TRANSITION TO HEALTHY BARE HOOVES
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In the interest of their horses´ health and welfare, more and more horse owners are turning away from the traditional horseshoe. There are many alternatives available from iron including the glue-on route, the two-pack build route, many styles of hoof boots, to the most natural barefoot method. A successful transition from shod to barefoot, however, depends on specific conditions and a certain amount of knowledge of dietary requirements to enable your horse, after a time of transition, to be ridden over any terrain without problems. It is not a cheap alternative to the farrier, nor is it an overwhelming impossibility. It is, however, a sure way, to a far healthier and sure-footed ride!
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For most horses the transition from shod to barefoot may mean a period of in-hand walking, or the use of hoof boots. They not only have to grow accustomed to a new more natural way of movement, they also contend with changes in the shape of their hoof, the distal bones and the joint ligaments. The discomfort in the period after the shoes have been removed is not due to excessive wear of the hoof, it is usually due to the healing of a deformed hoof, altered from its natural, physiologically sound shape. It is due to circulation, therefore feeling, returning to the hoof. Often a horse learns to walk all over again. Each step more sound, balanced and correct.
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Two hundred years ago the English vet Bracey Clark already stated that a hoof, after only a single year of shoeing, becomes deformed, i.e. contracted. The severity of deformation of the shod hoof depends on various factors. Amongst which are; how long the horse was shod, what type of shoe was used, the type of work it was used for, the dietary stability of the horse over the years and whether, as a young horse before ever being shod, it had good conformation and sound hooves. Mr Clark explained that every shoe, no matter how correctly applied, inevitably forces the hoof to contract. He also explained how the books on equine anatomy showed deformed contracted holes as sound and healthy, because the authoring veterinarians only studied sick hooves. However, even an unshod hoof, through incorrect hoof care, lack of exercise & varied terrain and drying out, can become altered from its normal functioning form.
Deformed hooves must be healed in order to relieve the horse´s suffering. Pain-free movement is only possible with healthy hooves and they do not heal by themselves! After removal of the shoes, a natural hoof care professional will need to trim the hooves on a very regular basis for the first few months, in order that the hoof and coffin bone regain their physiologically correct (and naturally functioning) shape. This process can take as little as a few weeks or over a year, depending on the time the hooves were shod and the general condition of the horse. The transition period may also be a time of patience for the rider, but very much when hoof boots are of great value.
Unfortunately, for many decades now, horses have been bred for a particular colour or height or head carriage etc, with little regard for whether or not it has good, strong, balanced hooves. Something that many, many years ago was the only consideration given in choosing a horse.
At our installations we make this process as comfortable as possible for your horse, with our modern facilities, quality feed and most importantly the correct trimming and relevant exercise. We also offer the services of an Equine Massage Therapist as the majority of horses suffering hoof problems also suffer tension, muscle-misalignment and general soreness.
With a planned shoe removal, it is usual to make dietary recommendations and begin any nutritional changes necessary a month or so before removing a horses shoes. If a horse is lame shod, then it will also be lame unshod, but improvement is often seen immediately after it´s first trim. Most often, upon shoe removal, a horse steps out lame. This signifies it was lame shod, and the shoes merely disguised this. It will take time for every horse to grow the thick and calloused soles necessary to walk on gravel and rocks. But a horse sound shod can walk out immediately on soft surfaces after his first trim.
(Just considering taking off your own shoes and going for a walk. Of course your feet will be tender, but given time they would callous up and you could, as many barefoot runners do, step out happily on all manner of terrain)
Deformed hooves must be healed in order to relieve the horse´s suffering. Pain-free movement is only possible with healthy hooves and they do not heal by themselves! After removal of the shoes, a natural hoof care professional will need to trim the hooves on a very regular basis for the first few months, in order that the hoof and coffin bone regain their physiologically correct (and naturally functioning) shape. This process can take as little as a few weeks or over a year, depending on the time the hooves were shod and the general condition of the horse. The transition period may also be a time of patience for the rider, but very much when hoof boots are of great value.
Unfortunately, for many decades now, horses have been bred for a particular colour or height or head carriage etc, with little regard for whether or not it has good, strong, balanced hooves. Something that many, many years ago was the only consideration given in choosing a horse.
At our installations we make this process as comfortable as possible for your horse, with our modern facilities, quality feed and most importantly the correct trimming and relevant exercise. We also offer the services of an Equine Massage Therapist as the majority of horses suffering hoof problems also suffer tension, muscle-misalignment and general soreness.
With a planned shoe removal, it is usual to make dietary recommendations and begin any nutritional changes necessary a month or so before removing a horses shoes. If a horse is lame shod, then it will also be lame unshod, but improvement is often seen immediately after it´s first trim. Most often, upon shoe removal, a horse steps out lame. This signifies it was lame shod, and the shoes merely disguised this. It will take time for every horse to grow the thick and calloused soles necessary to walk on gravel and rocks. But a horse sound shod can walk out immediately on soft surfaces after his first trim.
(Just considering taking off your own shoes and going for a walk. Of course your feet will be tender, but given time they would callous up and you could, as many barefoot runners do, step out happily on all manner of terrain)
