Cash’s left rear – Photo taken two weeks ago
Eleven months ago we moved from dry, rocky southern California to middle Tennessee. I had done my homework and had conversed a lot with my pasture mentor Melanie Bowles (The Horses of Proud Spirit Sanctuary). Still I was very nervous. Our guys and gals had been living on hard rocky desert-like ground. All barefoot. Their hoof trims every eight weeks amounted to maintenance trims as they were wearing their hooves much like they would if they were in the wild. But they were moving to the soft (it turns out mushy) green grass pastures of middle Tennessee and we were being advised by many that our herd simply could not be out 24/7 on the “rich grasses” of this area. We pulled in on September 17th during a seven-inch rainfall that went on to define the wettest fall ever in these parts. There was literally no time during the fall that the ground fully dried out. This was followed by the worst winter in 25 years, followed by the floodingest spring ever, and now we’re three days away from recording the hottest summer on record.
How have the horses fared? They’ve been out 24/7 through it all. Because they don’t have the hard ground and rocks to wear their walls down, we now trim every six weeks (instead of eight). And the photo above, taken two weeks ago, is pretty much how all 24 hooves look. It’s Cash’s left rear which had only a wall trim and a mustang roll. The sole and frog went untouched. Natural hoof specialist Mark Taylor (holding the foot) called it a picture perfect hoof. Cash smiled.
Here are the before and after California shots. Quite a contrast :)
Pocket and Mouse (l to r) in California
Skeeter at the pond in Tennessee
As most of you know, we look to the wild horse model whenever there’s a question or potential issue relating to the horses. Because all horses on the planet (wild or domestic) are genetically precisely the same, it seems to me that the more we can replicate what they’d be doing in the wild of the Great Basin of the western United States (where they evolved for 50-plus million years), the better off our herd will be. Our pastures are all steep, some parts very steep. Designed to encourage movement, movement, movement. Horses in the wild move 10-30 miles a day, every day of their lives. This movement flexes their hooves (think toilet plunger) with every contact of the ground which sucks an enormous amount of blood into the hoof (which cannot happen with a shoe nailed to the hoof) and circulates that blood throughout the hoof capsule. When the hoof lifts off the ground the reverse is true. The hoof contracts from the flex and squeezes that blood back up those long legs taking workload off the heart (the heart rate of a barefoot horse, on average, will be 10% less than a shod horse).
Movement also assists proper digestion and keeps all parts of the horse’s body functioning as it should. For all these reasons our pond is on one end of our long, skinny (roughly 23 acres of) pastures and the best grass and/or hay placement is on the far other end. In the middle is the barn with the breezeway open on both ends, always available to the herd if they choose to use it.
None of the pasture areas have been fertilized in at least 9 years (chemical fertilizer is very bad for horses – read about the problems excessive potassium can cause). The pastures contain various mixed grasses (Bermuda, orchard, crab, unfortunately fescue, and miscellaneous other native grasses) with lots of weeds, brambles, berries, trees, etc. Much like they’d find in the wild. Many, many choices. And it’s been proven that given lots of choices the horse will always choose what he needs most at the moment. And he knows better than we do what that might be.
I’ve seen many (mostly flat) pastures here in middle Tennessee that appear to have been completely stripped so that one very rich kind of grass could be planted and fertilized like crazy to make it even richer. Thus full of potassium, sometimes a thousand times more than a horse ever needs. No weeds or brambles or trees. In other words no choices. If horses are hungry they ARE going to eat whatever’s available, even if it’s ultimately bad for them. If they have choices they’ll eat what’s good for them.
Another pattern that works against the horse is letting them out to graze for a limited number of hours then putting them back into a stall or a dry lot paddock. Studies show that this causes horses to gorge when they’re out, to eat constantly, and to especially ramp up the intake when it gets close to the time to go back in. They know these things. Then, once back in confinement, often they get no hay (horses should be munching small bits of grass forage at least 18 hours a day which should be available to them free-choice around the clock. The proper functioning of their gut requires it – listen to our Tele-Workshop on Diet and Nutrition by clicking the turquoise box in the column to the left). And all too often, not only do they not get free-choice hay, they get fed a couple of big grain-based-molasses-bound meals a day (which their tummies are not designed to handle) which substantially ups their sugar and/or non-structured carbohydrate intake (which turns to sugar once inside the horse). And, of course, none of this is replication of what the horse would be doing for himself were he or she in the wild.
