You need to listen to the commentary as well - the vet who is commentating is describing the "support" that the shoes are providing but - really - that's not what appears on the video. I find it hard to watch, mostly because of the medio-lateral imbalances and the tremendous strains being transmitted up the limb as a result.
The veterinary hospital that posted this incredibly clear footage is a renowned US equine centre. Its praiseworthy that they - unlike many vet practices - are trying to gather the evidence on which to base their decisions.
But for me there is a gaping hole in their research. They've forgotten that horses didn't evolve with shoes on and that shoes change how feet and limbs load, land and function.
"The big question about shoes is: Do they restrict the expansion and contraction of the hoof capsule? For a question that is central to the discussion of shoeing and barefoot...it has received remarkably little experimental attention." Jeffrey J Thomason PhD "Review of Some Past Present and Possible Future Directions in Biomechanics of the Equine Hoof" AAEP Focus on the Foot, Columbus, Ohio USA 2009
Evidence based veterinary medicine is undoubtedly going to be a huge focus in future and there is a desperate need for it. Before we put bar shoes, wedges, pads and other aggressive interventions on horse's feet, wouldn't it be a good idea to try and evaluate what good - or harm - they do? Certainly the radical and rapid development in feet that we see here as they come out of shoes suggests that shoeing is far from a benign management tool - and yet there are no comparative studies evaluating the physiology of shoeing in place of normal hoof function.
The vets comment about the horse not having time to adapt to different surfaces so WE need to HELP them is so glaringly bizarre to me. Why oh why do we have to make it all so difficult? There is so much room for error and we can actually increase concussion, slippage or even stop slippage altogether for OUR safety? Not to mention binding the hoof/foot protecting it so much it doesn't function how it is supposed to and internal structures actually atrophy.
ReplyDeleteFeral horses go on all surfaces known to man (except of course man made fibre ones) quite happily don't they?
Nic wrote...
ReplyDelete"Being devil's advocate, its all very well to call for evidence for barefoot, but barefoot isn't an intervention, is it?"
This is so very true. Fantastic point.
Oh, undoubtedly, Amanda. it ironic that once vets look at the (shod!) hoof logic, science and research goes out of the window(!)...
ReplyDeleteIt seems like this video is trying to "prove" something that they "know to be true", rather than run a true scientific study where you test hypothesis with one or two variables. It's like, "Well OF COURSE shoes are better for horses, and now I'm going to show you why that is true! Horses are more sound in shoes! They don't have to adjust to surfaces!" Etc. Etc. A scientific study might look at two groups of horses of similar breeding, age, and type/level of work, one barefoot and one shod. You could compare hoof angles, frog as a proportion of hoof, "bulkiness" of plamar hoof, medio-lateral balance, thickness of sole, etc. You could then remove the shoes of the shod ones and shoe the barefoot ones and re-measure... but what crazy vet and owners would ever want to do that to their horses!?!? LOL!
ReplyDeleteI watched a similar video recently (I think some of the clips were the same) with snazzy music and action shots, but I felt the same way as you. I could barely watch it. I saw horse feet with contracted heels, medial/lateral imbalance upon loading, and pushed up coronary bands. I also saw one slow motion segment when the front of the hoof had clearly been rasped away and there was visible bruising. The video was an advertisement for outstanding farriery which included knowledge of performance barefoot hoofcare. If that was the case, I had trouble finding even one unshod hoof in the video. It was frustrating.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the Clydesdale at 5:04 swivel its feet from side to side like that before it puts the foot down?
ReplyDeleteI, too, found this video very hard to watch for a variety of reasons.
ReplyDeleteHeila, I am guessing either because of a medio-lateral imbalance or because its proprioception is screwed up completely. Either way, its putting a lot of strain on collateral ligaments and the concussion doesn't bear thinking about.
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