One Good Reason
Sometimes I think I’m really stupid. Like back when I thought that metal shoes nailed to a horse’s hoof seemed to be the right thing to do. I didn’t question it. In fact, I wanted to know why Cash came to us with only shoes on his fronts, none on his backs, when everyone was saying a horse’s hoof would disintegrate without the protection of a metal shoe. That’s precisely what I was told. Enough said. And I didn’t question it. That’s what makes me feel so stupid. I didn’t question it. At least at the moment.
Then one day I read that a horse’s hoof is supposed to flex. And that flexing has a purpose. It circulates blood, which promotes a healthy foot, and provides a hydraulic type of shock absorption for the joints, ligaments, and tendons of the leg. And it helps the heart pump blood back up that long leg. The ramifications of shutting down that flexing by nailing a shoe on the hoof are huge and onerous (see Why Our Horses Are Barefoot). The horse has survived for millions of years quite well without shoes, and being a prey animal, a flight animal, his hoof is about the most important thing he has for survival. Suffice to say all of our horses are now barefoot with rock crushing feet, good to go on any surface. We are doing well by our horses.
Take two.
I received a note from Sheila Thompson in the UK praising our website… then asking me if I had tried a bitless bridle. Here I go again feeling stupid. I am professing to care about our horses, how they feel, what is best for them, and yet I never blinked at placing a piece of metal across a bone in their mouths (call it “bars” if you want to. It’s bone. With lots of nerve endings.) and leaving it there for hours on in, never mind how light I thought I was with the reins. I had simply never thought about it. Read More→
