What I have stated time and time again is that there is
considerable variation among horses, and that for each horse, there will come
a point when the work will exceed the ability to grow foot. For some
horses (and in my experience, these are very exceptional horses), that point
is even up to the level of doing endurance on a limited basis in good
footing. The "gurus" such as Darolyn Butler who actually RIDE endurance on
a regular basis do not refute that--in fact, they even shoe their horses
on occasion when the terrain to be ridden is more severe than feet can
take without incurring damage--and yes, I suspect that Darolyn's shod
horses have had the time and effort put in to have good bare
feet.
and
And the bottom line remains that even if you DO put in the time and
effort (and God help your horse if you don't), there is still a point out
there somewhere where the hoof can only grow so much in response to the
mileage.
and
Again, nobody is knocking your choice to barefoot--only making the
point that the barefoot capacity of any given horse should never be exceeded.
And for many horses, that means wearing shoes.
Heidi
To me, this is the whole thing in a nutshell and
what Heidi has been trying to get across. Even a dummy like me
can understand two basic things........hooves are softer than most rocks or
rocky surfaces, agreed?......and when softer material has friction with harder
material, the softer material ends up wearing. Hooves can only grow
at a certain rate. As she has said, "When the work exceeds the hoof
growth" you MUST do something to protect the hoof **if** you continue to work
the horse.
The type of trim and conditioning of the feet is
not EVER going to make them harder than stone or stoney surfaces.
Maybe I'm just simple-minded, but this whole debate *is* so simple and some
people are trying to make it complex. No matter how well-trimmed my
horse's feet are, or how hard they are, they cannot compete with harder surfaces
- if the works exceeds the growth.
