broken foot

mrdarcy said:
I can only speak for my organisation but if one of my clients complained to them about me then they would do a full and proper investigation and if I was found to have contravened the rules of the organisation (including causing harm to the horse) then I would be expelled from the organisation and would no longer be able to use their name or qualification status. I could carry on trimming of course but if someone were to research me they would know I'd formerly been part of the organisation and now wasn't and that should ring alarm bells. I certainly have no intention of that ever happening but it should be reassuring to all parties that such a framework exists. I can't speak for the other barefoot organisations as I am not aware of their disciplinary processes.

I do think it is appropriate for trimmers to give advice, if that contradicts a vet then that's unfortunate. Farriers do it too from time to time. But the fact is vets are not always right and the training they get on horses hooves is simply too limited and in many cases not up to date. Look at the navicular thread - many examples of horses that would have been PTS if the vets advice had been taken. These horses are now back in work in the main. I think it would have been wrong for the trimmer not to have given their opinion in those circumstances because it's meant horses still being alive and functioning as opposed to being PTS. Can you really argue against that? I have had a vet tell me that no horse in the UK can work barefoot because they all get white line disease because of our damp climate. But if he actually knew what he was talking about he'd know that WLD was a symptom of laminitis first and not caused, just exacerbated by wet conditions. A healthy foot never gets WLD even if stood 24/7 in a bog. I should know - I have five horses who all live out 24/7 in less than ideal conditions i.e. wet fields in the winter, and not one got WLD. How would that particular vet explain that I wonder?
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Of course I cant argue against that, and I dont! I think if the recent developments in how we understand the biomechanics of the hoof were published in veterinary journals then they might become accepted more. But until then, how can a proffession based on science be expected, as a whole, to accept unpublished theories?

I dont want you to think that I as a farrier am anti barefoot, because Im not.
You will be surprised at the number of farriers who are accepting barefoot as a beneficial development. Many farriers that I know of are happily accepting new barefoot clients, and even supporting some that want to convert. I have participated in a 3 day IAEP course, and freely admit that although unproven, much of what was said makes sense. It hasnt radicallised my practise, but it has benefited it. It should also be pointed out that the trim that was taught is exactly the same as what is taught to apprentice farriers. The only difference is the grading of each individual structures is written down, something which any conscientious farrier does in his head without thinking.

I would still be reluctant however, to contradict the advise given by a vet, because as I am regulated by the Farriers Registration Council, I am bound to operate within the remits of my proffession. It is not my place, legally or morally, to do such a thing.

As your job is currently unregulated, and bound by such rules, would in not be fair to assume that many trimmers are prepared to 'cross the line' as it were, without fear of repercussions?

Many farriers and vets are resentful of the fact that their proffession is openly and reguarlly critisised and dismissed by people claiming to be, the authority on equine feet and nutrition.

Whenever photographs of before and after rehab are shown, they always show either extremely poor examples of farriery, of extremely overdue feet. They never show one of the many hundreds of thousands of horses in the world with perfectly healthy shod feet. Its no wonder there is so much resistance within the industry, you do not help yourselves.
 
mrdarcy said:
The rule I refer to is that of diagnosing medical conditions. Only qualified vets are allowed to do that. As a farrier you will be well educated on diet and nutrition as it is such a huge part of having healthy feet - you can't have healthy feet without a healthy diet... do you not think that it is part of the service you give to your clients that if you see them feeding their horse full of molasses and turning them out onto lush green fields you should say something and give them advice?
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Yes, basic common sense should prevail, and if a client doesnt have that knowledge then I will broach the subject. I wont however diagnose grass intolerance, insulin resistance, or prescribe magnesium for example.

I havent been trained to do so, am not qualified to do so, and therefore refuse to do so. I find it is better to be exceptional at what I claim to practise, rather than be mediocre at what I dont.
 
Jenna500 said:
I'm sorry mrdarcy but there are horses that can't go barefoot, for a wide variety of reasons not only related to metabolism.

I won't go into the many other reasons because that's not the point of the thread. I simply wanted to point out that the trimmer should be working alongside the vet not against them.
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100% agree with this post. I'm sure your clients benefit greatly from having a practitioner who is not only aware of their professional limitations, but who also realises that barefoot isnt for every horse, or every pathology.
 
Mmmm, ignoring the argument going on here I'll add my twopenn'orth for the original poster.

