooves wear with hard use, and thus the invention of the horseshoe. Maybe with our technology we can come up with something better than a metal shoe or anything else we've got. So far I haven't been impressed with any boots I've tried yet, and I'd gladly save a shoeing fee, keep my horses barefoot, and only protect their feet when needed--or when I feel like a cross-country ride up where the bitterroot grows. Until then, nail that sucker on.
OK, end rant.
PS: If you still don't believe me about how tough this terrain can be, send me your address, and I'll UPS you a sample of lovely lava rock and a picture of the area it was taken from. It's useful stuff--It will take the rust off your old pickup or wear your horse's feet right down, thus saving a trimming fee.
Got Game? Win Prizes in the Windows Live Hotmail Mobile Summer Games Trivia Contest Find out how.
