During my Equine Bowen Therapy training in 2004, I did some research work on Navicular disease for one of my assignments. By the time I had completed the assignment, I had convinced myself that the only way to deal with the root cause was to get the feet back to a correct natural state as quickly as possible and to work with the horse to re-establish the correct natural function of the hoof mechanism.
When a horse jumps over a fence*, it lands with about 2.6 times the combined weight of horse and rider on the first foot that hits the ground. Furthermore, the structures of the foot which provide the best shock absorption capabilities are the digital cushion and lateral cartilages. These structures only function correctly if the are stimulated which is not the case in most shod horses.
All of this information made me decide that if I wanted to event long term and have a sound horse I should be eventing barefoot.
In 2008, I completed my first season eventing barefoot. Rolo started her season competing at intro level. By the end of the season she was competing successfully at Pre-Novice. In 2009 we will be competing at Novice level and beyond. Rolo has done a great job competing in all conditions on all different ground conditions. This include snow at Larkhill in April !, and very wet muddy conditions at Pulborough in October. Having started the season quite tentatively, I am now convinced that eventing barefoot is easily achievable and I’m looking towards a long and sound eventing career for Rolo in the future.
The pictures show Rolo’s feet at the end of the season. I think they look great. I hope you agree.
Seven years on from my initial decision, I now have six horses with feet in various shapes and sizes. They are all barefoot and coping well. |
