Re: [RC] [RC] Bare VS Shod: There must be a compromise - steelsidedown
Tee hee Frank you're a hoot and soo
right!
This has been the most bizzarre thread, maybe
everyone needs more coffee! (me too?)
I disagreed with with flat weight bearing soles and
paring away the hoof wall. While it maybe helpful for that one
particular problem -- on average a sole so low to the ground you are able to
rasp is not normal and usually painful. I went on about proper trimming
being the hoof wall is the primary weight bearing surface and the
sole trimmed concavely.
In response, I got a whole bunch of angry people,
telling me I was wrong, yet sending me pictures of the trim I described.
Huh? I'm still a little confused, did I misspell a word? I
don't have time to respond to everyone, but rest assured if you emailed me a
picture -- all those pictures where of hooves with nice concave soles and weight
bearing hoof wall.
No one has sent me a photo of a horse walking on
its sole....
So I'm thinking something is was lost in
translation ....
I think Frank hit the nail on the head, I properly
trimmed hoof is in the eye of the beholder. It completely depends on your
level of education and experiences. But, really guys, you'll sent me a
bunch of good looking, very similiar hooves. Seems the majority
of us think alike.
Yes, in a properly barefoot trimmed
horse, or in a wild mustang, the sole is the support of a horses
weight. Otherwise, it would be like you walking on your toenails
instead of the pads of your feet!
Personally, I doin't care whether someone rides a barefoot horse or a
shod horse...it's their decision for their horse.
But, I'd like to comment on the above snipped statements.
"...the sole is the support of a horses weight." In my
opinion, the sole is one "component" of the horse's support
mechanism. For me, the truth has always seemed to be that a horse's
"conformation" is the true support of its weight, whether moving or standing
still. As such, the sole is one of the components of the overall
locomotory effort of a moving horse. The dissipation of impact forces
through the hoof, up the leg, through the shoulder and through the actual
complete locomotory cycle of each stride is something else.
lAs for "it would be like walking on your toenails instead of the pads of
your feet!" statement, I believe that the contractile moment of the loading
and the unloading of the hoof should not be discounted in the dissipation of
impact forces. Does that happen in a hoof with a pared
sole?...yeah. Does that happen in the hoof with a hoof not pared
out?...yeah. It is a matter of how much for a particular
horse. As such, the frog and bars are integral in overall alleviation of
the concussive forces of equine locomotion. The dynamic moments in hoof
function during movement are certainly aided by a properly trimmed hoof, but,
to my knowledge (which is properly just not as great as some of the folks
involved in this converstation) a properly shod horse's hoof's contraction and
release are not affected by iron. It is the actual "structure" of the
hoof, ("solid"...laminae and "liquid" (blood, synovia, etc.) which dictates
how the horse will bear up under strenous and dynamic effort. Certainly,
angles and such are contributory in whether the horse functions at optimum
levels and with as little degradation to stacked structures within the hoof
and leg, etc.
A "properly trimmed hoof" has come to mean a hoof which is trimmed in a
manner the owner of the horse deems proper. Not "double-speak", but, in
fact, the way things seem to play out on this list.
When discussing the dynamic and fluid nature of a living organism's
mechanics (the horse), it's much more than whether to pare the sole or
not...for me anyway.
