Believe it or not, they are calling it a movement. Barefoot, natural trimming franchises are the new hot trend in horse care. It is a beautiful scam that has been developed specifically to target the inexperienced horseman or horsewoman. The fad has swept the horse world off its shoes and into new barefoot ground where lots and lots of horses are gimping around wishing the pain would stop.
How this movement came to be is a mystery, but Dr. Hiltrud Strasser, a German veterinarian, has been credited as the first to develop this new, radical, strong woman craze on “natural” holistic hoof care. Dr. Strasser has been described as “a rebel”. A woman who isn’t afraid to stand up to conformity. A woman who created a system, of hoof care conformity, to break conformity. A woman with a method, no, a state of mind, that asks all horse owners to think alike on the care about their horse’s feet.
Of course, those in the barefoot movement believe if you aren’t following this new, trendy, horse care method, you must be abusing your horse (for more on that concept, if you haven’t already, stop by the pro-clicker training comments). People who are completely brainwashed by a method or system see only black or white. Of course, if you aren’t clicker training, you MUST be training your horse by brutally beating them. Again, if you aren’t using natural barefoot trimming, you MUST be torturing your horse with horseshoes. Oh the humanity!
Farrier work should under no circumstances cause lameness, footsoreness, shortened stride, or any other displays of pain or discomfort.
As another genius horse person marketing scheme, the target audience, once again, is middle aged women who are hypersensitive to notions of bad things happening, anywhere. The Strasser barefoot method, the clicker training method, and the natural horsemanship method all exist, thrive on, and cultivate scare tactics to further their followings and resulting profits. That sound familiar to anyone?
Yet, do any of these people realize that fitting their horse into this Strasser method of trimming, or any other natural “balance” barefoot trimming method is like making every person wear the same size shoe? How is that correct, or natural? Or pain free?
The Barefoot movementers say trimming every horse foot exactly the same is the way “nature intended”, but yet, they call it abusive to nail a shoe on a horse’s foot, a shoe that fits that horse and enables comfort, traction and shock absorption?
Dr. Strasser has stated herself that her trim may cause death to a horse. What??? Oh, right, but it’s because the horse’s heart cannot heal from the abuse of shoes and a stall. What reasonable person reads that and thinks, “Yes, I need to free my horse from the abuse of a stall and shoes, so I will trim my horse with this method. If he dies, at least I freed him”?
That’s just nuts.
Don’t get me wrong. Dr. Strasser has some good points outside of actually touching a horse’s hoof. Yes, some horses, and almost all pleasure, pet and/or trail horses should live outside 24/7. But, a few of my own horses who lived their first 3 years outside 24/7 would not be happy being outside 24/7 now. No matter what, not every horse can be cared for the same.
Let’s say that again.
Not every horse can be cared for the same.
This is where the “nuts” part of the natural barefoot/Strasser trim comes into play. Each horse’s individual temperament, conformation, health, and job necessitate different care.
And long before Dr. Strasser hit the foot care scene, fore-thinking equestrians knew frequent trims (meaning, weekly, every other week, etc.) and low angles could be beneficial to keeping a horse’s foot balanced, most especially for corrective shodding or treating, for example, navicular and founder.
But, NOT EVERY HORSE’S FOOT IS THE SAME!!!! There is a lot more to equine hoof soundness and happiness than just cutting off so much hoof that the horse’s body has no choice but to increase bloodflow to the region.
Dr. Strasser no doubt has credentials to back up her hoof anatomy knowledge, but all in all she has zero practical, statistical data proving successes of her methods. As stated elsewhere, her insistence that horseshoe nails numb the equine’s foot is so off the wall unproven or tested that it doesn’t even rise to the level of hypothesis. The Strasser trim is also often marketed as a do-it-yourself system (just the right confidence builder insecure women need!), but hoof care is a science that can not be taught by reading one book or attending one clinic. Doing so, buying into a DIY “natural” barefoot trim attitude gives one just enough knowledge to do serious damage.
Trimming a hoof should never, ever leave a horse footsore.
Many horses have been euthanized after a Strasser trim, and horse owners and natural barefoot “farriers” alike have been charged in animal cruelty cases for using the Strasser trim and causing pain and suffering to horses. Horses dying and owners being charge for cruelty themselves should be enough of a red flag for everyone to stay away from Strasser’s naturally balanced, hoof care trimming method. Yet, there are still many advocates for Strasser’s scheme, and even more Strasser franchises going up around the world.
Some barefoot, natural horse care fanatics do actually see the Strasser trim as not only too radical, but also risky for their horses’ health. But, even these natural barefoot fanatics still don’t see any other option besides “natural” balanced, barefoot horse trims. Now available WITH shoes! Adding shoes to a naturally balanced, barefoot horse trims is like adding a McDonalds meal to your vegan, organic diet!
Now, the other methods of “natural” hoof and whole horse care have involved many different “developers”, thus creating different factions of followers. The common thread with each, “unique”, best-ever-everything-else-is-murderous-system is that they are all following the word natural. If barefoot trimmers are following “natural”, wild horse practices, why are they trimming their feet at all? Are there wild farriers that live out in the plains where the wild horses stop every once in a while to get their feet trimmed (and what’s natural about a horse sitting, or playing with a rubber ball?)
Moreover, susceptible people often forget that horses are no longer wild. You cannot put the genie back in the bottle. Just willing your horse’s foot, with a knife, to take the shape of a mythical, perfect, naturally existing horse hoof of yesteryear will not make it so. Taking a horse with horrible feet and cutting them with a stencil does not make them perfect, great, or natural, no matter how long you try.
So many inexperienced backyard breeders have produced so many terribly conformed horses; a special barefoot hoof trim will not conquer their genetics. In many cases, it may be your responsibility to put shoes on a horse with foot problems instead of mandating the horse conform to your needs as a system follower.
“I don’t see any lameness, he just doesn’t like to walk on rocks.”
