One of the most questionable practices within the equine industry is whether horses should be shod or go barefoot. Traditionally experts always said that the competition horse must wear shoes to prevent the risk of injury due to concussion of the hoove with a hard or uneven terrain, rider’s weight, confinement or merely horses’ conformation among the intensive training schedules and the use of high sugared feed in horse’s management.
The real question then should be, if the horse naturally does not wear shoes, why do we as a different species decide to put on them?
The physical science behind states that shoes are proven to change the forces applied directly to the hoof resulting in increased comfort for the horse, and the location and distribution of this force can be modified in order to enhance an improved functionality in the biomechanics of the hoof and it might offer protection from foot injuries. Furthermore, therapeutic shoes are used in order to relieve stresses in ligaments and tendons, protect the damaged areas while healing and treating heel pain.
On the other hand, the barefoot trend is getting more and more fame over the years among equestrian experts and the explanation is very simple, a horse was not born with shoes on.
Horses’ feet have evolved to function perfectly unshod, are designed for grip and slide in all kinds of conditions and to provide shock absorption.
When the hoof is shod, the entire structure cannot expand and contract naturally with movement, the blood supply circulation is compromised in the lower area of the limbs and pastern, fetlock, cannon, and knee are placed at risk. Consequently, mechanical structures in the horse such as bone, joint, and soft tissue are exposed to injury. Moreover, many cases showed that the first requirement of treatment is shoe removal in order to allow the injury to heal. Common conditions such as navicular disease and laminitis are related to be caused by shoeing.
Additionally, hooves have the innate ability to adapt over time, changing and improving by their living conditions. When wearing a shoe, normal adaptation is artificially altered resulting in an increase impact intensity in the hoof when concussion-dampening effect on the lower limb occurs, less heel expansion by the elevation of the hoof off the ground provoking greater wear on the hoof’s wall, and interferences in shock absorption caused by the heel movement restrictions. All these factors can potentially change hoof conformation over time.
While still nowadays there is no right or wrong in making the decision of shoeing a horse, there are many factors that try objectively to help when considering a horse to become a barefoot candidate. Some of them already mentioned before are workload, surface, and hoof conformation but also it should be considered genetics, condition and health of the structures of the hoof capsule.
Therefore, in order to understand if a particular horse needs to wear shoes or not, it is imperative that we are familiar with the entire function of the hoof when it touches the ground, and with the positive and negative consequences of one practice to the other.
In the case of shoeing, apart from the fact that is more expensive than trimming a hoof, the risks involved include a misplaced or hot nail causing pain and potentially an abscess, if the shoe is pull off accidentally it might break up the hoof wall, strain a tendon or step onto a clip which it will cause damage and pain even in internal structures, such as the coffin bone.
If making the decision to go barefoot, it is important to point out that, although it is the most natural way for the horse, genetics and conformation on the horse do not evolve and adapt naturally because of human management and intervention. The natural rule of only the fittest will survive in the wild cannot be applied to the domestic horse so, in some particular cases, shoeing might be the tool for additional support, protection, and even correct some conformation faults to prevent lameness.
If after have done enough research we found our horse as a good candidate to be barefoot, there are a few things to keep in mind and make the transition as good as possible:
