Jericho
Well-Known Member
I just thought i would post this as there are so many heated discussions about whether barefoot is the best way and farriers are often given a hard time over it so I thought for what is worth I would share what happened today. My farrier came to do his 8 week trim and I really questioned him over barefoot, his training, his holistic view of the horse, nutrition because I really have started to embrace the whole barefoot thing, shoes are evil etc.
My mare went barefoot about 6 months ago and I was at the point of giving up and shoeing her again in complete contrast to my belief as mentioned above. She continues to be footy and uncomfortable walking on anything but very smooth tarmac or grass despite conditioning her feet, the barefoot diet and restricited grazing. I duly told my farrier this and asked him to put shoes back on her fronts because I was so worried about it. He basically said no, that he really thinks she has fantastic feet and it would be a shame to put a shoe back on and that I should perservere and we worked out an action plan of what to do and how long to give it. Her underlying problem is that her feet grows slowly (even when she was shod) despite having supplements to help and despite me trying to increase her work (she is out 24/7 as well) and the sole isnt very concave.
He really took the time to analyse my mares hoof confirmation, showed me how and why he trimmed where. We discussed management and diet.
So after all that here's my thoughts on it all FWIW: I probably think that for some horses it will be just fine, for some taking shoes off and letting nature take control once again will save their lives and for others, whether due to the past problems or not, will always need shoes to keep them sound. I do believe that ideally a natural hoof is of course going to be healthier in natural environments but when we subject our horses to an unnatural environment, including the process of having the extra weight of a rider, keeping them in unnatural habitats and feeding them concentrates then shoeing has its place to counteract .
Anyway the moral of the story, for those thinking about barefoot - talk to your farrier in depth about it, he totally restored my faith in his training, experience and knowledge and he most certainly isnt trying to get me to spend more money with him by making me shoe her. His view - shoes are unnatural but for what we do with horses they can be a necessity. Every horse is different and should be treated differently.
Pretty obvious really...
My mare went barefoot about 6 months ago and I was at the point of giving up and shoeing her again in complete contrast to my belief as mentioned above. She continues to be footy and uncomfortable walking on anything but very smooth tarmac or grass despite conditioning her feet, the barefoot diet and restricited grazing. I duly told my farrier this and asked him to put shoes back on her fronts because I was so worried about it. He basically said no, that he really thinks she has fantastic feet and it would be a shame to put a shoe back on and that I should perservere and we worked out an action plan of what to do and how long to give it. Her underlying problem is that her feet grows slowly (even when she was shod) despite having supplements to help and despite me trying to increase her work (she is out 24/7 as well) and the sole isnt very concave.
He really took the time to analyse my mares hoof confirmation, showed me how and why he trimmed where. We discussed management and diet.
So after all that here's my thoughts on it all FWIW: I probably think that for some horses it will be just fine, for some taking shoes off and letting nature take control once again will save their lives and for others, whether due to the past problems or not, will always need shoes to keep them sound. I do believe that ideally a natural hoof is of course going to be healthier in natural environments but when we subject our horses to an unnatural environment, including the process of having the extra weight of a rider, keeping them in unnatural habitats and feeding them concentrates then shoeing has its place to counteract .
Anyway the moral of the story, for those thinking about barefoot - talk to your farrier in depth about it, he totally restored my faith in his training, experience and knowledge and he most certainly isnt trying to get me to spend more money with him by making me shoe her. His view - shoes are unnatural but for what we do with horses they can be a necessity. Every horse is different and should be treated differently.
Pretty obvious really...
.