The fad within this barefoot market is so strange to me. In so many ways, why not just find a great farrier? A great farrier is going to leave a horse barefoot if that is what is best for the horse. I have had many barefoot horses, some of which competed through 4′ jumpers barefoot even, only to get shoes on for bigger fences, for better traction, or for shock absorption. Since all of these horses that were able to live and compete barefoot also had awesome feet, my farriers would leave them without shoes until needed.
The most memorable experiences I’ve had with natural barefoot trimming, or natural balanced trims, were witnessing the soreness the horses experience after a trim, even after receiving these trims for over a year. These horses would be footsore for over a week AFTER a barefoot trim. The horses were in agony when walking through rocks, or walking on concrete.
Are there no hard surfaces in the wild?
I would be told, “Oh, that’s normal”, or in some cases, “I don’t see any lameness, he just doesn’t like to walk on rocks.” No horse my farrier has ever left barefoot has ever, ever been footsore. Not on rocks, not walking to and from pastures, not on any surface at any point.
Having a farrier work on your horse, whether you put shoes on or not, should under no circumstances cause lameness, footsoreness, shortened stride, or any other displays of pain and/or discomfort. You should be able to get on and ride your horse with no problems immediately after your farrier works on him. If you can’t, have a lengthy conversation with your farrier. If it happens a second time, find a new farrier. If that farrier is you, please stop playing farrier.
The number one most important element in horse care, and horse training, is uniqueness. Every horse is unique and must be treated and cared for as an individual. Following methods, fads, or systems limits the ability to tailor for your horse’s conformation, temperament, personality, and health. Why do all these radical people think that every horse should fit into a mold? What is even more interesting is that these are the people who claim other horse people are just scared of change or something new. When it comes to “natural” horse practice dissident, fear of the new is not an issue. Most good horse people take knowledge from every reputable source, method, and system, pull out what might be useful, and apply it when it is applicable. But above all, responsible horse people know THERE IS NO MOLD.
There is no magic button, no magic book, no magic savior, or no magic set of beliefs that will cause a horse to bond with you. Your program of beliefs are not special, and you are not suddenly rising to the top of all whom ever cared for horses, simply because your system title includes a derivative of the word “nature”.
And in this world, there are a lot of conventional farriers that shoe horses who don’t necessarily need it. It is also very true that a horse that has worn shoes for a long time will need time to adjust to being barefoot. Without the accustomed support of a shoe, hoof walls may chip and crack for a few trims until the nail holes grow out and the hoof becomes stronger, but never should this adjustment period include footsoreness.
And though it’s obvious the closed minded nature of anyone buying into these “natural” themed horse care/training, marketing schemes bothers me, the natural barefoot trimmers actually make me angry. Natural trims cause pain and suffering for far too many horses.
One thing is for sure, I’ll never give up horseshoes. I absolutely love torturing my horses by mounting, cold, cruel metal to their feet. The classically trained, traditional farrier and I have such a laugh at all the discomfort the horses experience while being shod! Oh, and the hot shoeing!
The courtesy and manners my horses show the farrier are surely just done out of fear; their blackened hearts singed from years of unnatural hoof trims, metal tearing their mouth apart, and all the abuse from spurs, whips, and nosechains. In fact, one of my horses is so dull and hates the farrier and the evil shoes he tacks on so much, that he stands perfectly still and tries to play with the handkerchief in the farrier’s back pocket!
Silly, tortured horse!
Shoes or no shoes, lets work away from the marketing schemes. Horse people are already crazy enough without all this bad propaganda.
I came across a Strasser-method farrier when I was searching for someone to trim my three-turning-four AQHA. I was a bit far-flung and I was having trouble getting “regular” farriers to drive all that way for “just a trim.” So I looked out of the box. Some of the things she said made a lot of sense, and I was of the school that holding off on shoeing and growing horse gives them a chance to grow thier hooves to fit thier increasing mass, and, as he wasn’t in heavy work, it was cheaper.
I was one of the lucky ones. People started warning me about this woman, and my horse didn’t produce lameness when trimmed by her, but he did become vicious about picking up his feet. This was a carefully-trained, home bred horse who knew his left from right, and he really wasn’t interested in having his hooves handled. She actually asked ME if she could stop trimming him because she was afraid of getting kicked.
This, obviously, distressed me at the time, thinking that I had erred in my training of this typically well-mannered horse. Only after reading this article did I connect the dots that he was saying “I don’t THINK so” to having his hooves messed with.
I’ve moved him, he’s had shoes put on (which he LOVES. He also moves more confidently in the winter with borium… I’m sure that will spark vitriolic counter-posts, but I personally would rather have a bowed tendon than a broken leg from a fall, sorry) and all his picking-up-foot problems virtually disappeared.
The one good thing I learned was about the product Hawthorne Sole-Pack, which is available widely in a gummy, tarry hoof packing and less widely as a thinner hoof dressing with a brush applicator. It seems to have antibiotic properties while preserving the pliancy of the hoof. Stinks to high heaven, but that keeps the flies away!
I have to come clean, I am one who routinley abuses my horses, I horrifically have shoes put on them every 4-8 weeks. I do this only to cause severe pain and suffereing! LOL!!
Actually, I would love to have all barefoot horses. It would be incredibly cheap. Its just too bad that there soundness, comfort, traction, and in some cases, poor hoof quality make shoes a necessity. Two are barefoot behind and always have been.
I did have some overwhelming interest in this “movement” about a year ago. My old retired guy has some arthritis and a billion other problems (he’s old) and a woman at my barn said she started using a natural farrier for her old mare at home and she was doing so much better after having shoes removed.
Then I went out and saw the mare. She was probably “happier” because she wasn’t in a stall 18 hours a day, so I will say that part of the natural hoofcare was beneficial for her. The mare was very tender footed and was only comfortable walking on grass. I asked her about that and she said that sometimes it takes a while before they get accustomed to going barefoot. She had been barefoot for 6 months! I could see the first few weeks after having the shoes removed having some tenderness, but for 6 months! I would never do that to my horse.
