"Oh Thoroughbreds Can not possibly go BAREFOOT! Their feet would fall apart!" Or you look at horses that are fresh off the track, and see God-awful underrun heels, with flare for days and toes sticking far enough out you have to wonder how they can walk, let alone run. (And people wonder why track horses break down... geee, seems pretty simple to me in the majority of cases.)
Let's take a look today at two Thoroughbred geldings, and their hooves. I personally want to hear someone tell these two owners that their horse's feet are going to fall apart.
This is a front foot on Gelding One. It is a shining example of a healthy frog, healthy heels, and well exfoliated sole. In this photo, he is due for a trimming, and his bar growth is a bit long, but overall this is a fantastic looking hoof. 
This hoof is on Gelding Two: Now to be fair, Gelding One suffered a crippling injury and is on permanent pasture rest to very light work. He in all honesty does not work very hard in life these days. Gelding Two however, is in training and works consistently. This hind foot shows a wonderful view of nice, fat healthy frogs, great heel purchase, good concavity in the sole, and is a very healthy hoof. Hmm... kind of looks like this foot is missing out on the "falling apart" issue, doesn't it?
Gelding One again, showing off a lovely hind foot. Note the healthy heel purchase, wonderful wide frog, smooth sole, and overall wonderful looking hoof. Yep, looks to me like HE missed that Memo too on Thoroughbred's just falling slam apart with out shoes to hold them together...
Again- Gelding Two showing off his other hind foot. Again, just great overall health here.Now it is time to address what we hear.
"Thoroughbred's hoof walls are too thin to support them. Their feet just break and chip, and break away. They MUST Stay Shod to Stay Sound."
Fact One: ANY hoof, on ANY horse, will break, chip, crack, split, and "fall apart" if the following happens:
- The hoof is not balanced
- The heels are not trimmed
- The toe is continuously trimmed, while NOT trimming the heels
- The bars are not trimmed.
Fact Two: Wall thickness varies from hoof to hoof, BUT! ANY HORSE will *appear* to have "thin walls" if you allow ONLY the wall to be weight bearing. Recent research from one of my all time favorite researchers, Dr. Robert Bowker, has shown that the sole and the wall MUST work together to support the weight of the horse, in order for the hoof to work as it was intended to work. If the wall alone supports all the weight of the horse, as in a traditional pasture trim, you will see the hoof wall suffer. Funny thing is though, when that horse is trimmed properly, you find after a very short amount of rasping that wall gets thicker again. Go figure that one huh?
Were we to take a pasture trimmed horse and dissect his hoof, the wall thickness about two inches up from ground level would blow you away. (No, I do not have any photos of my dissection time in class. Sorry...) Being able to see the progression from thin and weak at ground level to thick and strong closer to the hairline is really an eye-opener.
The next argument will be that these two horses are flukes. I'll be sure to tell that to all the other barefoot Thoroughbreds out there, working away, doing jobs like lesson horses, racing horses, and fox hunters, that their feet are just supposed to fall apart rendering them lame and too unsound to ever be used again. They must have missed that memo too.
The point to today's ramblings:
If you trim PROPERLY, with BALANCE and an understanding of how the hoof has been designed to work, ANY breed of horse, with ANY COLOR hooves, can (and DO) go barefoot and stay sound working for a living. The horses move better, and stay sounder.
Wall thickness is a nice thing, but overall wall strength, combined with working with the sole as God intended it to is much more important.
To be sure, there is MUCH more to having healthy hooves than just proper trimming. Proper trimming is a great start- but LIFESTYLE plays an important role here- and this is a post for another day.
To Be Continued......
24 comments:
Thanks Mrs. Mom! People thought I was crazy when I had Raven's shoes pulled, but after six months her feet were looking fantastic. When the shoes came off they turned into pancakes...flaring like crazy on all hooves. Now they are tight, hard little feet. I still ride her in boots because her sole is not the toughest, but she is comfortable barefoot for all other things.
Thank you for this post!
My 5 yo TB is barefoot and he has GORGEOUS feet. He is well-balanced and there isn't a chip or a crack to be found. I won't put shoes on him unless and until his feet tell me otherwise. Of course, it helps to have a superb farrier!
My little QH mare has craptastic feet. Every winter I have her shoes pulled and every winter I regret doing it. Her feet are soft, her soles are thin, the sole does not exfoliate well and she just isn't a happy camper barefoot.
Yeah! I think people need to think a bit more closely about what they are doing to their horses hooves...
I have a friend with an OTTB and she has feet that are rock solid. She hasn't worn shoes in 8+ years. She mostly hacks now, but used to foxhunt with her barefoot.
dp- No problem ;) There are some other "myths" about specific breeds I am aiming at as well, but Thoroughbreds get such a bad rap. Glad to hear that Raven is going so well for you!! Keep up the great work!!
Jenn- Sounds like you guys have a great relationship with your farrier there. Way to go!
LAURAAA!!! Kisses to Rusty from me!!!! You are bang on girl- folks need to stop and learn a bit, and THINK about things before they do them with horses. No excuse for it in this day and age! ;)
I thinking Gelding Number One has the most adorable feet ever! Some lucky lady must own him :P Gen has been bare foot for almost 2 years now! I think his feet look great and I am so glad my farrier at the time suggested pulling the shoes! I admit I was a little worried about my Thoroughbred going barefoot, people told me he would probably be sore a lot, bruise easily, not like walking in rough footing, etc since TBs are so sensitive. I have found none of the warnings to have any basis in reality...in fact, my horse often pulls me towards the driveway with all the rocks in it to take the walk over to the "good grass". He is never ouchie at all. I agree my horse might be more sensitive then most about a lot of things, but his feet are tough as a goats (and he climbs rocks to prove it)!
