Born with shoes on?

Was your horse born with shoes on?

Horses might think it strange, watching humans try and improve 60 million years of evolution.

Shoes are a curious concept when you consider shoeing prevents the hoof from working as a flexible system, the way nature intended. The hoof expands and contracts as a suspension would.

Why bolt this ingenious structure to rigid steel, canceling out 75% of the horse’s ability to absorb shock? Its ligaments and joints must cope with trauma they’re not designed to take.

The flex of the hoof pumps blood to the feet, delivering nutrients to the hoof’s White Line. The White Line holds the hoof wall to the coffin bone – and it needs a lot of blood. It’s estimated that a medium sized, barefoot horse, pumps a gallon of blood to its feet in just 20 strides. No wonder shod horses quickly develop a weak, stretchy White Line.

Marjorie Smith has barefoot trimmed her horses since 1998. As she says, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horse that was shod for more than a year that didn’t have White Line damage.”

And it’s not just a case of the horse being able to feel the ground which it would naturally prefer.

So why do we put such untold strain on our horses’ feet?

Some would say it’s just tradition. We believe shoeing horses is right because previous generations have all done the same.

Horseshoes go right back to the days of knights, castles, kings and queens. Shoeing made sense. It prevented the hoof from falling apart on damp castle floors. It also enabled the horse to sustain prolonged periods of battle, carrying the knight – and all that heavy armour.

But in the 21^st Century, we’re just creating diseased, malfunctioning hooves. So says Veterinarian Tom Tesky, “In my practice, the incidence of limb disease and injury is 70% higher amongst shod horses”.

Is it time for you and your horse to embrace natural horse care?

Get started by reading my page on barefoot transitioning

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