Hoofcare myths debunked

I posted this blog about trimming - or not trimming - a couple of months ago and it reminded me how many hoof myths are still out there and bandied around. Here are some of the most common, and my take on what's really behind them.

• White feet are weaker than black feet. 

When I first took our horses barefoot we had only 2 black feet out of a total of 16. That's an awful lot of white feet, especially when you are asking them to go over tough terrain week in week out, and in a climate where its always wet.  

Funny old thing, once they had healthy feet they were all rock-crunching, white feet or black. There have actually been studies done in the US, referenced in this blog post, which confirmed this. 

• Thoroughbreds are bred to have terrible feet.

We've had lots of TBs here over the years, both our own horses and rehab horses and they have had a huge variety of feet - from weak and problematic to incredibly sound and tough. 

TBs, like the other horses who come here, are capable of making dramatic and rapid changes to their feet given the right diet, environment and work-load and can go on to work hard, barefoot, year after year. We change lots of things when horses come here but one thing we don't change is their genetics!

• Some horses can't cope barefoot and have to be shod

I blogged about this one only last week - its really all about hoof health, not shoeing vs barefoot.

• If barefoot horses work hard on tough terrain their feet will wear away.

This is a really common one - although usually its said authoritatively by people who (a) don't work their horses on tough terrain and (b) don't work them barefoot, so their experience level is questionable at best.

This is another one I've blogged about before ("What happens when hoof wall wears away?") and although the thought of it often scares owners, its something that doesn't really make sense once you understand the anatomy of hooves and how they grow. 

So how to tell truth from fiction? As with everything equine, if you are going to a human source make sure they have a wealth of experience in the area you are quizzing them about - and most importantly, always back it up by going to an equine source. 

The horse is the ultimate expert on the horse.

After a wild weekend...

I don't know about you lot but we had horrendous weather on Sunday and I for one battened down the hatches but braver souls went out competing...

This is Lizzie and Roo, who were competing at their first dressage competition for 2 years. Lizzie has worked so hard to get Roo back to this stage but the pair of them refused to give up and if ever a horse is a testament to a dedicated owner its Roo!

"Couldn't be happier! Over 2 years ago, Roo was diagnosed with navicular and despite remedial farriery and tildren injections, was still lame. Vets wrote her off - said I could de-nerve, ride on bute or retire to the field. Today she went out and did her first comp since the navic diagnosis and came first in both novice and elementary with scores of 72% and 68%...8's for her paces - 8 for medium trot!! She's never felt better!"

"We hold these truths to be self-evident..."

This is a post I've been mulling for a while but many of you will be familiar with what I'm posting already so feel free to come back another time if this is repetitious :-)

One of the questions that recurs time and time again when the topic of barefoot horses comes up is the hoary old chestnut "Can all horses go barefoot?"

There are a number of almost inevitable comments which are made at this point by those on both sides of the debate*.  They generally run something like this:

• Horses aren't born with shoes on
• Feral horses cover significant mileage without shoes
• Domestic horses have different demands on them than feral horses, hence the need for shoes
• Some horses are fine but some can't cope; its only right to shoe the horse if its uncomfortable. 

For me, these are often the wrong answers to the wrong question.

I've used the quote from the declaration of independence as the title here because I love the idea of a "self-evident truth" and that's where I think we should begin.

It is, I believe, a self-evident truth that a horse with healthy feet can walk, trot and canter over even the toughest terrain and can do so day in, day out, free from injury.

Taking this as the starting point, if a horse "can't cope" barefoot then it is actually because its feet are unhealthy.

Its then our responsibility, I believe, to look at why the foot is unhealthy and whether we can do anything to improve it.

Is the horse being fed a diet which is too high in sugar or starch? Is the horse deficient in key minerals? Are the feet balanced or are they unable to properly support the limb? Is the horse now being asked to work on different terrain or at a higher rate to what he has been used to?

Any or all of these issues can affect feet, with some horses being more sensitive than others in this as in every other area.

If we are unable to improve the health of the foot (or unwilling to try) then its possible to improve the performance of an unhealthy foot by using boots or shoes. But lets not forget that - even if this improves performance - the one thing we haven't done is make the foot healthier.

*I use the terms "sides" sadly but advisedly as few topics seem more divisive and contentious among horse owners than the relatively trivial question of whether to put metal on a horse's foot. There are a number of reasons for this, IMO, but none worth exploring in this post!

The interaction between backs and feet and a bit about hoof/pastern axis (aka Russell's update)

Russell has been here 8 weeks and has been really interesting. He arrived with only a mild lameness and had a reasonable landing - flat/heel first but with a medio-lateral imbalance on his RF. He also had clear muscle wastage on his right side - compare the shoulders in this initial photo.  

Because he was landing adequately its been possible to work him on fairly tough surfaces from day one and that has helped iild up his muscle as well as improve his landing. Its interesting, but not surprising, to see how quickly a poor landing will lead to less use of the affected limb - and conversely how fast it can re-build once the foot is more supportive. 

