barefoot'n It

["Beth Gunn" <happyhoofprints@hotmail.com>]

Tracey,

Maybe the shoes help with excessive wear on the hoof.  Not so much with concussion.  After all this is steel.

I like the idea of barefoot as it is natural but carrying all our extra weight is not and does change how they move.  Adding gravely and rocky stuff to horses terrain (if none occurs naturally) should help with hoof toughness, enabling more training to be done barefoot.

Kismet Arabians  ground ( at least during the winter when I visited) is crushed granite and horses are kept as  HORSES not lap dogs:))  Two youngsters from them arrived here in the deep south with fantastic hard feet:))  Now, I work hard to keep them at least nice.  Very different terrain. 

They had not seen a farrier at home...no need!:))

Beth Gunn