Then I met the natural farrier. Wow! Very forcefull and almost demeaning. He actually told me that I was ignorant! I laughed. He was very nice until I started questioning his methods and results. Then he turned into a militant hoof nazi! I guess when you don’t have good answers getting defensive and mean is the best resolution for some people!
I have read a little about the process and it seems like they have some good ideas, but the implimentation is lacking and the fact that not every horse has a good foot is very hard for them to grasp.
I can see the draw, to an extent, and would probably consult someone if my regular farrier was at a loss on getting a horse comfortable; my farrier puts shoes on and also knows about the natural balance trims. He is well rounded and always does whats best for the horse. His motto “My client is the horse”.
Elana-I’ve never used the Hawthorne Sole-Pack. But use a sole pack religiously on one of my horses that gets very dry and sometimes brittle soles. My farrier sells it I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s in a black tub. I will look the Hawthorne stuff up. Thanks for the tip!!
The hoof pack is awesome–I agree. There’s a woman at my current barn who uses natural hoof trimming on her TB and the horse moves fine but his feet are definitely really spread out and it looks like his soles are hitting the ground. She plans on trail riding him a lot this summer and I can only imagine the pain he’s going to be in. My horse is also a TB and I tried letting him go barefoot when I first got him but he chipped away his hoof wall running around in the indoor arena so the shoes went back on. I might try again once the biotin kicks in. I’m going to be moving to a barn where the trainer’s husband is a farrier and is there every day so he would be able to tack the shoes back on if his feet crack up.
I cracked up when I read this article. I’ve been to this website a few times and love the tone. I just had to comment on this one!
I am a hunter/jumper rider who has dabbled in dressage and eventing. I have two boarded horses, one who wears shoes on all 4 and the other wears shoes on the front and three horses at home – barefoot. My three horses at home are BLM Mustangs. My husband and I adopted them 6 years ago. They are really just pets, but two of them were started under saddle. One was a weanling, one was a yearling and the other was 6 years old when we adopted them. The two younger ones are the ones broke to ride and are pretty good trail horses for only getting ridden 4 times a year (LOL).
My husband and I started the two under saddle ourselves. No problems all three have been a dream to deal with. We did attend a few clinics, natural horsemanship type stuff. We thought it was pretty hoaky so we just winged it ourselves. I have a lot of experience with young horses and my husband was very excited to be involved.
We were having trouble getting a farrier to come to our house to trim them. The older one took a while to be good about picking his feet up, but the younger ones were very quick learners. Their feet were great, big feet, some chips, but strong hoof walls, good tough soles, healthy frogs. The farrier that we had coming to do them was charging us an arm and leg because we were so out of the way. We didn’t mind it, but thought if we could find someone in our area that would be better.
My husband found a flyer at the feed store for a natural barefoot farrier. He called them and the guy was very excited to work on Mustangs, claiming the natural barefoot “method” was based on how horses naturally wear there feet so his “trim” would be perfect for them.
When the farrier came out he said we had really damaged their natural hooves by having conventional farrier trim their feet. This made me a little apprehensive because their feet looked exactly the same as when we first got them and had only been slightly trimmed three times. But, he had all these natural credentials and spoke highly of the Mustang and their feet, so I figured who cares, they are just barefoot, it’s just a trim.
Well, the first trim, they were foot sore but only on the rocks and pavement. There feet looked different, long toes and barely any hoofwall left. The second trim left them lame. I mean they didn’t want to walk. Their hooves were totally different looking they had no hoof wall and were walking on the soles of their feet. I called the previous “conventional” farrier that I used and he said he would be out the next day to take a look.
I was worried that the horses were going to founder. We gave them banamine and left them inside. The farrier came out and felt bad for the horses. He said just to let them grow out for a few weeks, keep them on soft ground, and get boots for them if they are continually sore. He said he could put shoes on for more comfort, but didn’t really want to do that.
So, after 10 weeks, they were still kind of foot sore. My old farrier came out, barely trimmed them (just worked on the angles a little) and after 6 months their feet were almost back to MUSTANG NORMAL = NATURAL.
I would never trust one of those people. Maybe I just had a bad experience, but the natural farrier was a quack and when we called him out on it, he claimed WE didn’t know what WE were talking about.
YIKES! Thanks for the great info. Sorry this was so long, but it’s important to understand that natural trims are not as seen in wild mustangs!
Thanks for stepping out of “lurker” mode and throwing down a comment, Mary. You’ve related a great first hand account of terrible pain inflicted by this ridiculous “movement.”
And Bonnie, you make a really good point that many, many equestrians would love to keep their horses barefoot – strictly because it’s so much cheaper. But alas, the shoes stay on because they are needed.
Duh.
Now, dang it, citizen.K, I was all set to give another unmitigated HOORAY for this article, and you had to ruin it by unfairly ripping – again – those of us who incorporate Clicker Training in our training toolbox. Not all Clicker Trainers – or any other trainers for that matter – are alike, just as not all horses are alike. I KNOW you agree with that. ;o)
Anyway… my two horses, 17 and 10, have never worn shoes. However, if they ever needed them, they would be on there in an Indiana Minute. When I lived in Dallas, my horses wore shoes because the ground there gets harder than cement in the summer.
My farrier does not give them a “barefoot trim” – whatever the heck that is – and I have NO plans to trim them myself.
I asked my farrier once about the “Strasser Method.” His opinion pretty much paralleled yours. She has some valid points, but a lot of the stuff she claims is just plain nuts.
Thanks for this post, and thanks for such a great blog!
I find myself walking a tightrope between the “natural” and “traditional” worlds, so this post really hit home. I have seen a lot of horses helped with natural hoofcare…but I have seen far too many horses gimping around painfully so the owner could feel morally superior.
I often ask, “What’s natural about a sore horse?” and “Why gloat about your horse’s natural feet if you still have to put on hoof boots to ride?”
Up until the natural hoof movement came along, farriers were making progress in educating owners, but many confused promoting their ironwork skills with promoting their hoof-related skills. And lots of horse owners felt that their farriers loved their anvils, big trucks, and grinders more than the horses they shod.
