Traditional hoof care, done by a blacksmith, involves regular 6-8 week visits. The blacksmith trims your horse a certain way and if any problems arise a metal shoe is used to fix or manage the problem. Unfortunately, the shoes are permanently attached and so even if the horse only needs them once in a while they have to wear them all the time. Furthermore, once a horse needs shoes they usually always need shoes.

Barefoot hoof care involves regular 4-6 week visits. The horse’s hooves are trimmed in a slightly different way than a blacksmith would and if any problems arise hoof boots are used temporarily. Usually, boots are only needed for riding in the forest or on asphalt. Horses using hoof boots improve the health and strength of their hooves and need the boots less and less as time goes on.

The Problem with Traditional Hoof Care:

Traditional hoof care doesn’t consistently produce healthy, strong hooves. Hoof problems aren’t well understood and the solutions even less so. It struggles to simply manage the most common and destructive hoof diseases and is largely unable to cure or prevent them. Furthermore, the fundamentals that traditional horse care is based on are often illogical and contradictory.

The exact origin of the horse shoe is difficult to pinpoint and the time period in which they became common even more so. Whatever their origins, the simple fact remains today that many horses simply ‘go better’ with shoes and it has been this way for a very long time. However, wearing shoes further degrades hoof health and problems like under run heels, long toes, hoof cracks, flat soles and contracted heels begin to develop and become more and more of a problem for the horse as time goes on. The typical explanation for this is that ‘we’ve bred the hoof out of our horses’ or that we demand more of our horses today than nature intended them to be able to cope with.

Horses with hoof problems are deemed to have hooves too weak to go barefoot and the hooves are shod year round, often with increasingly complicated and expensive methods. A look at nearly any farrier text book, however, reveals at least some reference to the age old advice to give horses a barefoot period each year to let the hooves ‘recover from the negative effects of shoeing’.

The contradiction is clear: Many horses have weak hooves and/or hoof problems and need shoes to be comfortable and perform well. But those same shoes cause long term problems that result in even bigger hoof problems. The traditional advice of a barefoot period generally goes unheeded as most farriers don’t know how to get a horse with weak hooves sound or reverse hoof problems without resorting to shoes.

What’s different about barefoot?

Traditional hoof care supposes that horses’ hooves are genetically and permanently weak and therefore uses permanent means, metal shoes, to support and supplement hoof strength. In contrast, barefoot hoof care supposes that while many horses have weak hooves it is not due to genetics and is certainly not a condition which can’t be fixed. Barefoot hoof care supports the horse’s best efforts to grow healthy, strong feet both in the way the hoof is trimmed and in the way the hoof is protected.

Any time the hoof is not strong or healthy enough to do a particular activity a temporary means of hoof wear, boots, are used to provide extra support and protection. Unlike metal shoes, boots protect and support the whole hoof and so without damaging the hoof or preventing the horse from continuing to grow a healthier and stronger hoof.

The proof of bare foot’s success is that it routinely improves hoof strength and easily cures the types of hoof problems that traditional hoof care is barely able to manage. The vast majority of horses that make the change from shoes improve in hoof health and comfort from day one. Knowledgeable trimming immediately starts the proeess of growing in a healthier hoof, the strategic use of boots (usually just for riding) ensures that owners can continue to ride and exercise their horse and the increased comfort and natural function of the hoof means that the hoof begins to grow stronger and tougher with each step the horse takes. The difference is that exercise now benefits thc hooves too.

To understand how barefoot works, let’s look at some of the ways it differs from traditional hoof care in terms of it’s basic understanding of how the hoof functions.

Traditional versus Barefoot Hoof Care, Differences in the fundamentals. The question of hoof support:

Remembering back to a physics course, if you ever took one, the weight of an object ‘pushes’ down due to gravity. Opposing this force is the normal force which ‘pushes up’ against the object. Thus the object rests on the ground rather than flating above or sinking below it.

Traditional hoof care supposes that while the weight of the horse comes down through the bones of the leg and into the centre of the hoof, it is the outer rim of the hoof, the hoof wall, that should make contact with the ground and hold the horse up. Thus, the soft tissue connecting the hoof bone to the hoof wall, the laminae or glue of the hoof, must withstand the full force the horse’s weight and hold the hoof together. The sole and frog are expected to do at least a little work but hoof soreness is usually attributed to too much pressure on these structures. To counteract this, shoes are employed to protect the sole and frog from doing ‘too much’ work supporting the horse.

Any engineer will tell you that this system of support is extremely weak and susceptible to damage. No architect would ever build a structure using glue to hold up the pillars!

Barefoot trimmers suppose that the weight of horse, coming down the leg and into the center of the hoof should be supported right there: at the center of the hoof. In this scenario the laminae are responsible for maintaining a tight connection between the hoof wall and hoof bone but it is not responsible for doing all the work. Barefoot trimmers view excessive stress on the laminae as the cause of many hoof problems and soreness and counteract this by trimming hoof wall in such a way as to relieve much of the pressure on the outer edge of the hoof wall.

This system of support is extremely strong and doesn’t overload the vulnerable laminae. It distributes the load to the parts of the hoof best able to support them: the Sole, Frog and Bars, which transfer the weight to the hoof bone and the digital cushion and lateral cartilages in the back of the hoof.

The question of inherent health and strength in a hoof:

Farriers tend to look at hoof health/inherent strength as genetically determined and fairly static but with the potential to deteriorate if overstressed. A horse with weak hooves will always have weak hooves while a horse with good hooves is simply lucky. While a farrier might know where the Digital Cushion and Lateral Cartilage are located, they are unlikely to know much detail about them or consider them of much importance when it comes to determining or explaining hoof health and strength.