Anyway… many thanks to all of you who have been asking for this report. We’re very happy to pass along that except for a few allergy issues from flora never before encountered (all of which have been handled) our little herd of six are all well, happy, healthy and their feet are terrific. Knock wood and praise God :) We’ll keep you posted as we approach the first year anniversary. – Joe
[…] a big advocate of barefoot horses, and this post on his blog will tell you a little bit about why: https://thesoulofahorse.com/blog/after-ten-months-of-record-setting-weather/#more-1058. I think you can find more if you poke around, or if you read his book, which I highly recommend […]
What a gorgeous foot! You sure must be doing thing right.
Funny – what an enormous change in climate & still the feet
look great. Actually dont ever remember seeing any that were that perfect. But then, it was trim & re-shoe every 6 weeks.
I did eventually pull the hind shoes on my horse – wish I had
the bare-foot info back then. We were just hearing about a 4 point trim.
Congratulations – all of you
Maggie
Same here…moved my horse around from dry paddock to grass, from inside to outside. It took a while to find the right situation. She has been out 24/7 for the past 3 years, has several acres on which to live like a horse, and hangs out with another horse and 4 goats. People thought I was crazy at first. NO blanket, no shoes, no stall—“what is she thinking!?”
My horse is the healthiest of all the horses around. Finally, barn managers started to take notice, and waddayaknow–they are keeping their horses out! It’s a start.
I am curious to know about the allergies you’ve encountered. One of the horses under my care has awful summer itch. I have added nutra-flax to his diet, moved him onto very small amount of low carb/senior feed, (he is on organic, no chemical grass all day). I bath him with oatmeal shampoo, and try to keep bugs at bay. Most of all, I try organic/holistic approaches. I’d love to hear what you’ve done.
Thanks…
Angela… mostly it’s been reaction to some plant or weed they’d never encountered (vet’s best guess) and we used a powdered anti-histamine on their morning Safe Starch and that has handled the situation well. We have two that never had a problem. The ticks assaulted like an army a few months back catching me totally off guard and several horses got infected whelps from them. Up in their arm-pits (leg pits?) where I never look. Ticks are gone now but while they were here we used EquiSpot (like Frontline for dogs). Didn’t like the idea of doing it but that “didn’t like” was overwhelmed by not liking what the ticks were doing to them. No ticks where we were in south California. Ticks are gone now so we’re shutting down the EquiSpot. Now it’s horse flies! – Joe
you guys r blessed xxxx
Hey guys! cashes foot looks gorgeous! touch wood, and the pics are so gorgeous, im glad the horses and u guys are doing so well out there, its the life i want and hopefully god willing will have! =D cash should be proud, the whole world will be able to see his model foot! and in one of the wettest areas in the world! right in the disbelievers face, if cash can do this y not other horses around the world who live in dry climates? unfortunately our tiny paddock is nothing compared to yours, but we have 9 hay piles and harry and diablo do move around to each one, and we put the water bucket in the other end so they can walk to get water, Chance is still not fit enough to defend himself or run away if the other horses get dominating, so hes stalled for now, our horses do get 2 hours of grass everyday, and we do ride them ( not in this heat!) 6 horses have died of heat stroke so far =( people just want to jump jump jump over here, and the horses cant take the humidity, so for now our horses are getting 2 hours of grass, then into the paddock for the night, and into the ac stable barn for the hottest parts of the day, i hope im doing the right thing and come winter i hope they will be out 24 7.
Thank you for keeping us updated, and i look forward to more pics! hows Noelle doing? hope the round pen is her home by now. ;)
Aisha xxxxx
Only one correction: poor hubby didn’t realize it’s now the middle of August, so the horses have adapted here for 11 months, not ten.
Ooops!! I guess time flies when you’re having fun. Now corrected, Sweetie.