This is where they lose me. ~Some~ horses can, those who have good feet, under ~some~ kinds of work, some of the time, and if the owner really puts a lot of work into prepping them. Some of the farrier forum people were saying you have to hand walk them for thirty minutes on pavement every day during the transition. I don't think most people really will follow through on that for some number of months... And during that time the horse can barely do anything else? I don't see the point in trying so hard to go barefoot... If the horse can, like Cyn... or some horses that have never been shod, then great. If the horse hurts without shoes put shoes on 'em. I don't think they should endure sore feet for months because we think it might be good for them in the long run. That's my view anyhow....
Well, I got the impression they wouldn't get sore, except when riding without boots.
(Remember I'm not saying I agree or disagree:)
They said to look at your horses feet. Cover up with you hand the bottom 2/3, leaving exposed from the coronet band down. What you see is the angle that your horses entire hoof should grow. Now look at part you covered with your hand. Most generally, according to them, the hoof will start to flare out some from that point down. That's from being shod, and it's not a good thing. It means the hoof is not securely attached to the bone underneath, and is allowing the bone to come into too close of contact with the ground. That thins the soles, and consequently makes the horse gimpy.
From studying the way a wild Mustangs foot grows, they have determined all this stuff.
They talked about "tricking" your horses system into thinking it's in the wild. The hoof will grow accordingly to what is needed on it's own. One of the ways to do this, is 1. trim every 4 weeks, in the wild their hoofs are being wore off all the time. 2. put the "mustang" roll on the edge of the hoof wall. it's a misconception that you are taking away support by doing that. This part goes along with that beveled edge on those NB shoes we were talking about last week, same concept.
Becky