There is a lovely TB stallion currently eventing barefoot:
http://www.angelfire.com/on3/TrueColoursFarm/GG.html
Many eventers will also INSIST that their horses cannot possibly go barefoot -- but obviously, there are some that can.
OTB- Yeah, that is one handsome horse there...lol... He has nice feet too. I just wish your farrier did not vanish into thin air on you like he did. Finding someone to get along with Genny and NOT mess him up has got to be so freaking stressful...
NTAT!- Those eventers? Weeellll.... that can be their little secret. ;) (They must be talking to those folks who also say that Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds, Appys, Standardbreds, any horse who has a J-O-B, etc can not POSSIBLY go barefoot.... ha~)
I used to have my TBs shoes pulled every winter. He only had front shoes anyway because his hind feet were so awesome! His hind feet looked like #1's in your photos.
Knowing what I know now about feet I would have left his front feet regrow and go barefoot. Instead I put his front shoes on every year. Eventually he got so "ouchy" without them we just left them on. :(
Excellent hoof post, as usual. And some very nice looking TB hooves, too. :)
~Lisa
Excellent post as always :) Gorgeous looking feet, we never see feet like that unless they're being stalled on shavings and worked in sand arenas. If they're barefoot out here in the desert their feet are like concrete.
OTB - I think Gelding Two could Gelding One a run for his money on the cuteness factor. They're so much alike they'd either get along great or hate each other.
Mikey - You hit a nail on the head there ... I have it on very good authority that Gelding Two lives on shavings and works on sand. I just got him in the fall, so we haven't been out on the trail yet. But he's been solid walking up and down the gravel driveway at least. I'm quite interested to see how he does this spring when we can get out on some different terrain.
I grew up riding my mom's thoroughbred, who I was always told had very thin hoof walls and sensitive feet. It wasn't necessarily a reason she had to have shoes, but a reason that she would go lame if the farrier wasn't very careful. It's interesting to compare her with my boy now, and see how healthy and strong his bare feet are. Thanks for the review Mrs Mom!
While I am a huge barefoot fan (you'll not see my 'stangs wearing them), I also know that each horse is an individual. Where I ride, most of the horses dare not tread without a shoe...or boot, as is the case with most of them. Not many barefoot people here in my neighborhood would think of venturing out without boots for their horses on this footing.
So...for the horse who cannot find boots to fit (Jet had a crazy wide foot), and who's feet just don't hold up to the constant beating of the rocks, what option is left?
Nice pictures - great things to think about too!
I look forwarding to reading every time you post - thanks again!
Tracey, check into Easy Boot's new Hoof Glove.
how fortutious yet again :) I've been going back and forth as to whether to keep my currently barefoot TB mare barefoot since i've heard all the "myths" as well.
For now we've opted to keep her barefootin'. Trust me.. when she gets into "kentucky mode".. she's footloose, fancy free and fast :)
thanx as always for great info
gp
I think my horses all have to much heel. Hmmm. Thanks again.
You know they say the exact same thing about TWHs, too. They can't possibly go barefoot or they'll slip on trails, wear their feet down to nubs, and not be able to gait ever again. And when I point out that my horses don't slip, have hard feet, and gait just as well barefoot as shod... I'm just lucky, or the aforementioned terrible things are going to happen real soon. >:(
If you're still interested in doing critiques, you're welcome to use my January or February photos!
Great post! Almost any horses feet can be improved by nutrition and good trimming. Good breeding helps too, but seldom does anyone think ' I have a mare with nice feet, I think I'll breed her". (unfortunately).Of course lots of people breed for much more random things don't they~
I had a 6 year old gelding TB that had beautiful feet. But those geldings have wonderful feet!! Man I wish I had a good trimmer around these part. Sigh......
Dang I am behind on these great posts!!! These are excellent, and the pictures do wonders to back up what you are saying.
I think that I have mentioned this before, but our horses are all barefoot. They wear EasyBoots when we ride, because our ground is unbelievable rocky and hard, but out in the pasture they are boot free. :)
Interesting post and couldn't come at a better time. The colt I am looking to purchase is barefoot. In the pre-purchase exam, some things turned up that I sure could use a farrier's opinion of, since you see your fare share of all kinds of hoof issues.
If you are comfortable discussing with me, please contact me at my blog. We can email from there.
Ahhhh! Beautiful TB hoof porn! Those be some pretty feets. Great post with a terrific message.
This really caught my eye because my darling Cessa is OTTB. And I would love to leave her barefoot but put shoes on her in the spring-fall.
Her soles are thin, or at least that's what I've been told is the reason for needing shoes. She also lives in an area that is very gravelly/rocky. Without shoes she is very ouchy on that ground.
Other than that her feet are quite healthy. I don't have any more problems with cracks, etc with her than any of the other horses in our area (which range from stock breed horses to arabs to drafts)
I have never had my horses wear shoes and all the farriers we have had here say they are all good being barefoot. Thanks again for a great post!
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