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RE: [RC] blood flow to hoof (was archives and barefoot) - heidiThere is an old saying that "a horse has 5 hearts". Unlike humans, as horses have no muscles from the "knee" on down, they depend on the expansion and contraction of the hoof to pump blood back up against gravity. Hooves expand when the horse's weight is put on them and contract when they are lifted. When rigid horseshoes are nailed on the hoof when there is no weight on them, they lock the hoof into a state of contraction. This restricts the blood flow. I'm with Karen here. Just because some people do poor shoeing jobs, don't condemn the properly done ones. A properly shod hoof most definitely DOES expand and contract as they transition from weightbearing to non-weightbearing and back again. Karen is right on the mark with her comment about the wear that one can see on horse shoes that have been put on properly. A properly shod hoof has the bars of the shoe somewhat wider than the bars of the hoof in a non-weightbearing position, precisely BECAUSE the hoof expands when it strikes the ground, so that the protection will be maximal when the hoof is weightbearing. With regard to the "5 hearts" statement--if there were no circulation to the shod hoof, there would be no blood to pump back. But indeed, the hoof acts just like it does unshod, unless a) the nails are placed well behind the quarters so that the expansion is severely limited (and even a 4th nail only limits it somewhat, unless the foot is really tiny), or b) the horse stands around all day and never moves. I would agree that a sedentary shod horse likely has less blood return than a barefoot one, since he is not standing on his frogs. But even the sedentary unshod horse does not have good hoof health. The key is activity, not the state of being shod or barefoot. The active horse will expand and contract his feet, and will have better blood return. If the circulation was indeed cut off, as you claim, the cells in the sensitive laminae would die. That is what happens in cases of founder. And far from becoming numb, such horses are in EXCRUCIATING pain. The end result is that the inside of the hoof (coffin bone, soft tissues, etc.) pulls away from the hoof wall, and the toe of the coffin bone drops through the sole of the hoof. It is a very dramatic thing. If this was due to being shod, the vast majority of our endurance horses would have been terminally lame within days or weeks of starting training. But the fact of the matter is that well-conditioned and ACTIVE horses actually have far BETTER circulation to their feet, and have healthier feet as a result, even though the vast majority of them are shod. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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