Then the natural hoof craze appeared and both farriers and vets have been smeared with the cruelty brush. Shouting matches with barefoot nazis rarely accomplish much of anything since the new saviors of the hoof have all the answers. It seems to be part of the training, even if their training included twisted science and creative anatomy.
The problem is, I think they are often right about many things, and often much better at owner communication than farriers and many can point to successful cases. They convert owners who just cannot look in the mirror and say, “I didn’t take good care of my horse”; instead, they praise the removal of the shoes as the cure for what their neglect actually did to the horse. But now they’ve now seen the light.
Horse owners will never get the best care for their horses until farriers will step over the gotta-love-steel line and until natural trimmers swallow their dogma.
Horseowners who buy into the “lame but proud” crowd pay a stiff price for their moral superiority around the barn: they pay with their horses’ pain and discomfort.
Shouldn’t a barefoot trimmer leave a horse naturally sound and rideable? When that happens, it’s a wonderful thing.
Fran,
I think that you have hit the nail on the head (so to speak). I think there is a tendancy to make a religion out of this thing and to go to extremes on both sides of the fence. I came into this barefoot thing quite unexpectadely with a mare that had never been shod and could keep up with the best on the rocky dry trails of Arizona. And you should know that I wasn’t about to slap shoes on her until I did a lot of research into the whole concept. I agree that there are those in the barefoot camp that have turned this into a religion and just as many in the shoeing camp that denounce the whole thing as a scam. Well, from my perspective it works for my horses and I have learned enough to know a good trimmer from a bad trimmer just as I know a good farrier from a bad farrier. I think the key to this is to learn as much as possible and make an informed decision based on the horse and for God’s sake, don’t make it a religion.
Dan
Don’t worry Suzanne, if you’re a clicker trainer, you’re on the fringe, and we here at Citizen Horse have no problem with the fringe. Piecemeal horse training is fine by us.
It’s the hard-core, holier than thou, natural-nazis that really give us the rub.
I’ve studied natural trims for almost 10 years and have come to think that the Strasser trim is a very extreme trim and should only be used in a clinical environment, for some reason it seems to draw in the extreme self-righteous type of person wanting to learn to trim. I must say I thought your article had a little of that same righteous attitude also, just from a different point of view. You might want to check Pete Ramey and his views out. He follows the natural shape and contours of the hoof and does as little as possible to change/correct that. Each foot is deserving of an individualized trim. Perhaps we barefooters won’t seem so much like the wild eyed crazies you seem to think we are. I prefer my horses to be barefoot because they can feel what is under their feet differently than with shoes. I find them to be a more comfortable ride and much more sure-footed. My horses are not in pain. I took the time to learn what works and what doesn’t in the barefoot world. If I felt that my horses needed shoes to be comfortable, then they would have them. For my horses though, shoes are no longer necessary, they have developed stronger, thicker hoof walls and a natural concavity from the hoof capsule forming a tighter connection from having a hoof wall that was kept from flaring as it grows. I put away my hoof knives that the Strasser crowd so loves, years ago.
Generally I enjoy your blogs and agree with them, but on this I really feel that you are lacking a rounded view of this movement.
Interesting look from at Strasser from your eyes. OK, so when it comes to Dr. Strasser and her Strasser-ite trimmers, I must agree.
But painting ALL barefooters with the same brush would be like me painting all of you hunter jumper folks with the same brush as well.
Yep- you guessed it. I am a barefoot trimmer. Do I use the word “natural” in there at all? Nope. Do I use Strasser at all? Hell no. I do what needs to be done for the best of the horse.
Horses that we trim don’t walk away lame or sore. They can be and routinely are ridden directly after being trimmed. (The “we” in this equation is my partner and husband.) They do not go through a “natural process of abscessing to remove necrotic tissue.” They do not go through a lameness period.
When do we see lameness? When some half-assed, hammer happy, iron bending jagoff decides that he can put a shoe on when in fact it apprears that he did not know his left from his right. We see lameness in cases of laminitis (which we have treated with a high success rate, barefoot.) We see the rare abscess.
But do you know what we see and hear about the most? Freaking neurotic owners, calling us looking for a miracle cure, or an instant fix. Want instant? Go nuke your oatmeal. Instant and Horse do not mix.
What do we tell someone who has a horse the NEEDS shoes? “Here is the number of Mr XXX- call him and he can help you with shoes.”
I do not call my training (or re-training as the case most often is,) “Natural Horsemanship”. (I almost gave a rasp enema to the last guy who told me to go “…do your Parelli stuff..” …) I do not call my barefoot rehab work “natural”. I don’t even call it a miracle. I call it a job, and live by one simple rule:
Do.
No.
Harm.
Movement, by the way is better off being reserved for bowels, and what I think of every time someone blithley quips the “movement” phrase in my direction…..
Y’all think about it…
Yeah, me too. ;o)
I totally agree with Mrs Mom. The original post has a certain attack dog quality to it. In every thing there is good and bad, and that goes for farriers and horse owners and vets and nutritionists, etc., etc.
I have owned horses for over 40 years. I currently own 2 barefoot Arabian geldings. I do not subscribe to the Strasser method in anyway, but I do pay a lot of attention to Pete Ramey and Jaime Jackson. I have also spent a lot of time educating myself on the anatomy of the hoof and how it is supposed to work. My horses are trimmed by a “barefoot” farrier every 4 weeks and I do a little filing and sanding on them every week to keep them in shape. My horses have perfect feet. I trail ride, and we ride hard…sometimes over 25 miles, on all different terrains.
My horses never place a foot wrong. My horses are never lame. If I know we are going to be riding on extremely rocky trails I put the EasyBoots on my older gelding but the younger one does not seem to ever need them (he has never had a shoe on in his life…the older one was shod when I bought him). I have been using the same pair of boots (fronts only) for almost 2 years now with the occasional part replaced and trust me…it is a hell of a lot cheaper than having shoes put on every few weeks!
I am not a Barefoot Nazi. Do what you wish with your horse. But don’t tell me mine need shoes either.
