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Background |
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In six months to a year, your
horse will have essentially grown new feet. Some horses are completely
comfortable much sooner than that (3 to 4 months is common). You will
be astounded at the difference, and thrilled with the soundness and
durability of your barefoot horse. But until that time, your horse may
need boots and pads to be comfortable in his newly de-shod feet,
particularly when he is asked to carry a rider's weight or work on
rugged or rocky terrain. |
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1. Inadequate calloused sole.
Farrier's routinely carve sole from the bottom of the horse's foot. They
do this for a number of "reasons": to create a flat plane upon which to
set the shoe, to make the foot look more esthetically "neat", and to raise
the sole of the foot off of the ground to "prevent soreness". It takes
months for the horse to grow and callous sole, and our goal is to develop
at least a half inch of good, tough sole across the bottom of the foot. It
is not uncommon to see horses with less than an eighth of an inch of sole
protecting the inner structures of the foot when they are first deshod.
Even if the sole does have adequate thickness, it will need to callous.
Inadequate calloused sole is the number one reason horses are tender
footed after shoes are removed.
2. Lack of fully developed digital cushion and lateral cartilages
If the back of the foot has never been allowed to develop through pressure
and release on the sole and frog, the horse never develops the digital
cushion and lateral cartilages. The digital cushion is literally a
cushion between the frog and heel bulbs, and inner structures of the hoof.
A healthy, well developed digital cushion is made up of tough,
fibrocartilagineous tissue; in an immature or underdeveloped hoof, this
cushion is soft and spongy. The lateral cartilages are the
"scaffolding" that supports the back of the foot (like the coffin bone
supports the front of the foot). Both the digital cushion and
lateral cartilages can be stimulated and developed, and this is our goal.
But until these structures are healthy, the horse may experience
sensitivity in the back of the foot. See Bowker's research paper
on
"good-footed" and "bad-footed" horses for more information. This
sensitivity is mitigated by using boots and pads. Development is
achieved through constant pressure and release on the sole and frog.
3. Undeveloped or carved and uncalloused frogs
Again, farrier's almost ALWAYS pare the frog much more aggressively than
is truly necessary. By doing so, they are removing the tough outer layer,
and exposing tender, immature tissue underneath. It may look tidy, but the
truth is, the horse needs that tough outer layer. With the exception of
exfoliating frog material that is already loose, or paring excess growth,
the frog should be allowed to toughen and callous. Until your horse
toughens up and grows a wide, healthy frog, his frogs may be tender.
4. Frog infection
Those trimmed frogs are sitting ducks for opportunistic fungal and
bacterial infections. A deep crease at the central sulcus is indicative of
chronic infection. Chronic infection of the frog HURTS. Treatment as
your hoof care provider prescribes will quickly help promote a thick,
healthy frog.
5. Dramatically increased blood flow in the hoof
Nailing a shoe to a horse's hoof IMMEDIATELY reduces perfusion (blood
flow) by 50%. FIFTY PERCENT!! HALF!! Think about that...how does your arm
or foot feel when you sleep on it funny and limit circulation? NUMB! How
does it feel when the circulation is restored? REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE!!
You've made a wise, educated decision to transition your horse to
barefoot...stick with it! Give it at least six months. Better yet, give it
a year. You can always slap a shoe back on after that, and at least the
hoof will have had a year to recuperate. ALL farrier's texts recommend
leaving the horse barefoot periodically to let the hoof recover. But trust
me....if you stick with it that long, you will never, ever let a shoe come
near your horse's feet again!