I'm a barefoot fanatic and make no apology for it. And the one time that I would shoe my horse without question is if it had a pedal bone fracture. I'd have it shod immediately in a wide web shoe (bearing onto the sole callous) with a heart bar (to keep the frog "ground bearing"). I cannot see the logic of allowing the foot to continue to bend and the possibility of aggravating the injury. The idea that the pony will not have a run around and damage it again just because it is on its own is sheer lunacy. The reduced blood supply? Maybe - but immobility of the fracture with movement of the leg will go a long, long way to preventing that being a problem. It is surely better for the fracture to be stabilised and the horse to be mobile???

I think you should get a shoe on that pony as quick as you can, and until then it should not be free to wander about and do exactly the exercise that broke the darned thing in the first place!

Mr Darcy a colles fracture is also non weight bearing but it simply does not heal until it is immobilised.
 
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Mrdarcy

To ask cassy1993 to PM you for YOUR advice when you have not seen her pony and do not have permission from her vet is totally unprofessional and should not be done.I would NEVER treat/advice any of my clients without first discussing it with the treating vet (Working within Veterinary Law) (Under the terms of the The Veterinary Surgery (Exemptions) Order of 1962)

Talking about your own fracture (Toe) you walked around and although it healed it will have taken longer because you did not seek advice straight away.

Cassy1993
I can only advice but I would bring your pony in and keep her from moving too much thus minimizing any further trauma. Although you say your pony is on her own and quiet you can not be with her 24hrs a day and you can not 100% say that she does not trot around.
 
i put maizey back in the stable last night cos she was so lame and i was reelly worried after reading all the replies. My vet gave me their farriers number and he put a bandage on her foot last night, its like relly hard tho! he said he will come back monday with the vet to put a shoe on.
 
cassy1993....I am really pleased to hear that you have had the vet back out and 'appropriate' treatment will be made. I do hope that your pony makes a full recovery and please do follow the advice of your vet in order to make the healing process as smooth as possible. Good luck...kepp us posted on how things are going.
 
Cassy1993

I'm glad that you have had the vet back and you are going to have a shoe put on to protect the foot. It does not mean the end of barefoot.

Where are you based, there is probably people around you that has been through the same problem and you could talk to them.
 
Jenna500 said:
Hi, apologies for this being my first post! I've been lurking since the Parelli/Catwalk thread was linked on another forum, and I just had to register to post on this thread.

I'm a barefoot trimmer, but I'm not fanatical about it - some horses can't go barefoot for a variety of reasons, and that's the case, I'll say so!

In this instance, the thing that concerns me is that the OP's trimmer is advising her to do the exact opposite of what the vet is saying. It is NOT the trimmer's place to do this - a trimmer (or farrier or whatever) should work alongside the vet and owner to find the right solution for both horse and owner.

One of my clients' horses broke his pedal bone. He is barefoot, the owner didn't want to put shoes on him, she, I and the vet had a discussion, and instead he had a cast put on his foot. He was box rested for a few weeks and then was allowed out in a small pen area.

The reason for the shoe or cast is to stabilise the foot - the natural function of the foot is to flex and move, it's what it is supposed to do and it's why shoeing long term isn't such a great idea, shoes restrict the normal function of the foot. However this is important if the pedal bone is broken, the foot NEEDS to be immobilised for a while to prevent further damage. Box rest is recommended to stop the horse damaging it further by excessive movement.

I think the best analogy I have, is that I broke my middle finger a few weeks ago. It was painful but useable. I could have left it and continued to use it as before, but using and bending it could well have prevented it healing properly, and may have damaged it further. So I had it strapped to my ring finger, immobilised it for a while, and now I'm using it again, but gently. Long term, I wouldn't have gone around with my two fingers strapped together, and when I took the strapping off both fingers were stiff and needed careful management to function again, but short term it was the best thing for my finger.

So after all that rambling, my thoughts are that if the OP really doesn't want to put shoes on her horse she should talk to her vet about alternatives, such as a cast, and if she's still not happy maybe get a second opinion from another vet, but in the long run, it really isn't down to her trimmer to tell her what's best for an injury like this.

Thank you for reading :)
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I agree with this 100%!

Also Mrdarcy, just wanted to point out that pedal bone rotation CAN and DOES occur - if you study x-rays, the way to tell is by looking at the distances between the joint of P1 and P2 to tell whether it is true rotation or a hoof capsule shift.
 
cassy1993 said:
i put maizey back in the stable last night cos she was so lame and i was reelly worried after reading all the replies. My vet gave me their farriers number and he put a bandage on her foot last night, its like relly hard tho! he said he will come back monday with the vet to put a shoe on.
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Well done Cassy, just get the fracture healed and then you can take the shoes off again, her feet won't fall apart in the meantime :) Is it worth talking to your vet and trimmer about why her bone was weak enough to break? Maybe she is missing something in her diet, like calcium?
 