In contrast, barefoot trimmers view hoof health/inherent strength as something that is developed over time and can be improved. They see the Digital Cushion and Lateral Cartilages as some of the key elements in understanding hoof weaknesses and lameness.

The Digital Cushion and Lateral cartilages are the primary shock absorbing structures in a hoof. These flexible but tough tissues are located inside the hoof below the frog and bars. Their job is to absorb shock not only by deforming on impact but also by providing ‘hydraulic shock absorption’ through the specialized blood vessels that run through them. The DC/LC develop from the tiny structures in a foal hoof to the large, tough structures in an adult hoof not due to the simple passage of time but due to stimulation from movement. Since our domestic horses don’t usually get enough exercise as youngsters their DC/LC are not fully developed when we want to begin riding them.

There are two lateral cartilages in each hoof, one on each side. Between the lateral cartilages is the digital cushion. The digital cushion lies directly beneath the frog and the lateral cartilages lie directly beneath the bars.

The usual solution to the problem of weak DC/LC is to immobilize the hoof by nailing a shoe to it. The long term result of shoeing is that the DC/LC never develops any more than when the shoes were first put on. In contrast, barefoot trimmers use boots to provide extra stability and support to weak hooves allowing the horse to comfortably be ridden while his hooves get the extra stimulation they need to develop the DC/LC into stronger structures, eventually becoming so strong that they outgrow the need for boots.

The result of using shoes and boots is the same on day one: a horse with weak hooves becomes rideable. However, the long term results are very different. Over time the shoes are likely to cause further problems leaving the hoof, at best, in no better condition than when the shoes first went on and at worst in even worse condition. The long term result of using boots is that the hoof is able to further develop and become both stronger and healthier while simultaneously enjoying all the benefits of being barefoot.

The basic question of hoof growth:

Traditional hoof care supposes that most if not all of the structures of the hoof have a tendency to overgrow. Therefore, most if not all hoof structures are trimmed at each and every trimming interval.

The hoof wall and outer edge of sole are often rasped down together so that there is a large flat surface on the outer edge of the hoof which is meant to be the primary weight bearing surface of the hoof. The sole and bars are usually trimmed down to the same level, and the entire surface of the frog is trimmed as well.

Barefoot trimmers typically find that the sole, bars, and frog easily find a balance point between wear and growth rate and only need occasional, minor touch-up trimming. For most horses the hoof wall will needs regular trimming to both shorten it and refresh the ‘mustang roll’ on the outer edge.

“Shoes, a ‘necessary evil”

This phrase is probably as old as shoes are. Shoes are not necessarily evil but they do often cause a lot of unintended negative side effects. Fortunately, today, they aren’t necessary because we have better trimming techniques and better forms of hoof protection available to us.

The following are a list of the negative side effects of shoes. Many of these effects can also be brought about by improper trimming or from not trimming the hoof at all and allowing it to become too long.

Increased load on the laminae
When the hoof wall is allowed to grow long and particularly when a shoe is attached to it, the laminae are forced to support most of the horse’s weight. They aren’t designed to withstand this much stress and the result is that they often become damaged resulting in the hoof wall being painfully pulled away from the underlying bone. We see this damage as flares.

Decreased ability of the sole, frog and barsto help support the hoof
The entire bottom of the hoof should help support the horse. When the frog, sole, and bars are lifted up off the ground by an overly long hoof wall or by a shoe, they become weak from lack of stimulation and the hoof can become sore from lack of proper support. Think about your own foot. Your heels and the balls of your feet do the most work supporting you but if you don’t get at least some support under your arch, your feet quickly become tired and sore. It’s the same for the horse.

Reduced flexibility
The hoof, despite its rigid appearance is relatively flexible undcr the weight of the horse. A normal hoof can flex laterally (the heels expand outward) from the toe and vertically (the heels can flex upward) from the quarters or sides. When a shoe is nailed on, lateral flexation is reduced and can only occur behind the last nails of the shoe.

A healthy hoof with a thick concave sole will have a slight arch in the quarters or sides. When the horse reaches out with his leg and lands, heels outstretched, this arch temporarily flattens out and then springs back when the horse lifts the hoof up again. When a shoe is applied, the hoof must be rasped flat and the hoofs ability to flex vertically is completely eliminated.

Reduced normal circulation
The flexing of the hoof helps to pull blood down the leg and through the foot thus contributing greatly to circulation within the hoof.

Reduced shock absorption and increased shock
By reducing the hoofs ability to flex; the frog, bars and sole’s ability to help support the horse; and circulation the hoofs ability to absorb shock and dissipate shock is greatly reduced. Rather than harmlessly dissipating in the hoof this shock travels up into the bones and tendons of the leg and is absorbed there instead. When impacting on a hard surface like concrete or asphalt, a shock has the added disadvantage of creating a lot of vibrational energy which also travels up into the leg.

Distorted stress to the hoof wall
When overly long hoof wall doesn’t have the option of growing down it can become pushed up. This results in discomfort for the horse and can be seen as an uneven hairline. This distorted stress often results in hoof cracks.

Too long breakover
When a shoe is applied, the horse must breakover at the outer edge of the shoe. When barefoot, the breakover will be in a much more natural position. A long breakover places increased stress on the tendons of the legs.

Reduced traction
Metal shoes do not provide good traction. This is why horses easily slip on hard surfaces like asphalt and concrete and need studs to compete on muddy or slippery grass. Bare feet have excellent traction on hard and slippery surfaccs. When extra traction is desired on a barefoot horse, boots with studs or specially designed rubber spikes can be used.

Guest feature by Erika Morup, www.gladehove.dk

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