So why should our horses go barefoot you ask?  It is far more healthy for the horse to go bare foot, the hoof is supposed to flex when impacted to the ground.  When the shoe is attached to the hoof there is no flexion to the hoof.  There's no good supply of blood flowing through the foot when contact to the ground with a shoe on.  The foot is basically a foot pump and is supposed to flex, so how can it with a shoe on?  It can't, it is robbing the horse of feeling the ground and is making the horse's foot flat and not adapting to the ground floor.  All of the foot should touch the ground, sole, bars, frog and hoofwall should take the horse's weight at some point during locomotion.  When contact to the ground is made it builds cavity to the sole pushing the coffin bone up so that there is a thick layer of sole protecting the coffin bone.  Barefoot is so much more than a good looking foot.  We look at their diet, the surroundings they live in, what are they doing, e.g. what are they riding on and what are they used for?  It also helps the horse move so much better through its gaits.  There is a great deal a bare foot trimmer can help you with. 

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This is Max, one of my client's horses.  He was not doing very good when we first saw him.  He was very lame on all four feet.  The farrier was trying to do his best with Max.  So when we got hold of Max, we took the shoes off.  He was so flat-footed, the lateral cartilages and digital cushion were like mush when we first checked the back of his feet because of no contact to the back of his feet.  We didn't get x-rays of Max's front feet, but he is doing well now.  You can see additional photos of Max's progress in my Photo Gallery. 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is Max's foot today after 6 months.  I think it is an improvement from before.  There still is a long way to get the right foot, but we are getting there now.  It could take up to another 2 growth cycles, which are approximately 9 months for each cycle from coronet to the ground.