Cassy- well done for taking your vets advise in the end. You pony will definately thank you for it :) Dont worry about having a shoe put on, you will definately be able to go barefoot after it has healed.

Depending on how sore her foot is, I wouldn't be surprised if the ring shoe is glued on, rather than nailed on. This will minimise trauma, and has the added benefit of not leaving any nail holes in the hoof.

I do hope that you think long and hard about who you employ to trim your pony after she has recovered. Your current trimmer has clearly let you and your pony down, almost to the point of creating a welfare issue. When the farrier comes tommorow ask him if he would be prepared to keep you as a barefoot client once your pony has healed.

Mr Darcy- slight thread drift here (again). I find your views that laminitis doesnt involve pedal bone rotation slightly hard to swallow. I have seen a horse penetrate the sole within 48 hours of breaking the opposite legs pedal bone, purely due to overloading the sound limb. Can you really expect anyone to believe that in 48 hours the hoof capsule 'grows away' from the pedal bone? The HPA, heel height, toe length etc were exactly the same as they were before the injury, yet the pedal bone had rotated within the hoof capsule enough to penetrate the sole. Before you ask, xrays werent taken, the animal was shot.
 
If you've done an IAEP course, Matt, you'll know that even KC La Pierre says that not all horses can go barefoot.

I would be very interested to know who Mr Darcy trained with. Cassy, do you know what training your trimmer has? And I agree (again) with Matt - there's no reason why your horse can't easily return to barefoot once her foot has healed.
 
Matt I don't agree with what Mr Darcy suggested to this poster, but in response to your latest example I think she would ask the same question as me - how on earth was the attachment of the pedal bone in the non-broken foot so poor that it broke down so completely in 48 hours? Why was the sole so thin that it allowed immediate penetration by the bone? And was whatever caused that disastrously poor attachement and thin soles also responsible for the quality of a pedal bone that allowed it to fracture? The example sounds as if the whole horse was pretty unhealthy, to be honest :(
 
thank u for all the advise. i spoke to my trimmer and said im gonna get the farrier to put the shoe on and she wasnt very happy. i dont know what training she has i just always let her get on with it she always seemed reely friendly, but now i think i will use the farrier if he does barefoot stuff. at least i know he is proply trained and the vet says hes good.

oh yeah my mum had a look on hear at mr darcys profile and just over 2 years ago he was asking about a hot hoof after his farrier shod it so he hasnt been a trimmer long or got much expereance
 
cptrayes said:
Matt I don't agree with what Mr Darcy suggested to this poster, but in response to your latest example I think she would ask the same question as me - how on earth was the attachment of the pedal bone in the non-broken foot so poor that it broke down so completely in 48 hours? Why was the sole so thin that it allowed immediate penetration by the bone? And was whatever caused that disastrously poor attachement and thin soles also responsible for the quality of a pedal bone that allowed it to fracture? The example sounds as if the whole horse was pretty unhealthy, to be honest :(
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This was a case I observed as an apprentice, and its something I'll never forget. The horse was a 2 year old filly in training. The original pedal bone fracture occured whilst exercising on turf. Im affraid I dont know the answers to your questions as to why these processes occured, and I didnt pursue it at the time - wish I had really. I can only make assumptions, and I'd guess that immaturity played a big part, and quite possibly some systemic sub clinical illness. WRT the animals health, it was considered to be a fit and healthy TB in so much that it was running well and showed no clinical signs of illness.

Would this of occured if the animal was barefoot? Possibly not. Would this animal of performed the job it was required to do if it was barefoot? No.



EDIT: I should add that no mechanical support was given to the opposite limb, something which I now do in most cases of severe unilateral lameness.
I was using the example to highlight the fact that pedal bone rotation DOES occur.
 
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I completely agree Matt. If the filly was in training then she was shod ridiculously early as they all are (often at 18 months), and compromised her foot development in the process. Then she was fed extreme quantities of high carb food, too. But without either of those things, she would not have raced, and that was the only reason that she was alive in the first place. What a shame ...
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your pony. From what you have said I would definitely think that following your vets advise with regards to a cast or shoe is the way forward at the moment. That's not to say that you can't have him go back to being barefoot once he's fully recovered (which I'm sure he will if you follow your vets advise).

