One of the reasons why I'm trying the barefoot thing is for similar reasons explained by Karen when she talks about the natural balanced shoe. I do believe that when you put shoes on a horse, you mess up the proper action the hoof is supposed to make with the ground. The way of thinking goes that the heel and the sole need to make contact (firm contact) with the ground while the horse is traveling. With a shoe, that contact isn't what it should be. The other problems with shoes are with the alignment of the coffin and short and long pastern bones. The shoes throw off this alignment because a normal shoe creates a "long toe" which forces the joints within to bend, overloading the tendons in the heel. There was an exceptional article on this in EQUUS, Feb, 2001, titled "Hooves Under Pressure". Reading this and some other similar articles on the Internet motivated me to make some changes in this area. Most of ya'll probably think they're drastic ones, but I have yet to see a subtle head bob while doing a trot out with any of my 4 horses since I started. We'll see. The sad thing is my next ride is so rocky I will be forced to put on shoes and pads to get through it. But, that's the only ride I intend on doing till Leatherwood next year where I need them, so, the day after that ride the shoes and pads will be removed. I'm trying not to become a "Barefoot Extremist" but I must say, when you do them yourself, you really start to get into the whole experience. I swear I see hoof walls getting thicker and the concavity of the soles developing riding barefoot. When I look at a horse's hooves now, I see things that I never noticed before. I will say that high heels are not the way to go, on a horse, barefoot or with shoes. I'd compare it to wimmen wearing those things. It might make their legs look great, but try running in them. cya, Howard (amazed that MSN has yet to pull my plug) ----- Original Message ----- From: Sullivan Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 11:11 AM To: Cocomix3@xxxxxxx; guest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [RC] natural balance shoe
Michelle writes:
> Hi...
> I have been kind of unfamiliar with the natural balance shoeing. But, i
have
> not found that it makes the horses sore!!!! I mean... I know at least
five
> horses that have that shoeing and it did not make them sore at all..
> Including my two horses.
I apparently missed the original post, but wanted to say I have two mares
with Natural Balances Shoes.
Mare one had a problem of just growing too much toe, too fast, and woud end
up forging after several weeks. What the Natural Balance shoe allows the
farrier to do (according to him), is to take back more toe, and set the shoe
further back....what makes it different from a standard shoe is that way the
nail holes are set allows him to do this. It has made a difference with this
mare.
Mare two is currently sound, but with some issues in her left front fetlock
(old sesamoid bone injury), so the farrier was looking at ways to help her
with her breakover in the front. We tried these for the first time, and the
difference was
amazing; this mare has always had a really fast walk, but with these shoes,
she was just flying downhills, sound as a dollar; and even moving into some
sort of gait (she is Arab/walker)
Other farriers have said that they could modify a standard shoe to work the
same way, but why have them spend the time when the shoe exists and works
well. It cost me $5 more per shoeing.
Karen
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