Waiting till they fall off naturally

A client had a story to tell me yesterday.  She had recently spotted a friend out riding a Thoroughbred horse and she noticed that it had lost a front shoe.

The two of them had previously talked about barefoot, apparently, and my client had explained to her friend that there was a bit more to taking a horse barefoot successfully than simply removing shoes, and had tried to encourage her to put the horse on a better diet.  At the time, she thought the advice had fallen on deaf ears and she assumed the decision had been made to keep the horse shod.

However, when she pointed out to her friend the other day that the horse had lost a shoe, she was astonished to hear the rider explain that she was taking the Thoroughbred barefoot.  She said that she wasn't worried that her horse now only had 3 shoes on and she had no plans to ask a farrier or trimmer to see her horse.

"I'm waiting till the shoes fall off naturally" she said to my astonished and horrified client.  She went on to elaborate that, once all the shoes had fallen off, she planned to ride her old Thoroughbred a lot on the roads as she'd been told that was the best way to toughen up his feet.

And the really scary part?  This isn't even an April Fool...