[western walking horse]

i have been informed by a great horse trainer that it is bad for horses to wear shoes

explanation
a horse only has tendons and bone and i think he said artereis so to get blodd to the foot when ever it touches the ground it spread pumping the blood into it and when it lifts it back up the blood goes out so its like a secondary heart(<--- example) so when you put on shoes it stops the horses hoof from spreading making it hard for blood to get to it causing feet problems

how the shoe came about
same source told me this
a great king had many great horses he had the best horse of everyone and he decided that they should live inside minihouse or stalls so when he did this he kept them in the stalls ,for long periods of time which isnt right in the first place, and they were not cleaned out often and whenever they went to work they would fal out and have feet problems so he restarted his collection with the peasants horse and the same thing happened. he came to a conclusion to get the horse shoes hence the horse shoe


so is this a logical explanation what do you think feed back please

 

[White Foot]

It all depends on the horse and opinion. I prefer an unshod horse because the more natural the better. But then again I've seen horses with problems due to it's feet and once they got shoes it made the world of a difference.

 

[riccil0ve]

Shoes are definitely not "bad." Don't get me wrong. If I could leave Ricci barefoot, I would. But her feet are super tender. I've been trying to harden her hooves for the last two years with a hoof supplement and she gets ample time barefoot, about 4 to 6 months over the winter. She is better about going on the roads and trails, doesn't limp along as much, but I'm still not sure I want her barefoot, because if you could see how much we wear her shoes down, I can't imagine doing that to her hooves. Even when we just ride in the sandy, dirt pasture the whole time, we wear those shoes so much you can almost snap it in half when they get pulled off. Shoes have their benefits, and so does barefoot trimming. Each horse has different needs, and it's unfair to say that ALL horses should be barefoot. It's like saying ALL horses should be fed alfalfa hay as opposed to orchard.

 

[kevinshorses]

A properly shod hoof will flex. A horses heart is what pumps blood through the hoof not the flexing of the hoof.

 

[RiosDad]

the foot when ever it touches the ground it spread pumping the blood into it and when it lifts it back up the blood goes out so its like a secondary heart

I think you have that bass ackwards. When the foot touches the crown it compresses the digital custion forcing the blood OUT of the foot and back up the leg. The leg has a series of check valves, one way valves that blood can only flow UP the leg. When the horse steps down like sceezing a sponge blood is forced OUT of the foot and up the leg.
When the horse lifts his foot fresh blood rushes into the sponge, not the stuff pumped out because of the one way valve, fresh blood like recharging a sponge.
This cycle continually repeats inself.
Foot down, plump pushed out, foot up fresh blood drawn into the foot.
A shod foot still flexes. You don't nail behind the widest part of the hoof allowing the rear of the foot to open and close , cycle with each foot fall.
If you don't thing a foot moves on the shoe just look at the grooves worn in an old shoe.

 

[RiosDad]

A properly shod hoof will flex. A horses heart is what pumps blood through the hoof not the flexing of the hoof.

Kevin the heart can NOT pump blood out of the hoof. It is the action of expansion and contraction along with the check valves in the leg that actually pumps the blood.
A horse by some is considered to have 5 hearts

 

[RiosDad]

Looks like some barefooter has thier own web site to speak up against shoes
Why Barefoot?

 

[ScharmLily]

My opinion on shoes is to avoid them if you don't need them, but if they're necessary I have no issue putting them on. Right now I have 2 arabs that are both barefoot, but I used to have a tb that needed shoes to be sound. You do what you need to do for the good of the horse...there is no black and white rule. I also use Old Mac boots on my two barefoot horses if I am going to be riding for a long time over really rough terrain and I think that this is a good compromise that keeps everyone happy. The horses are kept natural most of the time, but they are given a little extra protection when they need it.

 

[UnrealJumper]

I guess it depends, I mean if your horse has very soft feet you may need a shoe because walking on harder surfaces will give them sore feet. If you do a lot of road riding and you do not have shoes on it wears down the back of the hoof then you cannot put shoes on because there is not enough hoof!

It all depends i guess?