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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] shod vs. barefoot

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  • From: sarcrna@aol.com
  • To: msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] shod vs. barefoot
  • Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:58:59 -0500

Guess I will jump in here and add what I have learned through the years.  I keep my horses naturally trimmed and do not have nails in their hooves that could potentially diminish their blood supply thus causing further circulation problems leading to laminitis and other issues.  I never believe in something unless I understand the physiology, so I took some courses on the hoof and dissected the legs/hooves to actually see how they worked.  (My background is in medicine).   The navicular bone acts as a venous pump during movement.  You can see venous stasis in horses that are stalled regardless of whether they have shoes or not.  So physical movement is important in a horse's overall health.  Anything that inhibits circulation (such as nails in the supporting structures of the hoof), will cause problems.

Check out some of the endurance horses who travel on all kinds of terrain without problems and are barefoot.  

One other point here.  I once had a barefoot "expert" trim my horses.  She charged $50 a trim.  I now have a good ole boy who has trimmed horses all his life.  He charges $20 a horse and does the best job I have ever seen.  He does not make them sore as he leaves more sole which the barefoot trimmer really should have done.  She just did not know.  Now all barefoot trimmers suggest more sole which only makes sense as the sole is the foundation of the foot.

Susan Martinez   




  • Re: [MSAR] shod vs. barefoot, sarcrna, 02/19/2009

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