BAREFOOT. No problem, it's really easy !

[paddy555]

Don't have to use verges & iI question your premise. People should not be afraid to try something as some people like to make it look difficult, if it works well & good, if not nothing lost.

people don't like to make it look difficult, unfortunately it actually is difficult for some.

I may have got this wrong but if your shoes came off last Friday you haven't got through week 1 yet of going without shoes.
I think your title of "it's really easy" may be more appropriate when you have successfully got a little further down the line and done something. Many horses start off being fine, then things deteriorate. Hopefully that won't be the case for you.

 

[Goldenstar]

Mmmmm Op look at the thread I stared tonight I am 3 and a half weeks in, it's not that simple when you are working them six days a week.

 

[amandap]

Oh right. I don't think my clover is increasing, sadly it was seeded and is evenly distributed throughout the field, the only way I can see even the rye grass increasing is if I poison the clover! Clover is really not good for horses and is very bad for my tb

Oh, I misunderstood.

 

[Changes]

I would like your full and unqualified apology for accusing me of TORTURING a horse
in order to "prove a point", please.


cptrayes

I'm not apologising for finding some of your blog unacceptable (not just the hoof issue), and that someone who clearly is staunchly barefoot had problems about your methods to the extent that they distanced themselves from you.

The word 'torture' was not mine, so once again do not put words into my mouth. I agreed with the sentiments of the poster on this thread (and still do).

You have stated on more than one occasion that you know more than the competitive equestrian world about footcare. I don't even have words for my incredulity about that. Suffice to say, it certainly sets you apart from them.

 

[Changes]

This comment shows a lack of understanding of both how fertilisation works and of grassland ecology. It simply isn't true. If you could convert a rye grass field (which is what most livery yards have, especially if they are former farms) to a nice mixed grassland meadow in two years simply by not fertilising it and putting horses on it I'd be out of a job!!

Rye grass is blooming awful for horses - it is mostly leaf, rather than stalk, and so is far higher in sugars than what horses have evolved to eat. It is, however, great for increasing yields in cattle!

Happy to stand corrected, SC, I was going on a few places where I liveried or rented a yard many years ago, and that was all mostly parkland fertilised annually for sheep. I don't think I've ever been where cattle were grazed. When it wasn't fertilised, the richness of the grass yield was down, and the land chewed up.