More from Horse & Hound!

Well, here's an astonishing bit of news for a Friday - and its not even April 1st! This week's Horse & Hound have published the letter I wrote in response to their "Do horses slip barefoot?" query, and you could have knocked me down with a feather - in fact I told people on the UKNHCP forum that I would eat my rasp (Sarah's expression!) if it was published...so there are now plans to find me a toffee rasp... :-)

I was surprised and pleased in equal measure, and all credit to them for publishing. I had to smile though, because accompanying the letter is the editor's comment that (of course!) not all horses can cope barefoot, and that it must be lovely to save £70 per set on shoes(!)...I haven't the heart to break the news that there is a little bit more to having barefoot horses which are capable of season after season and hundreds of miles over Exmoor than simply not bothering to book a farrier ;-)

In my original letter I also offered to lend their showing commentator a horse for a days' hunting, if she was interested in finding out what horses can cope with out of shoes. It was edited out of the magazine, understandably, but I still hope she might take me up on the offer. The only problem is that according to her column, again in this week's H&H, she wouldn't be confident on an unshod horse over any but the most perfect going, so I suspect Exmoor, with its selection of rocks, bogs, 1 in 3 gradients and granite wouldn't really appeal... She might also be a bit shocked if she saw the footage on this post(!): http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/06/some-horses-dont-need-studs.html