Here’s a simple fact.
A foal born in the wild will live over twice as long as a domestic horse.
Imagine if we human beings lived half as long as our cavemen ancestors! What a fearful indictment of our civilisation that would be.
How, then, is it that for all our skills his domestic cousins do so poorly – no, so disastrously – in our care?
The wild horse has no vet. The wild horse has no man-made shelter. Yet the wild horse thrives and lives so much longer.
So since wild horses are setting the bar for equine health, Commonsense tells us to pay attention.
Kick off the shoes:
Perhaps you’re reading this while actually thinking of pulling off your horse’s shoes? I’ll explain why you should – and fast. Our horses have already waited 2000 years for us to wake up and notice the damage of shoeing.
In the days of knights, archers and brutal sword fights, the shoe had its purpose. Horses could sustain prolonged periods of battle, and their hooves wouldn’t fall apart on damp castle floors. But in the 21st Century we’re just creating weak, malnourished, malfunctioning hooves. Why are shod horses still almost universal?
It’s time to accept something quite clear.
Nature – evolution – did not provide the horse rigid shoes. Instead 60 million years of evolution led to hooves that flex with the terrain. By expanding and contracting, they act as auxiliary pumps, delivering blood to the hoof’s vital white line. And this takes a lot of blood. It’s estimated an average horse pumps four gallons to its feet in just 20 strides.
Of course, a half-tonne animal needs some form of shock absorbance. So you have to ask, “Why are we bolting this ingenious structure to rigid steel?”
The fearful damage of shoeing is utterly clear. You can see it – and see it quickly. Most horses suffer a weak, stretchy white line after just one year in shoes. That’s not all. The shoe removes 75{e7330e343a2ca9555f0bdc9ba7ebcb5adce3c949adb1b7ed0e5675b1497ccd37} of the hoof’s ability to absorb shock. This forces the trauma of that shock all the way up the leg through the joints and ligaments. Time after time. With every step.
Understanding the hoof and its structures:
Our poor shod creatures might look at their wild cousins with envy. These horses gallop happily across rocks, sand and gravel. How? Why is it so hard to understand – and draw the obvious lesson?
Compare the crude simplicity of the horseshoe to this diagram of the hoof. The horseshoe could be the very symbol of human arrogance and ignorance.
The folly of this has been clear for over 2,000 years. The ancient Greek horse trainer Xenophon never used shoes. Are we right to ignore his advice?
“To secure the best type of stable yard and with a view to strengthening the horse’s feet, I would suggest to take and throw down loosely four or five wagon loads of pebbles, each as large as can be grasped in the hand.”
Xenophon-
Xenophon said this 300 years before the birth of Christ. While we’ve learnt a lot in over 2 millennia, it’s clear there’s also much we’ve forgotten. This is to our horses’ peril.
Behind the hoof, sits the coffin bone. It’s sensitive and surrounded by blood rich corium. A stretched white line allows the coffin bone to press down on the soles. Heels running too high will turn it on its point. The sheer force directed on this can be devastating.
For some reason we call this ‘coffin bone rotation’. This actually makes no sense. The coffin bone can’t unhinge and move around – same as any area of the skeleton. It’s these outer hoof structures that have moved.
Indeed you might keep turning back to this hoof diagram while working through these pages. Understanding it is essential as you strengthen your horse’s hooves – week in, week out.
To some degree all these structures are supposed to touch the ground. How else could they work together, producing tough hooves that function in their environment?
The bars help to produce sole material. The soles compact this material into the hoof, becoming denser, harder and more concave. And the frog allows the hoof to expand, whilst absorbing some of the shock with each step.
Barefoot trimming aids this process. We trim to simulate – to copy – the wild horses, who maintain their hooves through 20+ miles of movement a day. We trim to allow our horses’ the relatively sedate lifestyle that comes from being domesticated.
To nail on shoes is to completely ignore the structures in this diagram, and render them virtually obsolete. Not surprisingly, your horse’s first barefoot trim can be quite an adjustment.
Get your setup trim right first time:
If only it were a simple case of kicking off the shoes.
If only it were a case of continuing with the same pasture trim – only barefoot.
But again, the vital lesson in barefoot horse care crops up. We are simulating the hooves found on wild horses.
So it follows logically that when you take off the shoes, the trim must change.
Think of the various types of footwear used by athletes and sportsmen. It would be madness to have a footballer wearing the same shoes as a long distance runner.
Typically in a pasture trim…
The foot is trimmed flat.
- Heels are left long, provoking a toe-first landing.
- Toe Callus is removed.
- Soles are trimmed right down, into the live sole.
- Bars can be left too high, causing immense discomfort for a horse without shoes.
Now, compare that to the hooves of a sound barefoot horse…
- The hoof is bevelled, preventing leverage on the hoof wall.
- The horse is trimmed to land heel first.
- The horse has a thick, calloused sole to deal with harsher terrain.
- Bars are level with the sole, or slightly higher.
You might choose a professional to do this trim for you. Amen to that. There are some fantastic farriers and barefoot trimmers, ready to help your horse build sound hooves.
But do be wary. Remember, most farriers work with shod horses. To them, the pasture trim is second nature. It’s not uncommon to find yourself paying for the wrong expertise.
The problem is summed up well on The Thoughtful Horseman’s Blog…
“It is fact that farrier schools and texts seldom address the different needs of the bare hoof (although they ALL advocate leaving the hoof unshod wherever possible), and instead focus on shoeing techniques.”
It can be uncomfortable watching somebody pasture trim your barefoot horse. Your instincts may tell you the professional is wrong to rasp down the length of the hoof wall. Well, your instincts would be right.
Behind the hoof wall is sensitive tissue and blood rich corium. Why weaken this structure from the base of the hoof, all the way up to the coronary band?
Your setup trim is essentially no different to your maintenance barefoot trim (explained in the next chapter). The major difference is that this is your horse’s first trim without shoes. You’ve a lot more work to carry out first time around.
So with the next pages of this book, you’ll understand how to trim the hooves, and what you should strive for. It doesn’t matter if you’re trimming your horse yourself, or watching somebody else do it. You’ll be well equipped to deliver the right setup trim, and a life of barefoot bliss.