This was a very entertaining article!
Mrs. Mom and Diandra, I guess I didn’t get the same vibe that you did from this article. It didn’t seem like the author was saying barefoot was wrong or bad. It was saying that the natural barefoot movement was bad. Trimming every horse the same isn’t good and not every horse is going to be comfortable with the natural barefoot trim.
I have two horses. One is barefoot and the other wears front shoes. I too, would like both horses to be barefoot just because it would be cheaper! LOL. But, my appendix has horrible feet and terrible angles that just won’t hold up to a barefoot lifestyle. My other horse is a “mutt” who has outstanding feet. He is never sore on rocks or any surface. He is my trail/pleasure horse and he has never taken a off step. I don’t put boots on him or anything. I don’t use a natural barefoot farrier, I just use a regular farrier that trims his feet and does a darn good job!
I don’t think this article said all barefoot trimmers are the same, it’s the “natural” barefoot trimmers.
My barn consists of all types of riders. Dressage, Hunter, Jumper, Eventers, Western (gaming and pleasure) and one thing that is interesting is that over the past 5 years that I have boarded there over half the barn has converted to “natural” horse stuff. This includes natural barefoot trimming. There has been turn-over so not everyone there has been there for 5 years, but the mix of riders has always been about the same.
Of the half of the barn that has natural barefoot hoofcare, about half of those horses are sore. One foundered shortly after a trim (2 days I think). I’m not sure what “method” was used as there are 3 different natural trimmers that come to the barn. But that horse had a mild founder episode a few years prior and the owner was just determined to have that horse natural and barefoot. He had worn eggbars since the first founder episode (lush grass) and he had been sound. She just wanted to be part of the “movement”. Sad for the horse.
But, not all the horses that are naturally trimmed are comfortable. Not even to say they need shoes. All of their feet look the same and not all these horses have the same conformation, bone or hoof.
It’s sad because the owners are just told to give it time and they will be sound, but a few have been this way for well over a year. Why do they do this? I have asked and the answer is always the same “barefoot is better”. Okay, fair enough. If you have a horse with a great hoof and that horse is trimmed, properly, for thier particluar hoof structure and conformation. If the hoof sucks (and many do), there conformtion doesn’t bode well to the angles that are forced onto their hoof by the natural barefoot trimmer, how is barefoot then better?
Of the other half of the natural barefoot trimmed horses, half of those never get ridden so I’m not sure how there comfort is. The rest are good, but many don’t do well on rocks at all. When I go on a trail ride with some of them, they have to stop and put boots on their horses when I’m riding my barefoot horse who has no pain or discomfort walking on the rocks. I guess I just don’t understand the benefit.
I don’t see this article as saying you have to put shoes on. I think it’s just saying, logically, don’t conform to a movement. Do what’s right for your horse. Barefoot might be right, but natural barefoot may not. I think that makes sense.
Just my 2 cents
I am trying to do the barefoot thing – criticize away!!!
There are lots of photos of a transitioning TB here: barefootstory.blogspot.com
Wow! This mirrors exactly the same arguement people have about man-made global warming. Somone says “X is Bad When Y Happens,” and someone jumps in and says, “X isn’t always bad!!” It’s like trying to argue with someone who calls you pro-pollution because you didn’t like Algore’s movie. Take a deep breath! And don’t argue with zealots, it just makes you look like a zealot too.
I WISH my horse could be barefoot. His dam is still perfectly sound barefoot, and our 21 year old TB (after a rough first year) finally has awesome bare feet. But my little guy LOVES having shoes on. He moves better and is more sure-footed and willing to go over terrain with them than without them. And you only find things like that out by trying it.
I tried the “natural trim” and it didn’t work for us. Clearly, there is a statistical probability that SOME horse SOMEWHERE did get a benefit from Dr. Strasser’s theories.
It also cracks me up when people with pure-bred Arabian horses compare them to other domestic horses. The old lines are so different from the hybrid warmbloods and American breeds (let’s face it, the AQHA didn’t start until the 1940′s. This is a new breed compared to most) Arab attributes are often the IDEAL of what a domestic horse should be in soundness and health, not the norm. Most of us aren’t blessed with those genes!!! (This is a compliment to Arabs, don’t jump on me.)
For those of us with less-than-ideal horses, we should try to leave our options open. Shoeing for the sake of paying the farrier on a horse who gets trail-ridden on grass and dirt once a week might be a situation where you could try going barefoot. Likewise, horses who are goosey over tough footing might appreciate shoes.
Just remember that pulling shoes off a horse who has had them for a long time leaves them without that extra protection for a long time. It was nearly a YEAR before our TB finally stopped chipping his hooves and ooching over rocky ground. (He was not being ridden, that’s why we pulled the shoes.)
Like the farrier said: it’s not miracles, just progress.
“Horse people are already crazy enough without all this bad propaganda.”
Ahhahaha! So true.
I was very entertained by this article as usual citizen!
Im a horrible owner I put 2 fron shoes on my geldings feet every 6-8 weeks! I wasnt aware that keeping my horse from getting STONE bruises was a criminal act!
I suppose there are some people and horses who can benefit from this ” movement” I however am not one of them! my horse needs shoes on his pitters so they dont break apart.I would love to see someone fix my horses pancake thoroughbred thin walled feet that is my soon to be eventer the “barefoot way” and keep him sound and un sore!
I dont agree with marketing this “movement” to everyone as if putting shoes on your horse is wrong in some way, i dont understand the logic in this! This method much like “clicker training” is not for EVERYONE. There are people in the world whom still like to do things the conventional way with their horse. Opposed to those who use inscents and sign language to communication more power to you!
This on had me rolling
Cara,
It’s fairly common knowledge that shoes do not prevent stone bruises and in fact my gelding had more bruises when he was shod. I don’t know how bad your horses hooves are but I know that just saying that something doesn’t work without having first hand experience doesn’t make it so. The key to transition is patience and I find many horse owners lack that.
