Barefoot horses

[MBlanchrd@aol.com]

Hi, Diane,

 I had the farrier pull Jordan's shoes last summer. I don't ride him that
hard, and when I do ride him it's never on pavement. Plus he's got hard, hard
hooves..my farrier bitches because he wears out a rasp on Jordan's feet. (not
really, I don't think....). I've always felt the more natural the horse's
environment, the happier and healthier the horse.

I've found several  positive things about him being barefoot:
1. It's far cheaper..I have him trimmed every 7 weeks. Having him barefoot
makes his frogs do the job they were meant to do..shock absorb. His feet flex
the way their supposed to because the bars have been allowed to grow, meaning
increased blood flow and tensile strength. 

2. More surefootedness. Jordan would stumble over a stalk of hay when he was
shod. Part of this is because he's a Grade 1 clubfooted in the right fore,
(though you have to look hard to see it) so ( I think) he tends to drag his
feet. He'd stumble every couple  hundred feet or so, except when at speed.
He's still dragging his feet, but hardly stumbles at all now. I admit, some of
this is laziness on his part, but I do believe the fact that he's barefooted
helps cut back on the stumbling.

3. My barn..well, the barn where I'm boarding him..was designed by a CPA, so
it means that his concrete floor is SMOOTH. Jordan slipped and fell on it
several times while in shoes. He'd walk on it like it was ice, and in metal
shoes, I'm sure it was. Now..he's no longer fearful of the footing. 

4. In the recent cold snap we had, everyone else had to use screwdrivers to
get ice balls out of their shod horses feet. Not Jordan..

5. I ride him bareback a LOT. One of the things that's always driven me nuts
is how noisy it is when I ride in a saddle on a shod horse. I do a lot of
birding on horseback, and much of that involves listening. Now, when I ride,
bareback, in a hackamore with straps, not curb chains, on a barefoot horse,
we're virtually silent. We've snuck up on deer........

6. He's not so sore in his shoulders as he used to be. I massage him often,
know where all his trigger points are, and he was always ouchy in the
shoulders. Since I had the shoes pulled (and I have changed nothing else)..no
pain. I attribute this to the fact that since the shoes were pulled, his feet
have gone from size 00 to 0. I like a horse with a lot of hoof and big feet.
He's only 14.3. Still, I think the years he had shoes on contracted his feet
quite a bit. If they get big as soup platters, I don't care as long as they
stay healthy.



The negative points of having a barefoot horse...
1. Um..................well, I guess if I was going to do any long distances
on him, I'd need to have him shod. But since he's 22 years old in April, I
consider him retired and just a pal to bum around with, not a competition
horse. I think were I to really intend on putting lots of mileage on a horse,
he'd be better off in shoes. However, I'd pull them in the winter "to let the
nail holes grow out"..while my farrier says that's an "old wives tale" I can't
see how it would hurt.  (maybe because I'm an "old wife"???)

Other than preventing or lessening wear and tear on a hoof, I can't think of
another reason why I should have my horse shod. I know Jordan REALLY likes it.
After I had his shoes pulled and put him back in his paddock, he tippytoed
around the paddock, picking up his feet way up, and I swear, wiggling his
toes. The look on his face was priceless. I don't think he'd been barefooted
since he was a baby.

That's just my..um, let me do the math.. 16 cents worth..

Michelle and Jordan (mom, did you have to mention me wiggling my toes??)