On the note of camp, I did find some new trails that I really want to take Jazz out on now... hopefully in the future I can go and travel to the trails with him and have a really good trail ride because the views on some of them wear simply incredible.
Anyways, on to more serious stuff. I thought that today I should talk about horses with shoes and horses without shoes. Me personally... no shoes for the win! I don't like the fact that horses should have to have metal shoes on their feet. I absolutely cannot stand people who hot shoe a horse. Ugh! Why would you heat up the piece of metal and shove it on the horses sensitive foot in the first place? Thats like putting your fingernails into fire and leaving it there for a good minute or so. Even cold shoeing is stupid. I dislike both factors. Shoeing just causes problems for the horse, and the only time I believe a horse should have a shoe on its hoof is if it has problems with it such as Seedy Toe, Laminates or if it has a cracked hoof.
Jazz was only shoed when I first got him because the race tracks had rules that the horses needed to be shoed or they could not race. After a week or so we had the farrier out to trim and remove the shoes and they were so soft that he was basically tip toeing everywhere. He was most likely shoed since his training which was probably at age 2 or 3 and so his feet hadn't fully developed... poor baby.
We left his shoes off and let his feet grow stronger and harder... we also had to put some oil stuff on his feet to help (forgot what it was called) and it did the trick. The only other time he had shoes on was when he unfortunately got Seedy Toe on his back left leg due to a split that happened while I was on holiday and the 2011 floods where going on. He had his hoof flushed and then patched up then wore a horrible boot that he broke multiple times... Then after 4 weeks he had to be shoed to let the gap heal up completely (which took about 2-3 weeks). He wore that shoe for that period and then was off it for good. No need for those metal devils unless it is to help heal the foot from some sort of damage.
Shoes are just no good for horses. Their feet become soft, they cannot contract and move properly, they hurt, they cost far too much money then needed and they are just stupid. Horses should be happy and comfortable and not have to go through pain to do what their owner asks. Shoeing a horse can be expensive too and why waste money on doing something that may effect the horse in a negative way? For me to shoe Jazz is about $120 (which is extremely cheap considering I know someone who does it for $200+) where as to just get his feet trimmed and cleaned is about $50. Big difference and he is clearly more happy without the extra weight on his legs.
I know incidence where people leave the shoes on for too long and the horses hoof has grown bigger and the shoe has not fallen off yet or has lost nails but not all of them. That causes problems and the hoof cannot grow correctly and can even be painful for the horse. Some nails come out of the hoof but stay in the shoe and every time the horse walks the nail drives through the hoof again either going through the same hole making it bigger, or just hitting other parts of the hoof.
Moving onto flexibility... above is a gif that shoes the natural flexion of a horses foot. Yes that's right, the hoof flexes! Blood pumps around the hoof and circulates through it and blah blah blah. When the horse has a shoe on its foot, it stops the natural blood flow and causes problems, hence why the foot goes soft after a while. Metal shoes put stress on the horses hoof and strains it too.
The shoe does nothing but stop natural movement and flow and constricts the hoof. A horse can walk easily barefoot on pavement and it would cause less if not no damage to a horse who is shoed walking on pavement because it has the extra weight, not flexion and different pressure. The wall of the horses hoof can also become dead and painful due to the nails. Infection can also come from the nails if left in and they rust or whatever.
If a horse is needed to be shoed because "you can't go into a competition or out on a group hack without shoes" or whatever, then see if you or your farrier can get their hands on some plastic shoes. I don't use them however I have seen them and I read an article about endurance horses who use plastic shoes and glue them to the horses feet. They can easily be removed and help with natural flow and flexion and cause little to no damage to a horses hoof and its wall.
There are many different kinds of plastic shoes that are available. There are different coloured ones, different shaped ones and ones with more or less gripping and different types of plastic ones. The best part is, you can remove them after a couple of weeks (using a special glue remover) and reuse them if they are still in good condition. There are also shoes which can go around the hoof and use a little bit of glue on the surface area of the toe. Some can be expensive however most are cheaper than metal shoes and depending on the brand can be purchased from shops and placed on the hoof for the same price as a metal shoe. Some can even be down by the owner with instructions on how to do so.
So if you really need to shoe your horse, plastics are the way to go. No pain, no nails, reusable, never rust, comfortable, affordable and guess what... you can get them in pink.
I will still stick to no shoeing Jazz however if it comes to the time that I go to a show and have to have shoes on, then I will definitely be looking for some lime green plastics.
One last thing, I leave a question for you all... Is this really necessary?
Unhappy horse and stupid people who think they are cool and know best =-=
What are your thoughts on this article? Leave a comment below!
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