Dan
I can see your point… to a point… I don’t know that I buy into this Strasser method entirely, but I think there is a lot of credence to the argument that shoes are often the root of the problem as are poor barefoot trims that force people into feeling like they are the only options. There are extremists in both cases. When I got my horse 10 years ago, the barn he was at INSISTED on shoes and pads for all horses, because they had rocky ground. I took one look at my horses feet, which were poorly trimmed on top of it… but I could see he had the potential for nice strong feet, and said “HELL no” rip those things off or we are moving… we moved and I ripped them off. He did fabulously for 9 years. Then we moved again, and got a farrier that just wasn’t cutting the grade… his feet were chipping up within 2 weeks of a trim. If I had just gotten this horse, I probably would have though “Damn, I really do need shoes on him, look at how badly he chips” I have since then learned from others that do their own trims, who showed me how to look at the angles, and correct problems that seem to be developing (long heels, flares, etc.) and how to visualize the shape of HIS hoof, and within about 2 trims, I noticed a huge difference. I could feel him actually lenghtening out his stride, landing properly, and no chips in 3 weeks so far…
Yes, there are extremes in both cases… those that will put shoes on a horse because horses must have shoes, and shoes will fix everything, blah blah, and the other extreme as well… crazies on both sides… I think your attack was a bit extreme, but I get it. and I have the same issue with trainers you have… but I get just as fired up at people who dismiss things just because they are called “natural” and accuse people of drinking the kool aide. To dismiss it so entirely is really just as bad as you claim the “other guy” to be.
Common Sense. No two horses have the same conformation. The foot angle must correspond to the pastern angle, and must suit the horse’s conformation. Taking the horse back to a more natural condition sounds good but…..we changed that condition by domestication, breeding, and the types of work the horse performs. Many horses do not have a hoof structure that would sustain them in the wild.
sorry, i could not make it through your entire article, but i have to point out the huge disservice you are doing to horses by conflating the entire concept of “natural” equine care and barefoot trimming with strasser. i am a practicing trimmer and everyone i know within the educated and experienced barefoot community considers her a hack and a hoof butcher. everything you say about her and her methods are true, but it is entirely irresponsible on your part to imply that all barefoot trimmers are strasserites.
please take your own advice, educate yourself, and stop spreading bu*^$#!t propaganda. keeping horses barefoot is not a marketing scheme.
i have to point out the huge disservice you are doing to horses by conflating the entire concept of “natural” equine care and barefoot trimming with strasser. i am a practicing trimmer and everyone i know within the educated and experienced barefoot community considers her a hack and a hoof butcher. everything you say about her and her methods are true, but it is entirely irresponsible on your part to imply that all barefoot trimmers are strasserites.
please take your own advice, educate yourself, and stop spreading such volatile and ignorant propaganda. keeping horses barefoot is not a marketing scheme. are farriers just a bunch of people trying to make money selling iron?
horses lived barefoot for 60 million years, long before the advent of marketing.
Based on your blog article I would assume that for 50 million years the wild horse has been perpetrating a fraud which according to you is “only a fad”. I just can’t understand how all these horses survived without farriers hammering iron to their hooves every six to eight weeks, or the lack of high sugar high protein feed in their diet.
I was as closed minded as you are until I became the steward of a “BAREFOOT” Missouri Foxtrotter mare by the name of China Doll. You see, China Doll had never worn shoes and was able to ride many miles for multiple days in the rocky terrain of Arizona and was always ready for more. Of course having a barefoot meant that I needed to study up on the function of the natural hoof and learn all that I could about the trimming of natural hooves. I found a wonderful natural trimmer by the name of James Welz (who is by the way,”Strasser Certified”)and he has begun to trim not only China Doll, but our gelding (Outlaw)who has always worn shoes; until now. The bottom line is natural hoofcare is not a fad, is not a fraud, and is helping many horses with pathological hoof diseases. Dr. Strasser is being vilified for saving horses that have been damaged by traditional methods by the very groups that have caused the damage. How convenient for the perpetrators to vilify the person trying to save these horses from early death. Remember, ignorance is the enemy not Dr. Strasser. Before you pronounce such ignorant statements as are written in this article, at least have the decency to study and learn from the research of Dr. Strasser, Dr. Bowker and Dr. Tomskey.
This is to both Jim B and Dan Wilson:
“If barefoot trimmers are following “natural”, wild horse practices, why are they trimming their feet at all? Are there wild farriers that live out in the plains where the wild horses stop every once in a while to get their feet trimmed (and what’s natural about a horse sitting, or playing with a rubber ball?)
Moreover, susceptible people often forget that horses are no longer wild.”
Most people that come into the article with a pre-existing opinion. Most that disagree don’t actually READ the article. 50/60 million years horses lived barefoot – these horses were not being ridden by people, these horses had a short life span, and ones with poor feet didn’t survive to breed.
We do not have those same horses and these horses do not just live out roaming the plains. Many, many horses have terrible feet and not so great conformation. Their breeding is different, their environment is different, and their physical activity is different. There is no comparison.
The funny thing is the “BAREFOOT” or “NATURAL” people are the ones who are close minded. I am all for a horse being able to go barefoot. However, I realize and know that not all horses CAN go barefoot and it is not in the best interest of all horses to get any ONE kind of hoofcare (shoes, barefoot, pads, wedges, etc.). There are many bad farriers out there but a good farrier uses shoes and knows when a horse doesn’t need a shoe. That is just good horsemanship.
1. Hooves need trimmed since most domestic horses do not roam 20 to 25 miles a day for forage and water, although, there are folks here in Arizona that have enough land to allow their horse to self trim.
2. Horses were ridden for thousands of years before the horseshoe was ever invented. Ghengis Kahn and his armies covered the known world without shoes as did the Romans and other ancient civilizations.
3. Most of the wild horses of the America are descendants of domesticated horses that escaped or were released. Horses are not native to North America. Do you think these horses have evolved bad feet in that short of a time span?
4. Bad feet are the result of poor diet, limited movement, and shoeing. It’s a known fact that long term back to back shoeing contracts the hoof causing caudal heel pain, navicular, and joint and ligament damage.
