Re: [RC] blood flow to hoof (was archives and barefoot) - Truman Prevatt
It is the force of the weight put on the hoof when weight comes over
that hoof that causes the expansion. As long as the back part of the
hoof is not bound it will spread with the weight and contract as the
weight is removed. It don't matter if there is the surface the foot is
sit down on is ground, a steel shoe, a plastic shoe, an easy boot, etc.
This is why the foot should be shod full and only the front three nail
holes used.
When you look at a shoe taken off my horse, you will see on the hoof
side a ridge where the steel has been abraded away starting at the
front of the shoe in a narrow line and expanding to an area about 3/8
to 1/2 inch at the heels. In fact if I us AL shoes they come loose in
about 4 weeks because of this loss of metal. The abrasion on my shoes
are probably more pronounced because I ride in the fine "FL sugar sand"
- however, as Karen points out is is there on all properly shod shoes.
That is from hoof expansion.
If a theory is in contradiction what is seen observed the theory is not
a vaild description of physical world. A theory has to be historically
correct to be a vaild predictor of future experiments. And the theory
that shod feet don't expand is in contradiction to what is seen on my
horse with shoes (and everyone elses horses's feet that are shod
correctly).
There 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.
