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Re: RC: re: barefoot



LSimoni197@aol.com wrote:
> 
> I have been lucky enough to own some very good horses who could go barefooted
> the whole year.  For other horses it depended on the surface of the trails, some
> old roads were just too rocky for much barefooted riding.
> 
> This year a horse of mine Completed the 30 mile B to B ride barefooted and got
> BC.  I am a heavy weight rider.  The amazing thing is that the horse was padded
> all summer, and still could do this after having the pads pulled only a couple
> of months before.
> 
> Another young horse of mine completed the Lake Orville 30 mile ride barefooted.
>  He was carrying a FW rider.  He was not the least bit sore footed on the ride
> or on the following days.  We will continue to ride this horse without shoes.
> 
> I have noticed some posts really pushing the point that no horse should be
> ridden barefooted because some horse appeared lame at an endurance ride and was
> barefooted.

No posts like that from me, and in fact I dont recall ever seeing any
posts like that; only a few posts from RM's saying that no horse should 
do THEIR ride barefoot.  Having worn "RM shoes" for 3 years I tend
to take a RM viewpoint.  On my own ride the conditions were great for
barefoot horses on the LD and several barefooters completed over the
3 years.  My 50 mile ride had a different loop with a 6 mile section
of graveled road.  We scouted that loop on barefoot horses but we were
walking.  None of my 50 milers entered with a "barefoot" horse. (One
rider used easyboots. He's been competing for at least 2 years w/o
shoeing; using easyboots for endurance rides, he won BC this year)
 
I feel that it would be terrible for AERC to prevent RM's from having 
a hoof protection rule. I also feel it would be bad for AERC to impose 
a hoof protection rule unilaterally. Ride managers should have discretion 
to decide what is needed for their trails.   

> Please remember, we have Vets. at these rides to pull a horse who is lame, or in
> any other kind of trouble.  All horses are not the same, nor conditioned the
> same.  In the early days, one of the most attractive things about endurance was
> the freedom to use the tack, feed, trailer, clothing of choice.  Even the
> freedom to ride fast or slow over the same trail.  I appreciate the Vets and
> ride managers who still support this freedom of choice.

I support freedom of choice too; I just feel that RM's should be allowed
freedom to set extra rules as they see fit.  Ride management is a voluntary
service to the endurance sport and as such RM's have every right to do 
things the way they like.  Riders can choose to not attend certain rides
if they dont like that RM's way of doing things and I am opposed on
principle to any attempts to take away the "ride specific rule" 
option from Ride Management. 

Teresa Van Hove (really done posting for a while now)



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