5. Many horses with so called “bad feet” have transitioned to barefoot and now have great feet. I have many friends that I ride with that have transitioned their horses to barefoot because they have seen the wonder of my two horses on the dry rocky trails of Arizona. I also have friends who are unable to grasp the concept and are so caught up in the established norm to look outside the box.
I would just ask that before passing judgement, read the findings of Dr. Robert Bowker on the functions of the natural hoof in blood flow and shock absorption.
Dan
Some folks ask why horses that have their shoes removed and are given a natural trim sometimes walk as if lame. To answer that question, I have devised an experiment.
1. Go out and find the hardest, most uncomfortable, and tightest shoes you can find and buy them.
2. Put these shoes on your feet and lace them as tight as you can get them.
3. Wear them 24/7 for 6 weeks (the standard shoeing cycle).
4. Remove them after 6 weeks and try to walk on your bare feet.
I guarantee that you will be limping on sore feet as the blood begins to flow to the nerves in your foot.
5. Put them back on and lace them as tight as you can.
What happens; the blood flow is decreased and the foot goes numb again.
Any other question?
Dan
why then then do my horses not limp after i remove their shoes and trim them before turning out at the end of the work season? why also are their feet harder and stronger and less prone to quarters then horses in the same paddock who have never been shod ? it’s because i know how to shoe and trim, if you are making horses sore shoeing or triming them “LEAVE THEM ALONE”. and as far as shoeing causing hoof problems i have treated the same conditons in horses (like seedy toe for example) as i have in horses who have never been shod. i have treated more problems in horse who have never been shod then in those that have. in fact i have fixed a lot of problems just by shoeing the horse. but then i’ve worked horses in australia, the u.s., canada and europe, work horses, race horses, cutting and raining horses, roping and other rodeo horses, trotters, jumpers heavy horses and mules and donkys on every possable terain, not just joy rode around a trail in arizona. in these days of internet “experts” and buy a doctor, i find it best to go on what i’ve seen and not on what sounds fancy, and in my range of experance(which is wider then any one you can quote) correctly shod horses suffer far less injurys then unshod horses. ps. in a early post you wrote about poor diet, mineral deficiency is the major cause of hoof problems (well actualy major cause of most health problems) shod or unshod.
FROM WIKIPEDIA
“There is at least 4000 years between evidence of domestication and evidence of horseshoes”.
The earliest archaeological evidence for the domestication of the horse comes from sites in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, dating to approximately 3,500–4,000 BCE.[128][129] By 3000 BCE, the horse was completely domesticated and by 2000 BCE there was a sharp increase in the number of horse bones found in human settlements in northwestern Europe, indicating the spread of domesticated horses throughout the continent.[130] The most recent, but most irrefutable evidence of domestication comes from sites where horse remains were interred with chariots in graves of the Sintashta and Petrovka cultures circa 2100 BCE.[131]
There is very little evidence of nailed-on shoes prior to AD 500 or 600, though there is speculation that the Gauls were the first to nail on metal horseshoes.[7] The nailed iron horseshoe first appeared in the archaeological record in Europe about 5th century A.D. when a horseshoe, complete with nails, was found in the tomb of the Frankish King Childeric I at Tournai, Belgium.[8] The earliest clear written record of iron horseshoes is a reference to “crescent figured irons and their nails” in AD 910.
I agree with the above comment…I think we should all bear in mind that horses were domesticated long before horse shoes were invented. This includes one of the most famous horsemen of all time, Xenophon. How did they possibly survive! Horse shoes were introduced when horses started doing an awful lot of work, they were the main form of transportation after all.
My horses go for leisurely hacks and the occasional whizz around a show ring or dressage arena…They do fine without shoes. They’re hooves are healthy and strong.
I think it’s a case of each to their own. If your horse needs shoes or you want him to wear them, fine. If you want to go barefoot, fine. But don’t dismiss an entire belief just because of one crackpot (Strasser!) There are as many bad farriers as bad trimmers- it’s a case of finding the one that works for you
Jenifer,
The ancient unshod horses did an amazing amount of work and carried ancient armies many more miles than horses typically ride today. The truth is; most people don’t even know if their horses could go barefoot or not. They just simply slap on horseshoes because thats the way it’s always been done. On top of that you have people spreading misinformation about natural hooves. I have the advantage of experiencing it both ways and have come to the conclusion that barefoot is better; PERIOD!
and when the horse went lame they ate them, are you suggesting we march long hours on poorly fed horses too? dan when i was fifteen i worked on a cattle station (ranch) that was 1100 square miles of dessert and black soil and very few horses were shod, all of them ran in large horse paddocks. the ground was often Hard baked and the horses had hard natural hooves we had a lot of lame horses. i then moved in to the basalt, a large strech on the austrailan great deviding range. if you are not aware basalt is a hard black rock. the place was arond the same size, we rode the same big miles every day the only differace was that the basalt was much harder in some places we rode on solid rock and we shod all the horses. we never had a lame or foot sore horse except the ones that some times came in lame from the big spell padocks, and those we fixed by shoeing them. also when i worked cutters in colorado, we never shod the young horses they where trimed back short(what some would call natural) also the show horse where only shod in the back and trimed short in the front. unless the horse went lame or became foot sore then it was shod and the lameness would go away. the truth is i don’t think you know the first thing about shoeing a horse and like the idea of barefoot because it’s cheeper then shoeing. Ps the ancent armies were limited to where they could ride, with the invention of the horse shoe armies became far less limited and cut down a lot miles because they could now cross where they once had to bypass plus needed far less spare horses. the horse shoe gave cavilaries an advantage over those with unshod horses. you should read more war horse history before you quote it.
Some horses need shoes. A great many do not. Many people put shoes on their horses “Just cuz”. My horses have always been barefoot and have very good hooves, but if I had to shoe them, I would use Sigafoos. And I wouldn’t dream of trimming their hooves myself.
