Ask The Farrier...

     I've never been a horseshoe salesman. If a horse can do everything its master wants of it without shoes, terrific! And a lot of horses can.

     What gets me are the militant Barefoot Uber Alles... Folks who aren't happy just to enjoy their barefoot horses, but find the need to attack the concept of horseshoeing and evangelize to the horse-owning masses about the ONE TRUE PATH to equine wellness...

     One can only deduce that these people have had experience with incompetent horseshoers in the past (by definition, if their horses were suffering due to their shoes, the horseshoers were incompetent). Now, rather than admit that they hired the most convenient and/or cheapest horseshoer available and got what they paid for, the BUA want to indict the entire profession of farriery.

     The truth is that a lot of horses who are shod could do just fine barefoot. I've spent a lot more time trying to convince owners to let their horses go barefoot than I've spent talking them into shoes over the years. Not because shoes are bad for the horses... Just because they aren't needed. And trimming horses is faster and easier for me than shoeing. (And, contrary to what BUA say about farriers, I do not put a flat shoe-style trim on horses who are to be left barefoot. Many of us had become aware of the benefits of rolling up the toe and quarters on barefoot horses even before Gene Ovnicek, RMF figured out the more in-depth mechanics of the Natural Balance / Four-Point approach.)

     On the other hand, shoes can be a great benefit to a lot of horses. After all, our horses aren't mustangs living on the open range. Their purpose isn't to be "natural". It is to carry or pull loads in their masters' service. They are bred and kept to facilitate this purpose, which sometimes may not make them good candidates for "all-natural" hoof care.

     Horsemen should ride and drive there horses where they like, as often as they like. If you can do that barefoot, more power to you! But, if you're having to opt-out of the rocky trails or get left behind strapping-on EasyBoots while everyone else gallops happily down the road, you're just cheating yourself out of enjoyment of your horses... Further, you're cheating your horses out of usefulness. And a horse that has lost its usefulness is too often on the path to being abandoned in an old cow pasture or fitted for a dog food can.