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RE: [RC] [RC] The Bare Facts - heidiOn 7/23/06, Sue Walz <suesblues@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: The more miles you ride a barefoot horse the more the hoof growth is stimulated. I should have mentioned in my response to Sue that THIS IS TRUE OF SHOD HORSES TOO. It isn't just a barefoot phenomenon. Debbie replied: I will second that... with the barefoot trim, not a pasture trim most people think of, the white line becomes tighter and the coffin bone rises up into the hoof capsule, which brings about natural concavity... My feeling is, don't put shoes on in the first place... get the horses moving, moving and moving, over ground with gravel in it... I bring in gravel a couple times a year just for this purpose.... Diet, living conditions and a proper trim will do wonders for MOST if not all horses Certainly proper diet, natural living conditions, and proper trimming will benefit ALL horses. But it will NOT necessarily mean that they can REMAIN barefoot safely when the wear exceeds the growth! Debbie, I don't know very many people (except in show barns) that shoe horses until they reach that point. Ours certainly are raised out, and we don't have to "import" gravel because they are on abrasive and rocky ground a good portion of the year. NOBODY on this place gets shod until the wear exceeds the growth. I have 50 horses here, and only three are wearing shoes. But guess what--those are the three that are being ridden enough to do endurance. Shoeing isn't something that most of us do as just a knee-jerk reaction--it is something we do so that even the well-managed barefoot horse can go further and longer without doing damage to himself. Simply telling people that if they never shoe and if they pay attention to the things you mention, they won't have problems is just plain not responsible. If YOU choose to limit your riding to what your horse's hoof growth is, that is certainly YOUR perogative. (And that IS what you are doing.) And I don't have any problems with that. But that is NOT what many folks want to do. And to suggest that they can is misleading. If this were a pleasure trail list, I would suspect that most folks could get the sort of mileage they want to ride out of their horses safely pursuing barefoot methods. And there ARE those who ride endurance whose goals do not exceed their horse's growth patterns. But I DO get tired of hearing over and over again how most of our horses would be SO much better off if we just persisted without shoes--and what I've seen vetting rides and talking to ride vets who deal with Darolyn's string in Texas, etc. does not bear that out. The horses who CAN do this sport frequently and competitively without shoes ARE the exception--not the rule. 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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