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[RC] Shoeing - Bruce Weary DCKim makes several good points regarding the benefits of shoeing and barefoot both. It's human nature to tend to want an easy answer that we can commit to without doubts or questions, but the whole hoof care issue isn't one of those situations. We have done extensive endurance riding both barefoot/booted and shod, and have seen the detriments and benefits of each on varying horses to varying degrees. My wife's gelding had terrible feet and really benefitted from going barefoot to grow a better foot and hoof wall. He goes well in boots, and has won and BC'd in them. But, he is shod for his next 100, as she doesn't want to worry about looking down to see if her boots are on all day, or at night when she can't see them. And he travels well in shoes, as well.My foxtotter mare was trippy in shoes, so we went barefoot with her, and she became the poster child for boots. No rubbing, absolutely sure-footed, and they never came off. My gelding is too tender footed to go barefoot, and his boots rub and give him scratches. His walls break off, and he has been barefoot for the last two years, trimmed by a barefoot practitioner, and is on a high dollar hoof supplement. He is shod now, sure-footed, and comfortable going down the trail.He can't do endurance barefoot oe even booted. My other gelding can do workouts barefoot, has great hoof walls, and can go shod or barefoo/bppted. So while some individuals may have the luxury of taking a firm barefoot or shod stance with their horse, an inflexible approach won't work across a broad spectrum of horses. Another thing to keep in mind, and I have experienced this myself, is that the hoof wall expands a certain degree on weight bearing, and retracts with non-weight bearing. This is a quality of the hoof often referred to as needing to be preserved and protected by barefoot practitioners, and is restricted some by steel shoes. However, nature designed this expansion to accomodate a non-weight bearing horse who walks/grazes 97% of the time, for usually no more than 20 miles per day in the wild. Add my 240 lbs of saddle, bones and liquor fat, increase the speed to 8-9 mph for 50 to 100 miles, and the increased expansion/contraction of those feet can make him sore. I have had this happen in boots on more than one occasion, and though it can improve with time and toughening, I'm sure some horses never get used to it, so barefootin' isn't without risk of injury either, and steel shoes help in this situation. Either approach is a trade-off, and it's up to the horse owner to recognize what is working, both long and short term, and take measures to offset any detrimental effects to assure the long term health, soundness and utility of the horse. Bruce Weary =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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