Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Barefoot Performance

I just finished reading the book, Feet First: Barefoot Performance and Hoof Rehabilitation and I love it! It was chock full of information, examples of horses that were lame and transitioned into being sound barefoot horses, the proper diet for a horse, function of the hoof and more. It gives a ton of information about how the hoof works and why improper diet/conditioning/shoeing interferes with the hooves' natural mechanisms. And it's not a book that talks about how "terrible/evil" shoes are, but simply says that horses can be happily barefoot and in full work. I would recommend it whether or not you're interested in barefoot because it is so informative about the hoof in general.

Here's a couple interesting facts about hooves:

* Did you know that a horse with healthy bare feet can grow a new hoof capsule in 4 to 6 months? But that a shod horse will take 9 months to a year to grow a new hoof capsule?
* A healthy barefoot horse can easily do road work without worrying about wearing the hooves down too far - when you gradually increase roadwork, the hooves will respond by growing faster to replace wear.
* A barefoot horse doesn't usually slip more than a shod and studded horse. They often slip about the same or sometimes even less than a studded horse.
* Have you ever paid attention to the amount of magnesium in your horse's diet? Magnesium is an important component of their diet and contributes to overall health of the horse as well as hoof health.

And there is of course a ton more. I think I'll have to read this book once or twice more so that I can absorb all the information it has!

I also found this awesome article about Thrush and the frog which are super important to having a healthy hoof, shoes or no.

And if you want some more information about hoof structure and function, smazourek (click for all of the posts tagged 'hooves') did some great posts on her blog. Here's some of my favorites: here, here, here, here, and here. Whew. I think I got them all :)

I hope to post some pictures of Jetta's hooves soon. I rode her down the gravel driveway with absolutely no issues! There was no soreness, no stumbling and no unwillingness to walk on the gravel instead of the grass.This is a huge difference from when I first got her and she couldn't even comfortably get off the trailer and to the grass by walking across the gravel driveway. The new angle of her hoof has almost completely grown down, so I think when she gets trimmed this week her feet are going to look fab!


Not Jetta's hoof. But soon! There shall be pictures :)


5 comments:

  1. None of our horses are shod and *knock on wood* we haven't had any problems with gravel or hard roads.

    I know some horses really do need shoes, but I think it's a bit overdone.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the shout out :)

    Nic's book doesn't help a whole lot if you need to trim (she's anti-trim) but the info about getting horses a healthy diet is top notch!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, I was looking at her blog before I got the book and noticed that she doesn't really trim which kind of blew me away. I don't think it's practical (in my limited experience) for my horses since I can't have a track system, etc. but definitely interesting. In the summer though, I can sometimes not trim the horses for a couple months because they self trim. But I definitely love all the other info in her book.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cool, I'll have to look into that. Despite Laz's one GRRRR foot of ouchiness, his other 3 bare tootsie are ROCK crunchers! We'll get there.
    I am amazed at how FAST his feet grow being barefoot!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi again...been awhile. Loved this post!! Good job with your Jetta!

    My mare(for the most part) is bare as well...she is doing quite well that way and since I found a better barefoot specialist, I bet she'll do even better.

    Oregon is tough though...so much softening mudd for most the year.So I have taken to EASYWALKER shoes these past 2 years...to ride the "forest service roads" that are mostly very large rocks(sm boulders) really.

    KK

    ReplyDelete