Also remember that if you do not follow your vets advise and you were reported to an authority such as the RSPCA or WHW, you (or your mum) could be prosecuted for animal cruelty, although I'm sure nothing could be further from what you are trying to acheive for your pony. Whilst a natural approach is often best, also remember that nature can be very cruel. In the wild (a natural situation) your pony would be picked off by predators and eaten when it was unable to run with the heard.

I'm also very sorry that some very opinionated posters have decided to have a fight on here over what is best for your pony. That must be very upsetting for you and leave you very confused as to what is best. I hope the are all ashamed of themselves. I lost interest in reading their arguments and I hope you do too!!

Keep us posted on how you and your pony are getting on.
 
A note about pedal bone fracture healing.
Unlike other bones in the body the pedal bone and navicular bone heal by a method called fibrous union when they have fractured. This means the gap between bone fragments fills in with unmineralised connective tissue NOT bone. It is absolutely crucial in order to achieve a good result that movement between the two fragments of bone is limited so that the fiberous tissue is limited and more mineralised bone is laid down. If the fracture heals with fibrous union there will be a weak spot permanently and the horse is unlikley to ever come completely sound. The bone fragments are kept still by placing a bar shoe on the foot and preventing hoof capsule expansion which would pull the fragments apart. Even a bar shoe canot prevent heel expansion which is why the horse has to be box rested. 6 months box rest and very controlled exercise is necessary to allow the fracture line to minimise. As your horse is so painfull it is likely the vet will have to perform nerve blocks in order that the farrier can apply the shoe.
Thank god you have seen sense and listened to you vet. I hope everyone who has advised you otherwise will realise how irresponsible they have been and that their advise could have cost your horses athletic future and potentially life.
 
Jennyharvey said:
Although i am a trimmer myself, i agree with the above poster. Shoes are not cruel at all. Unnessesary in a lot or cases, but sometimes nessesary.

But i agree with your trimmer that shoes will restrict blood flow to the foot. Its a tricky one, if there is a broken bone in the foot, if the horse moves about too much it could damage it more. But movement is also nessesary to improve circulation and help with healing.
Again, its very hard to say what the best course of action is for your horse without knowing what actually is the problem.
have you ever heard of equicast? http://www.equicast.co.uk/home.html
its very similar to what is used for human casts. It dries pretty solid around the foot, helping to stabilise it.
Maybe talk to your vet and trimmer about it.

As for the shoes, if the bone is damaged, the shoe will help to stabilise the foot and bone, so maybe its an option to start with. Maybe in a month or so there will be some healing and the shoes can come off.
I hope that your trimmer isnt one who is against many forms of conventional treatments. I think those type of treatment, ie shoes and certain drugs all have a place so stay open minded.
Hopefully someone who has had experience with this will be able to give you more helpfull advise.
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Thank God - at last someone who talks some sense.

Thank you and welcome!
 
paulineh said:
This is "Mr Darcy's" or Mrs/Miss Darcy's web site http://www.rockcrunchers.co.uk/

As you can see she qualified in December 2009 in the USA

She is very Dogmatic about things and does not seem to be able to bend in any way.
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So less than 8 months after barefoot 'training' and she/he is an expert?!! Im sorry, but this scares the hell out of me. Also, if mrdarcys horses' feet were 'rock crunching' as his/her URL suggests, why the need for easyboot gloves on all feet for an endurance ride around Cirencester? Most of cirencester endurance ride is off road!! Any one that has a bit of barefoot knowledge knows that boots do not condition feet in any way, shape or form as they do not allow sufficient distortion of the hoof capsule.

And as regards to nutrition advice - I spent 3 years doing a BSc in equine science, majoring in nutrition. Have worked as a 'nutritionist' for 2 major feed manufacturers underneath nutritional experts - I feel I know more than the average person about nutrition, but I still ALWAYS refer back to my old mentors for advice as it is such a complex area and SOOOOO many things can unbalance a horse.

I have also trained with KC La Pierre - spent 2 years doing so, but I would still not question a vets diagnosis, in fact I work very closely with my vet and have a good relationship with them - he refers clients to me occasionally - and would always have their approval before performing any alternative 'treatment'.

I also have a 14.2 pony in shoes - he is 20, has been in shoes since he was 4 years old. He is currently out on loan and his current lifestyle is such that his welfare would be compromised to take his shoes off - he is 100% sound and always has been and is still in full work - shoes don't kill horses.

