Posted by Patty Stiller on July 12, 2003 at 13:52:18:
In Reply to: Re: Eggbars Vs. Backwards shoe? posted by Anne (Tree) Coley on July 11, 2003 at 19:11:37:
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: I get more than you give me credit for. I have heard of a farrier school teaching its students that barefoot horses are a danger to ride. I don't believe that either.
Neither does the vast majority of the farrier community. That particular farrier organization is sometimes ridiculed by the rest of the farrietr world.
I don't believe that shod horses are a danger to ride either....I'm still here. I rode shod horses for many years but now they are barefoot. I do find their feet to be much more healthier in addition to their general health as well.
And most good farriers recommend to barefoot them whenever and wherever practical for the horse and the owner and the husbandry situation,so there IS a good muddle ground in my mind. I see however too many horses who sufered permenant damage because they were barefooted at the wrong time, or in a too zealous manner.
Just yesterday I saw the a horse who was diagnosed a year ago with severe navicular lesions (history of bad shoeing). The owner, convinced that all shoes were bad, had a trimer come in and barefootthe horse. The horse was maintained to Strasser recommendations by a Strasser trimmer. The horse got worse and worse, and NOW has almost NO visible navicular bone on radiographs. Rads were SO bad now that the vet took several over again, varying the exposures to be sure. Navicular bone basically Gone. Kapoot.
And this is not the first horse I have seen who;s bones were ruined in an honest attempt to "fix" shoeing problems by removing shoes completely or by forcing an individual foot into a form it simply should not ever achieve given the individual conformation or the sitution. There is one set of 'before and after' Xrays on the naturalhooftrim site who's coffin bones are wrecked due to developing pedal osteitis after two years of Strasser trimming. The unfortunate thing is the horse was sound before the trimming commenced, but is now not, and will have to live with damaged bones forever.
Those type cases (failures)are why I feel the way I do about anyone condemning shoes per se.Perhaps you may understand and accept that sometimes shoes are necessary or can be applied correctly and not cause problems, but the general 'feel' of your posts and especially those of most trimmers does not reflect that.
In my experience, it is not shoes, but HOW the horse is shod that makes the difference.
So back to the initial thread, any type shoe,(egg bar, backward shoe or whatever) or barefoot, can be either a benefit or a detriment depending on whether the application was appropriate for that particular situation, and if it was applied *correctly*. To blame shoes OR barefoot per se is just not right. Patty