All 3 of my horses are barefoot…infact they have been all their lives. They have never been lame or sore and are super happy, u guys really are very ignorant. I live in South Africa and the terrain is harsh here and my boys have some of the most healthy feet ive ever seen, I must add thou that my farrier is great too, he does a decent trim every 4 weeks. Also almost all endurance riders in SA go barefoot, our National Champion Laura Seegers rides only barefoot and bitless. If Barefoot is “so wrong” why are there so many barefoot champion endurance horses? I know!
This article is full of holes …
To start with it focus’s on the Strausser Method. There are so many schools – like riding – you have to choose who to follow. Don’t tar everyone with the same brush. I’m not sure there is a single paragraph which doesn’t make some outlandish statement – which is an opinion … not fact.
It is true that some trimmers have a very quick training programme. However some train for over 2 years.
One thing I would like an explanation on is how you can justify that horseshoes act as shock absorbers? Thats just down right illogical. You don’t even need evidence – just a few moments of logical thinking to decide that a hard and solid stucture NAILED on to a flexible and perfectly designed shock absorbing hoof isn’t going to do it any favours in the shock absorbing department. I’m sorry but as soon as I read this the whole article lost credibility …
My only concern is that people will read your article and actually beleive it instead of feeling the need to question it.
However if you would like to see evidence of the hoofs natural shock absorbing properties – watch 2 horses trot up – see where in the leg the richochet stops …
“you don’t need evidence ” should be the slogan of the bare foot movement. horse shoes are flexable, some more then others, they expand with the hoof as it hits the ground, if your shoes do not expand much with the horses foot it’s often on of two things. A. the shoes you are useing are to rigid or B. the nails are to high. in austraila I prefur to use o’dwyre flat shoes for work horses and o’dwyre concave shoes for racing and jumping horses. an un shod horse no matter how well trimed offer no protection of the heels and this is most often where the damage is done. I have seen a lot of horses made sore by incorect shoeing(there seems to be a trend toward shoeing a horse with a size bigger then they are naturaly) but far more done by not shoeing. that said some triming methords are good and unlike the strausser methord don’t make horses lame. if your horse isn’t going lame then you may not need to shoe them, but high performance horses and work horses need shoe.(they just need to be good shoes and the person putting them on needs to know what they are doing).
I’ve grown up in outback Austraila, I’ve also worked horses and mules in the u.s. and canada, from packing in the rockies to training cutters, so i’ve seen a few different ideas on shoeing. bare foot trimming is a load of crap! it’s works on the premis that wlid horses have good hooves. 1. i’ve have seen a lot of wild horses (and shot a lot of them) with bad feet. it is true that in harder country horses grow a nice smooth foot, the same does not apply horses breed on black soil or swamp lands.2. wild horses in rock country stick to softer pads and don’t run on the rock a lot of people find that “brumbys” once broken to ride need shoes as there hooves while quite hard can not stand up to riding over rock. 3. most of the horses i have ridden and all on the ones I own have been bred out in the paddocks, on hard rocky hill country, they all need shoes once starting work. 4. my horses can stop hard and turn hard there hooves will not hold up if left unshod. 5. the concept of barefoot triming is not as new as you may think, actualy in australia the idea has been around for over a hundred years. there are a lot of people who don’t shoe and eather trim or run there horses on hard paddocks. they always argue that bare footed or “brumby hoofed” horse will develop a naturaly hard hoof. what has allways baffled me is how they continue to argue this while their horses are allways going lame (mostly from quaters) and have to walk home leeding a limping horse. (these same people are often big supporters of bit-less spur-less and often saddle-less horsemanship, the funny thing is there horses are allways crap compaired to everyone elses) lastly I once worked as a full time breaker for a large cattle empire in outback northern terrtory, the place bred all the work horses for all their stations(ranches) all the horses where bred out in the hard basalt rock and lived there untill they where old enough or big enough to break in. yet not one could be ridden out side the arena more then once with out being shod because they would go lame, even though we rode them in the same country they had run all their life. barefoot triming (and i allways thought horses had hooves not feet) may be fine for people who bum-jog down a riding trail, but for work horses and horses who must run move and jump and stop fast shoeing is not only the best methord but the kindest.
How many hearts does a horse have? Five; the big one in his chest and a smaller one in each hoof. Shoes decrease this natural, necessary flow of blood which inhibits the nerves from functioning properly. All shoeing causes contraction and other damage to the hoof; however many extra “options” that are added by farriers – not hoof care practitioners – compound problems even more. Using nails to affix the shoe to the hoof prevents proper expansion of the whole hoof – kind of reminds me of the demure Geisha Girls – this expansion is further hindered by the use of clips which set the shoe firmly in its contracted state. Bars, another option available, lock the sides of the shoe together to further stop any outward expansion and finally, pads which cover the sole prevent much needed ground contact and seal in any bacteria present. (Thank you Lisa Ross Williams for providing this information in your fabulous book “Down-To-Earth Natural Horse Care) For further information in support of keeping your horse barefoot see Beyond The Horseshoe – Dressage Today Feb. 2013. Trainer Shannon Peters explores the benefits of going barefoot with high-performance horses. Keep in mind simply removing the shoes from your horse will not produce a sound high performance barefoot horse. Correct frequent trimming, natural living conditions, proper diet and understanding are all equally important!
As someone who read the whole article and most of the replies here’s my take.
Too bad horse people can’t discuss something without getting all rabid about it. Maybe it has something to do with having conclusions and using evidence to back that up. I am sure there is valid opposing evidence for whatever position has been taken here.
Too many generalities and hard-line attitudes. Sounds a lot like the dog world where everyone can have a different experience of what works, and all be the only right ones!
How do we know that a wild horse’s life is a short one? Not many ranchers or hunters I know have much time to study wildlife outside of what impacts them directly. Not necessarily a balanced viewpoint.
When used instead of discussing, put-downs just encourage people to maintain the same attitude. We can have all the experience in the world, but if we try to shove it down someone else’s throat with shitty attitudes, it just kinda confirms the ignorance.
How about if we generalize a little less and share a bit more information so that we, and the horses, all benefit?