Successful Natural Horsecare

Preventing Horse Injury and Lameness

Recently reading Horse and Hound, a highly rated, weekly horse magazine in the UK.

I find it fascinating when I come across articles about, ‘Preventing Horse Injury and Lameness,” like this recent one, “Less Than Perfect Going,” which was published under their veterinary clinic section.

It was about how, changes in going, for example from hard to soft going, can contribute to lameness and injury.

The article included what farriers can do with their shoeing and what horse training can be done to horses, to help prevent the likelihood of injury occurring due to changes in going.

Fascinating…

The reason I find it fascinating is, because a large part of the article is so completely inaccurate and stupid, and yet it is written by “experts” in the Horse and Hounds Veterinary Section.

It is inaccurate and stupid as it is talking about a subject, lameness and horse injury, but it misses out the most important factors which will be contributing to horse lameness.

By this, I mean, it would be like writing an article all about acne and all the different creams that are on the market that can help prevent/cure acne, but never once mention that if you are eating fish and chips and McDonalds everyday this just might be the main cause of the acne…!

Quoting the Horse and Hound

I need to quote from the article to explain further:-

“British pony team vet and former four-star event rider Tim Randle explains that although the structures from the knee down should be sufficient to absorb concussion as the horse’s foot hits the floor, the tendons only have a certain amount of stretch in them.”

Quoting a BEF Physiotherapist

Later on in the article British equestrian Federation (BEF) physiotherapist Vicky Spaldin explains that, “When a horse encounters hard ground, it’s muscle groups have to change their function from acting as ‘power drivers’ to propel a horse forward to ‘stability supports’, to prevent jarring in the lower limbs.”

She says that it is this change in function that is the key to explaining why some horses perform noticeably less well on firm ground.

Farrier Solutions

Then a farrier comments in the article, and talks about how he is now shoeing horses with more pads and bar shoes, he says, “technology has allowed us to provide the means to give the horse more support. He also says that advances in farriery, means that there is plenty we can do to help protect horses feet against varied ground.”

The article also goes on to mention conditioning horses and the importance of it. It then mentions that no one really knows how much conditioning horses should have before that then becomes too much…

Nowhere in the Article…

However – no where in the article is there any mention of the appalling effect shoeing has on a horse, and its limbs and no where is there any mention that owners could instead, keep their horses barefoot, and the likelihood of injury would be greatly reduced.

A Few Interesting Thoughts

I will quote Dr Tom Tesky,( a vet,) “In my practice, the incidence of limb disease and injury is 70% higher amongst shod horses.
Shod hooves cannot adequately dissipate forces of torque and concussion. Instead, these forces harm the hoof and are, also referred up the limb to assault other structures that have not evolved to withstand these stresses and strains. The resultant harm to the horse’s flesh and bone is both predictable and inevitable.”

He goes on to say:-
“In addition, shoes inhibit the pumping system that promotes full circulation in the hoof, so reducing shock-absorbing ability.”

Again Dr. Tom Tesky sums this up so perfectly:-

“The hoof flexes and torques in all directions in response to changes in terrain·

1.) It assists in the movement of blood and lymph through weight-driven pump mechanics.
2.) It protects sensitive inner structures from physical and environmental variables.
3.) It exfoliates itself in a process that eliminates old and stimulates new growth.
4.) It transfers sensory information about the environment to the central nervous system.

The above demands are met by the unshod hoof: a marvel of engineering that accomplishes these tasks by virtue of 60 million years of evolution.

It possesses structures based on three very strong shapes…a cone-shaped inner and outer wall and coffin bone, a dome-shaped sole and coffin bone, and a triangular frog and bar-heel. This arrangement is healthy and helpful to the horse only when the hoof can shape itself by movement or be sculpted appropriately by tools and remain in a dynamic (ever changing) state.

Inappropriate sculpting or the attachment of shoes impedes all these functions and, to varying degrees, hurts every hoof and harms every horse.

Forcing the flexible hoof to function when restricted by a rigid, steel shoe is one powerful prescription for promoting the hoof’s deterioration. It results in deformity of the hoof and other nearby tissues, disrupts physiological processes, and leads to harmful overgrowth of the hoof capsule. Because when a shoe is finally removed, the overgrown hoof is trimmed in a manner designed to ensure the retention of the next shoe (rather than comply with the physiology of the hoof) additional harm follows.

He goes on to say, and which I have experienced first hand:-

“The increasing body of evidence about barefoot rehabilitation techniques, and the demonstrably convincing performance of barefoot endurance horses is both fascinating and compelling.
Other veterinarians that both ride and shoe cite the “impossibilities” of riding barefoot…I can only say that my own and thousands of other horses can and do ride barefoot, for hundreds of miles a week, on rocks, with a level that is customary in feral (wild) horses.”

Our Experience

Yes they say it is impossible, yet we have ridden and hunted our horses barefoot and they have remained fit sound and healthy. This is not difficult, but we are so immersed in tradition, and so unaware, that we cannot even see what severe damage we are doing everyday by shoeing our horses.

Information

So is not this the information that should be written about in one of the UK’s most widely read horse magazine? And is this not the information that should be made easily available to us all?

Lets Not Listen

Before anyone says it is not possible, lets not listen to views which are pushed onto us by people, whether they be vets, physiotherapists, professional riders, or horse owners who have no knowledge of barefoot horsecare, and therefore have no idea what is possible.
Lets instead work together, and learn how we can transition our shod horses to barefoot soundness. And if we were to stop shoeing all our foals, we would then never have to, transition horses from shod to barefoot.
And the hoof pathology, that every shod horse will always have, would finally become a thing of the past…

And Our Farriers?

And our farriers……..? All they have to do, is go and learn how to barefoot trim – its not rocket science.
Then they have ‘another tool’ in their basket and can meet what is becoming a growing and passionate market in the horse world, with the end goal being healthy happy horses.

Still Working

I am still working away on the Barefoot Trimming eBook.

I am writing it, in language anyone can understand. I.e. it will be for all those horse owners, who just want to trim their own horses, without having to do a 4 year degree, in understanding ‘horse hoof anatomy language…!’

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