This is the offending foot and look particularly at the hoof pastern axis when he arrived. Very often you will hear this discussed when shoeing but critically the hoof pastern axis rights itself once a horse has a stronger palmar hoof and better balanced foot, as you can see from today's photo below. 

Not  a bad foot at all when he arrived, which has been a big factor in how fast he has progressed. 

Today the biggest change is in his more robust frog and the stronger medial side to his sole where the bar and hoof wall are now less prominent.   

Russell Landing from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Here is Russell's footage, showing the changes more clearly (and yes, he is as cute as a button!). 

Catching up - Ruby and more on landings

A quick couple of stills from Ruby's footage, which is posted below. She arrived with decent feet but a less-than-perfect landing, as you can see from the still above; her initial photos are here.

Over the last few weeks her feet have improved and I posted updated photos here - at this stage she wasn't landing heel first but was confident on tough surfaces and working well in the school.

Its great to see her really stretching out now - unfortunately the stills don't really show this but you can see it on the footage. The contrasting angle of the limb in the 2 photos is interesting too - surely if anyone is in any doubt about how horses should land the better extension and landing in the lower photo is a clincher?!

Ruby M Landing from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Working my way through the updates - this is Filly's!

Filly arrived the day after Wiggy, whom I blogged about yesterday, so I thought it would be as good a time as any to post her new photos. These are her comparison shots between day 1 and today, a fortnight later. 

Filly's farrier and I discussed marking hooves to record growth rates before she came - luckily Filly had a useful band of different horn at the top of her hoof when she arrived and we should be able to chart how her hoof grows down using this. 

You can clearly see it in this photo, 2 weeks on from when she arrived.  

Here is her lamest foot - RF - in shoes and - below - a day out of shoes.  I blogged these photos in her initial post, which is here. Apologies to Nick, Filly's farrier, as I only just saw and replied to his last comment on there!

The photos above and below compare the same foot immediately out of shoes and today, 2 weeks later. 

Clearly she is still at an early stage and lots needs to happen, not least her heels continuing to move back and be more supportive of the palmar hoof. Nevertheless she is doing quite a good job already of shortening her toe and engaging her frog and starting to allow it to work harder. 

The LF was the foot on which she had recently (before arrival) been sounder and it was less under-run than the right but a few hours out of shoes was still a weak looking foot, as you can see below. 

Two weeks later the foot is still weak but there are signs that the frog is developing and the heels, as on the RF, are moving back though I expect a lot more changes to come. 

On this foot as well Filly has done a reasonable job of keeping her toe short while the back of her foot strengthens. 

Its early days with Filly and she is nowhere near being back into full work yet but she is comfortable on the tracks and working in the school which is a good starting point.  

 Although I have no clear idea why she stands as if she is a tripod, both in shoes (above) and today (below), I am at least happy that her current stance in front is looking more even. Long may that continue!

I'm sorry the blog has been running late so far this week - if possible, I will get back on track tomorrow - fingers crossed for the computer behaving...

A quick update on Wiggy, technology delays and news on Itsy, one year on!

Another late blog today - a computer crash caused by I-know-not-what but probably the fact that I have waaaay too much video footage and photos on here - even though they are all stored on separate hard drives...

Anyway, I have lots of updates so apologies to the owners of Russell, Ruby, Felix and Filly - I will get there I promise, by hook or by crook.

Meanwhile I wanted to post some quick comparison photos of Wiggy, the smart intended-to-be-an-eventer who arrived here a couple of weeks ago.

This is him on arrival in shoes and the lower photo was taken a few hours after his shoes had come off. Lots of dead sole, stretched white line and folded over heels, not uncommon when a horse comes out of shoes. 

Here is the same foot as at yesterday. Still weak and flat of course - that will take more than a fortnight to begin to change - but already a better ratio between the frog and the toe and although his heels are still contracted and under-run they are creeping back to a better position. 

The LF for comparison - again on day one, after a few hours and as at yesterday (apologies for the out-of-focus second shot).

This foot was better balanced than the right so the changes are less dramatic but still an improvement in the heels and sole particularly. A horse like Wiggy who already has reasonably healthy frogs has a massive headstart over a horse like Columbo, whom I posted about on Friday, and it shows in the different rates of progress too. 

As you can see, his toe has already become a lot shorter and his foot is in a better place underneath his limb than it was. This is pretty impressive for such a short time and its in a large part due to the fact that Wiggy's palmar hoof was much stronger than that of many horses when they arrive here. 

 Wiggy's footage is here - I would say he was landing flat rather than badly toe first when he arrived but he is already clearly heel first, which is great news. He is short-striding on a hard surface due to his lack of concavity but that will improve over the next few weeks. 

Wiggy Landing from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Finally a snippet of fantastic news on Itsy, who was here last year and is the lovely coloured mare in the headline banner of the blog at the moment. Here's Amanda's email:

"Itsy sound a year down the line and starting to learn to jump ! Never thought I'd see the day !"