I will also shoe my youngster during the competition season next year when I go jumping on grass - previous experience of jumping her barefoot on grass has shown me that you don't always have good grip in fact in some conditions it is downright dangerous - I will want to put studs in her feet. I am not rich and entry fees are so high I cannot afford to witdraw everytime ground conditions are less than perfect.

It concerns me greatly because I do honestly believe barefoot is a viable and healthier way to go with many more horses, but until more sensible, open-minded, non-fanatical, EXPERIENCED trimmers and farriers become more accessible and mainstream people are going to continue to be scared of making that move and horses will suffer if people follow advice of some of these trimmers mentioned on this thread over their Vets.

Vets may not have much training on the function of hooves, but I bet my vet has seen and treated many more navicular/laminitc cases than me and most other trimmers.
 
Laura 1812 you have no idea how lovely it is to hear people like yourself Jenna and Paulineh (sp) talking some balanced sense.

I am so plesed the OP has taken advice and whilst I know some people feel this post was hijacked a little I feel very very strongly that the "barefoot brigade" are becomming a little like many (NOT ALL) parelli people - narrow minded and inflexible. I have 2 unshod and happy and had another crippled without shoes. I would like to keep my youngster unshod for financial reasons as well as his foot health but would not hesitate to shoe him if needed. There is no "right way" for every horse or person, just the "right way" for that individual horse and owner and no one should be pilloried because they do not agree with the most vociferous groupl
Rant over - just feel very strongly about this!:)

OP I am sure your horse will now make a good recovery - best wishes for this.
 
hi just thought id let every one know the vet and farrier came first thing this morning, he stuc a bar shoe on with glue, and filed in the middle with gel. she is much happyer now than she was in the field. he said when she is recovered he will keep up her trimming for me which im relly happy about.

im glad every one spoke there mind on here if they didnt i would still have maizey in the field. my trimmer hung up on my mum when she asked about her training and told her we were doing what the vet said, so im relly gald we found out about her, and mr darcy on here, he shouldnt be allowed to be trimming peoples horses.

thanks again, ill let every one now how she is doing.
 
misst said:
Laura 1812 you have no idea how lovely it is to hear people like yourself Jenna and Paulineh (sp) talking some balanced sense.

I am so plesed the OP has taken advice and whilst I know some people feel this post was hijacked a little I feel very very strongly that the "barefoot brigade" are becomming a little like many (NOT ALL) parelli people - narrow minded and inflexible. I have 2 unshod and happy and had another crippled without shoes. I would like to keep my youngster unshod for financial reasons as well as his foot health but would not hesitate to shoe him if needed. There is no "right way" for every horse or person, just the "right way" for that individual horse and owner and no one should be pilloried because they do not agree with the most vociferous groupl
Rant over - just feel very strongly about this!:)

OP I am sure your horse will now make a good recovery - best wishes for this.
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There is a problem here though. Trimmers have pretty much had to stop "telling it as it is" with some vets and farriers, because they are required to work with them in order to earn a living. (What Mr Darcy did was rightly pointed out as completely unprofessional and no reputable organisation would accept that behaviour from a member.) The trimming organisations are part of mainstream bodies now and have to be diplomatic in their dealings with other professions, even if the behaviour of many vets and farriers is open to some pretty hefty criticism.

So it's left to people like me, who have no trimming business and are affiliated to no organisation, who are free to say that many vets and farriers are incredibly blinkered and unwilling to learn about the possibilities of curing diseases that they say are incurable. I wish I had a pound for every person who says "my vet/farrier says navicular is incurable, all you can do is manage it" when it's now pretty clear that this is simply not true.

In a case only a few weeks ago someone sent me photos of a horse's feet and told me that their vet said that they would do the horse great damage if they attempted to manage its navicular symptoms without shoes. Since the horse's feet were clearly a good bit better than the first one I ever took shoeless, it seemed unlikely there would be any damage from trying him for a month. After a month he had improved. After less than three months he was sound.

And while such appallingly bad advice continues to be given by vets, then people like me will continue to appear unbalanced in our fervour to save horses from unnecessary treatments, being pensioned off, or shot after treatment fails.

There is a saying "progress was not made by reasonable people". Reasonable people accept the status quo. It takes unreasonable people who do not accept current wisdom and who test alternatives to create change. And lest anyone is in any doubt it also takes enormous courage to do something that your vet and farrier says will harm your horse. Which is why people sound so triumphant when it works - they are, and rightly so.

