Its definitely a step in the right direction - well I would say that, wouldn't I?! This week's Horse & Hound has a cover story on barefoot and I'm happy to say its a pretty well-balanced article.
I was asked to contribute to the article as our horses have hunted so many seasons without shoes, and its nice to see our piece in there too, along with a photo of Charlie, Bailey and Felix out last season!
Of course I don't agree with everything in the article...(I take a more robust view than the vet about the ability of unshod horses to work on roads, naturally, and unlike him I've not only known many TBs who do brilliantly barefoot but also found that barefoot horses - when fed an appropriate diet - are less prone to abscesses than shod horses)...but on the whole its fantastic to see a sensible article which is evidence-based and has also contains practical advice for owners.
Well done H&H!
Brilliant - I'll be going out to buy this later :) There's definitely a change afoot (if you'll pardon the pun). I had a visitor to the yard last night, a friend from a neighbouring yard who has a barefoot TB with lovely functional bare feet - and her feet generated lots of interest from people on the yard, lots of questions and musings from people with shod horses - who knew what I went through with M, and who see that Star copes OK (though not rock crunching yet) and who are genuinely interested and giving it some thought. It's all good! :0)
ReplyDeleteIm glad to see it goes in the right direction, I hope many irish people will read it as well!
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