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FW: toughening feet



<another good post from a Ridecamp whimp>

-

While I haven't got years of endurance experience to draw from, I can tell
you
that a tender footed horse that is slowly introduced to harder, more
demanding
surfaces will develop a tougher, harder hoof in response to the work. Much
like
kids develop leather tough soles when allowed to run barefoot in summer
(does
anyone still do that?? maybe I'm sounding like a redneck here!)

In thirty plus years with horses I've never seen a horse that didn't respond
this way. But you have to make sure the internal nutrition is correct, so
that
the body has the necessary 'stuff' to build the new hoof with!! And it does
take
4 - 6 months or more of consistent work. And a barefoot horse requires more
frequent trimming to make sure the hoof wall doesn't splinter... just a
light
rasping along the bottom edge once a month is all I do - just enough to
clean up
any rough edges or developing flares...





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