Re: RC: Interesng history of barefoot

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated Thu, 28 Jun 2001  3:27:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time, "Robyn
Levash" <questarabians@inreach.com> writes:

<< Here is an interesting piece of history explaining the original purpose of
  shoes as quoted out of Dr. Strasser's book "Lifetime of Soundness" :    "
By the time when castles were being constructed on hilltops in central  
Europe in the 6th Century, horses were required to live in small, enclosed  
spaces, standing in their own excretement. The hooves, lacking proper  
circulation to form good horn, and additionally weakend by ammonia, were no  
longer able to bear up to use on rocky terrian (in contrast to the hooves of 
 those horses still kept in large open spaces). It was the horses of the
princes   and knights, who lived in castles, that were shod to protect the
hooves from   excessive wear. The horses of the vassals and common folk,
still living more   naturally, did not have (or need) shoes. >>

Uh, I think Dr. Strasser needs to go back and review his history.  I don't
have sources at my fingertips right here, but as I recall, shoeing dates back
to BC, and was known in ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, China, etc. 
Furthermore, primitive cultures that certainly did NOT have their horses
standing in small pens in excrement found that hooves did not hold up to long
marches, and often protected their horses' feet with various forms of leather
hoof coverings--the original EasyBoots, if you will...

Heidi