Re: RC: Barefoot

[Truman Prevatt <tprevatt@mindspring.com>]

While we were out west this summer we did 150 miles in a 8 day period. The
Valley Fire ride in Montanta and then two days of the Shamrock in WY. I had my
horse shod with new shoes (St. Croix Eventers) about three days before the
Valley Fire ride. After that 150 miles, the back shoes were worn to the point
that you could literally cut with them. I was fortunate they did not break.
The were worn very thin. There were virtually no nail heads left.  My horse
has a big trot and does slide some on his hind feet, so he probably wears
shoes more than some horses.

But if a horse can wear 1/4 to 3/8 inch of steel off in 150 miles I do not see
how a horse would be able to do a significant number of miles without shoes -
particularly in abrasive footing.  When hoof wear exceeds hoof growth, then
either you stop riding or put on shoes.

Now I may be missing something in all the post on the  barefoot horse.  I
think a person should be able to ride barefooted in a ride if they want. The
only way we will know in the long run if barefoot horses will hold up to
endurance is to get them out there and let the trail sort it out.

Truman

guest@endurance.net wrote:Realistically speaking, no matter how "conditioned"
a horse's foot is for

> rocks, hard ground,
> gravel, etc., even a horse with the best feet in the world cannot compete
> barefoot in endurance
> more than 50 miles about once a month.
>
> Some of the disagreement that is being seen here is coming from the fact
> that different
> people have different definitions of what it means to compete in
> endurance.
>
> Personally, I am a multi-day rider.  Riding a horse in a multi-day ride
> barefoot is, as far as
> I am concerned, a non-starter.  The horse needs SOMETHING to keep from
> wearing off
> too much foot (which is what steel shoes do, better, in fact, than
> anything else I have either
> tried or seen).