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    [RC] Natural Balance Shoes (To Howard) - Karen Standefer


    You're learning a lot, Howard!  Good for you!
    
    Karen
    
    
    
    
    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)
     
    
    
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