WHAT IS BARE FOOT?
Bare foot is the horse’s natural hoof just as nature designed it free from shoes or manmade protection of any kind. If allowed to grow and develop in this way the horses’ hooves can function and provide the support and protection they need to for each indivdual horse, just as our own feet would if we were to grow up without wearing shoes. Unfortunately for the horse not only do shoes hinder the callousing mechanism that aids protection they can also be likened to the feet of the china princesses, where they were bound so tight it stopped them developing correctly and eventually lead to the girls being carried everywhere as their own feet could not function to the size and needs of their bodies. With the shod horse this process is much slower to occur yet the effects can be just as damaging.
Barefoot then is undoubtedly best for the horse. But it may not be best for all horse owners. Whether a horse can go barefoot or not is really not dependent on the horse, it’s dependent on the owner, and what’s important to them. There are no horses who "need" shoes for themselves, there are only horses who need some form of hoof protection because of what their owners do with them. So the owner determines whether or not the horse "needs" shoes. Some horse owners will prioritise the health and well-being of their horses, and they will adjust how they keep their horses and how they use their horses in order to put the horse first. Barefoot is suitable for them. But some horse owners main concern is being able to use their horses for whatever they want whenever they want to. For those horse owners, being able to use their horses is more important than the long term well-being of the horses, and barefoot may not be the route for them. That isn’t to make any moral judgement, it’s just the reality of human nature.
SO WHY SHOE HORSES?
There is no precise evidence of the first time a shoe was put on a horse, and it is unlikely the iron shoe was the first attempt. More probable first attempts would have come from skins, reeds and wood. Historically we can find that the Greek, Babylonian and Egyptian armies all rode unshod horses on which they conquered vast terrains.
The "hippo sandal" made of iron, was in use in the Celtic Roman area north of the Alps from the middle of the 1st century to the 4th Century AD. The hooves were wrapped and placed in the shoes, which were then fastened with the help of bands running through hooks and eyes at the front and back ends of the shoes. The hippo sandals were usually worn only by draft and pack animals who walked on "paved" roads, and a gait faster than the walk seems to have been impossible with these early shoes. However recent replications made and fitted of the sandals suggest even more limited veterinarian usage.
The invention of nailed on horseshoes is believed to have been the Celts, who are supposed to have been using them in Roman times. If, however, horseshoes had actually been in use at this time, why neither in Pompeii or Herculaneum, nor in the ruins of other Roman forts where mounted units were stationed, have horseshoes been found amongst the considerable iron artifacts. And among the remains of 30 fallen military horses in Krefeld Gellep, there was not a single horseshoe to be found.
So while horses may have been shod earlier, the Crusades appear to have made shoeing important, and immensely popular. Iron had become cheaper and more plentiful. Armorers could make anything from iron, and were putting it all over the knights’ and horses’ bodies. Shoes gave the knights a psychological advantage over those they were attacking. With increased injury when run over by horse in iron shoes, kicked with an iron shoe and what a sight it must have been to see an armored horse and rider charge you with sparks flying from their feet.
What seems likely is that shoeing was invented by many armorers in different places at about the same time, and then kept as a military secret until it was obvious that everyone was doing it. This combined with the changes in horse husbandry, such as stabling horses and keeping them on smaller domains for longer periods, where horses’ feet were now subjected to standing in manure and lacked the freedom of movement across a range of terrains probably led to shoeing becoming the tradition it is.
However, shoeing can improve traction and be a means for the treatment and correction of hoof injuries and conformation defects. But there are definite disadvantages and harmful effects of shoeing have been recognised and documented for hundreds of years. It has been estimated that 80% of lameness in domesticated horses today is caused or aggravated by shoeing. Nails weaken the hoof walls; iron shoes increase concussion; they hold the frog off the ground thus reducing the stimulation required through the hoof. Shoeing can cause contracted heels, corns, contribute to navicular disease, sidebones, ringbones, and so on. A good many of these problems arise simply because nailing on an iron shoe locks in problems that a barefoot hoof would automatically adjust by natural wear and freedom.
GETTING BACK TO NATURE
There is a growing trend within the horse world at present to challenge traditional thinking and return to the more basic "natural" approaches of horse care, training and husbandry. The so called "barefoot" movement is just one area, and within it there are numerous methods and techniques being applied. When the whole horse, his environment and owners’ expectations are taken into consideration then I truly believe that this is for the good of the horse and the way forward.
Barefoot is undoubtedly best for the horse.
For further information on going barefoot contact;
AJS Equstrian, Hoof care specialist
tel: 610 535 572 e-mail: ajsequest hotmail.co.uk
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|