There is another problem here which creates so much of the aggro. It is that simply making the statement "barefoot feet are in general healthier" - which is pretty much impossible to deny if you see the research of dissection of barefoot and shod feet and the differences between them - is read by a great number of people as criticism of them for shoeing their horse, and they get defensive. I have not ever on this forum seen anyone "pilloried" for shoeing their horse, and the use of that expression, I think, shows exactly the defensiveness that I am talking about.

I have, on the other hand, seen people rightly challenged for saying "my horse just can't do it" and then refusing to accept advice about limiting grass and sugar which might well enable their horse to "do it" perfectly well. I was fascinated to take on a severely metabolically challenged horse this year. "Curing" his navicular was a piece of cake, to be honest. But he had feet that were so weak they could be bent with my fingers. He had been unable to go barefoot without boots at any time in his ridden life, and at ten, having been on VERY restricted grazing was simply "one of the ones that can't do it". For his general health, I removed him totally from grass. And at five months now, with a lot of foot changes still to come, he is happy on all but a severely challenging path of sharp large limestone.

So while I completely agree that barefoot is not for every horse/rider combination, and that no blame should attach to that, if this particular horse could come right, I suspect most of them could. Whether you would want to is another matter. For the sake of his health, this horse needs a grass free diet, irrespective of his bare feet. Whether I would choose to dry lot a horse simply to keep him barefoot is another matter altogether.

Sorry for the length of this but it's a discussion that's needed I think.
 
cassy1993 said:
hi just thought id let every one know the vet and farrier came first thing this morning, he stuc a bar shoe on with glue, and filed in the middle with gel. she is much happyer now than she was in the field. he said when she is recovered he will keep up her trimming for me which im relly happy about.

im glad every one spoke there mind on here if they didnt i would still have maizey in the field. my trimmer hung up on my mum when she asked about her training and told her we were doing what the vet said, so im relly gald we found out about her, and mr darcy on here, he shouldnt be allowed to be trimming peoples horses.

thanks again, ill let every one now how she is doing.
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Well done cassey it sounds to me that you have totally done right for maizey despite the initial bad advice from you trimmer, to change direction like that and not stubbonly stick to your guns shows great maturity and I do not doubt has saved your lovely horse from a lot of agony.

This thread has really shown me the difference between professionals and what I would class as cow boys and it is refreshing to hear the open minds of the professionals in their field.
I am lucky I have a very good farrier and a very good vet so trust them implicitly it does strike me though unfortunatly this is not always the case although if this applied to me I would find another of either as I think for your horses welfare you really do have to trust your vet and ideally your farrier/trimmer as well and they certainly should work all together for the health of your horse.
 
Glad to know your pony is going on well.

Regarding the hoof boots - to say that they don't flex is RUBBISH, they are rubber it is like putting on a pair of trainers. They flex a lot more than a metal shoe and that is sure. There is a very good argument for using boots instead of metal shoes anyway, just put them on for a ride like you put ont the saddle and bridle and let the horses go without shoes for the rest of the time. How many hours a week do we spend riding our horses, yet they have to have shoes on 100% of the time.
 
ORANGEHORSE said:
Glad to know your pony is going on well.

Regarding the hoof boots - to say that they don't flex is RUBBISH, they are rubber it is like putting on a pair of trainers. They flex a lot more than a metal shoe and that is sure. There is a very good argument for using boots instead of metal shoes anyway, just put them on for a ride like you put ont the saddle and bridle and let the horses go without shoes for the rest of the time. How many hours a week do we spend riding our horses, yet they have to have shoes on 100% of the time.
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With the exception of easy boot gloves the soles of all the other boots I have come across ARE rigid and inflexible just like a metal shoe. The uppers are flexible but these do nothing for your foot health.

Yes they have the benefits as you have stated above - they allow you to ride on feet that are not conditioned enough for the job you are expecting them to do. I am currently doing this myself to get my mare fit on feet that are not currently sufficently conditioned enough to cover the miles I want to do in her fittening programme.

But I know that this is not improving her feet in any way, so I am also doing extra conditioning on top of the fittening work for her feet alone. I can now do about 6 miles roads and tracks unbooted.

I want feet that I don't need to use boots on - I had them last year but sadly this year I broke my ankle quite badly so my mare has been parked in a field for 4 months so her feet were not condtioned at all.
 
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