Interested in barefooting your horse? This blog is written for horse-owning clients of mine in and around
Melbourne, Australia, and others anywhere on the planet, who may be interested in barefoot trimming - rather than shoeing - as an approach to hoof care
I'm a barefoot trimmer. I gave up my day job about two years ago to concentrate on trimming. I liked it better than journalism. A lot better. For a start it got me outside instead of sitting indoors on a computer and phone all day. I liked the physicality of it. But most of all I liked seeing how it could improve a horse's way of going.
It is not unusual for horse owners to call me up and explain that they don't really KNOW if their horse is suited to barefoot but they want to give it a try because the horse is not going very well. It's stumbling. Or it's going along as if it doesn't want to go. Or it won't canter the way it used to. And they can't find anything wrong with it.....
They've had it massaged. They've had the saddle fit checked. The farrier says the feet are flat because that's the way they are. What do I reckon? ...they ask.
Well, I cant promise anybody anything. Specially not over the phone. But I tell them (if it's within my patch) 'I'll come and see your horse and have a look'.
So when I get there I aas them to trot the horse out. I need to see (a) that its not lame and (b) how its landing...ie toe first, flat or heel first (front and back). The horse is lame . But that's OK (for now). Just so the owner and I both SEE and agree where we are starting from. Then I'll pull the shoes (if its wearing them) and trim it up.
After I've trimmed it, I run it out again. Sometimes, the horse will go better (I've even had a horse with chronic white line disease and terribly long feet, trot out soundly just by removing the long toes which were acting as a painful lever force!).Those that are long in the toe and too high in the heel usually WILL move better.
But sometimes its pretty much the same. All I've done is set the foot up to heal itself and grow a nice strong laminar connection in from the top, which - as it grows in will provide much better suspension for P3, and suck it higher up in the hoof capsule.
Often the horse is still landing toe first...UNTIL...we boot it.
Its like magic for many horses. Stick a set of boots (preferably with pads) on the fronts and the horse will move out much more freely because its comfortable in the heels. If it has thin soles, the boots also protect the soles. And then if I want to make the horse even more comfortable, then I will put another set of boots on the hinds. As a vet friend of mine says "that's when you'll see Rolls Royce movement".
My view is that if the horse is landing either toe first or flat, then without boots to transition it, you are in for a long, uncomfortable haul. Unneccessarily uncomfortable for the horse, and stressful for you, seeing your horse in such discomfort.
Anyway, that's it for my inaugural blog post. Hope you can check back regularly for updates, or better still subscribe to this blog's feed, by clicking the subscription (free) button in the top right hand column.
- Rebecca
www.gobarefoot.com.au
This is my daughter, Bellatrix on her barefoot pony Solo, working out for Best Conditioned Junior/Lightweight, after successfully completing 80km at the Bright High Country Endurance Ride in 2006.
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