> > The attitude that any horse in any terrain with any > > rider and any > > riding can go barefoot just disturbs me. > > Previously on the list: > > There are three valid reasons that horses are > shod: protection, traction, or to effect a therapeutic > change necessary for the horse's health. All else is > vanity.
Well, I can answer No, No, and No to all the needs above... and I usually ride a lot of miles barefoot... this summer was limited riding till this fall, then I rode a great deal... but not my usual 3-6 days a week, I had to work.. darn... No, if they need protection I put on boa's, very rarely does this happen.. once this summer at that endurance ride, it was impromptu and Jewel had been living on wet land for 2 weeks, then stood on WET Gravel at the Picket line for 2 days, his feet were SOFT, 13 miles on gravel was to much for him with wet feet... I had to put boots on him after about 5 miles at a gait/trot/canter... the rest of the year he was fine, no boots... I match our riding to his foot condition, or put on boots, Traction... Ya know, I use to ride in shoes... but after about 10 years riding barefoot, we bought Duke, with shoes on... oh my, I had NO TRACTION, I hate shoes for trailriding.. hate, hate, hate them... I am careful about not trimming if they have a few surface chips and it is muddy on the trails, amazing how those chips can give you GREAT TRACTION... my horses just seem to be able to feel the ground better... I can not exactly describe it.. It is just safer for me, in my opinion... No, I don't need to use shoes for any kind of therapy... I did use the Natural Balance shoes once for Dan's Paso Fino, when we had her... that is one of the shoes I would use if I felt I had to again, however, I think had we found a boot that would have worked better on her, and more are out now then we had options for then, we never would have gone to the natural balance shoes, I hate growing out nail holes for one thing... she was sore cause of metabolic reasons... possibly cushings... I got that balanced and she was fine... the healthier she got, the HOTTER she got, LOL... She went back to a previous owner when it became clear that Dan and she were not a good match... -- I and my horses love our track system, take a look~~~ http://picasaweb.google.com/dakota.charm/TrackForHorses
