The Barefoot Trimmer in Action
For some time now J has been quite evangelical concerning the advantages of going Barefoot. Originally I thought she was going all hippy and free love on me. I was expecting the house to be filled with the smell of insence and groovy chicks. No such luck.
Instead what J was talking about is removing Phoenix's shoes. The idea as I understand it is that shoeing horses makes their hoofs grow unaturally. This then has an impact on the way the horse walks and can give it back problems. I always thought having a fat lump like me sitting on its back would have been cause enough.
Some 6 months ago J removed the shoes but this has meant having to have his feet manicured, sorry trimmed, every 6 weeks or so until his hoofs return to their natural shape.
Enter Mike the Barefoot Trimmer. To describe it as trimming is I think wrong, its more like a major nail filing than triming. The only thing missing was the application of varnish at the end.
I suppose when you think about it horses in the wild don't drop by for a quick shoeing. I would also tend to support the notion that 10,000 years of evolution probably outweighs a good idea by mankind. Shoes were I gather only used becuase working animals were damaging there feet by continual use on hard surfaces. Not a problem for the majority of most domestic horses today and yet we still put shoes on becuase we always did. What I can say is that it seems to work. He is more confident when walking. Slips less and his hoofs are in better condition than when she started.
I guess this just supports the notion that every once in awhile you need to revisit what you are doing to see if it still makes sense, and if not ditch it.
As per usual loads of photos of it can be found here and here are some links to other sites about the subject.
Hoof Rehabilitation Specialist
Barefoot Horse Uk
Instead what J was talking about is removing Phoenix's shoes. The idea as I understand it is that shoeing horses makes their hoofs grow unaturally. This then has an impact on the way the horse walks and can give it back problems. I always thought having a fat lump like me sitting on its back would have been cause enough.
Some 6 months ago J removed the shoes but this has meant having to have his feet manicured, sorry trimmed, every 6 weeks or so until his hoofs return to their natural shape.
Enter Mike the Barefoot Trimmer. To describe it as trimming is I think wrong, its more like a major nail filing than triming. The only thing missing was the application of varnish at the end.
I suppose when you think about it horses in the wild don't drop by for a quick shoeing. I would also tend to support the notion that 10,000 years of evolution probably outweighs a good idea by mankind. Shoes were I gather only used becuase working animals were damaging there feet by continual use on hard surfaces. Not a problem for the majority of most domestic horses today and yet we still put shoes on becuase we always did. What I can say is that it seems to work. He is more confident when walking. Slips less and his hoofs are in better condition than when she started.
I guess this just supports the notion that every once in awhile you need to revisit what you are doing to see if it still makes sense, and if not ditch it.
As per usual loads of photos of it can be found here and here are some links to other sites about the subject.
Hoof Rehabilitation Specialist
Barefoot Horse Uk
posted by gerbil at 9:47 am
5 Comments:
I think I remember reading recently the fact that the hoof of a horse is actually an extended nail of the horse's foot's middle toe.
2007 eh? A lot of things could change during that time.
J agrees that it is something like that. She is the one who knows about the technical stuff, I just ride the things:)
Agreed a lot can change in that time but my guess is they are going to change regardless of me and if you don't have hope for the future then you have no hope.
You are right, that is a good outlook on the future. "What will be will be."
(Arrived here via Flickr)
Actually, hard surface is not the problem, once the feet are through the transition from shod to barefoot. It's the soft surface that deforms feet.
See this article about a police horse
Hope you keep up the set about the feet on Flickr!
joyce, thanks. I've passed the link to J. I'm just the Photographer I do however aim to keep the photos comming. Not sure if you saw but there were some from the very early stages when his shoes were taken off.
Post a Comment
<< Home