Re: Re: Re: RE: barefoot on the WRRT

["Maggie Mieske" <mmieske@netonecom.net>]

Susan,
Thanks for making an excellent point. Horses in the wild don't carry weight
on their back. A horse also does not eat oats or corn or pellets in the
wild.  Feeding a horse grain is not "natural" for a horse either but in
order for us to care for our horses in the environment in which they must
live to accomodate us, grain tends to be a feed we often turn to.  It's not
always the healthiest thing for them, but we do it anyway for whatever
reason...because we think we ought to, because we are working them hard and
they need the calories or whatever.  Shoes are not necessarily the
healthiest thing for a horse either...Nelson tells people that sometimes
they are a necessary evil or the lesser of two evils or however you want to
put it.  When done properly by an experienced farrier and taking the
individual horse's needs into account, trimming and shoeing are not
"unhealthy" for a horse.
Maggie