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Equine Podiatry (Continued) ~ So Why Did I Choose No Shoes?
Despite the services of several highly recommended farriers I noticed a gradual deterioration in my horse's feet over the years, which showed no signs of improvement despite all our best efforts. As a result I undertook to discover exactly how the foot works, spending 18 months studying under the tutelage of KC La Pierre and also independently researching the work of other hoof care specialists, both farriers and trimmers alike. This decision to go "shoeless" is not one I have taken lightly, nor is it simply a whim.
Even without the long-term goal of my horse always being shoeless, I personally feel a period without shoes is essential for the health of the shod hoof. This is not a new idea, in the past when horses were truly workhorses, it was recognised that they benefited from a break from shoeing. As shoes compromise the true function of each foot structure and the composite whole, I believe it to be detrimental to the welfare of the horse for him to be shod for his entire working life.
Essentially, traditional hoof care professes to protect and support the foot of the horse from wear and tear, impact shock and associated trauma, whereas in reality its artificial nature causes long term damage to the foot and the bony column and related soft tissue structures to which it is attached. Man's interference has disrupted the natural equilibrium of the foot, and our attempts to restore the balance through remedial practices only mask the underlying problem we have created.
Shoeing can cause long term damage to the foot by providing an artifical metal environment. The whole foot plays a part in both storing & releasing kinetic energy, and it effectively deals with impact shock and dissipates excessive energy. The hoof wall is particularly badly affected by metal shoes. The outer wall is only supposed to be a protective layer and shouldn't act solely as upward support for the foot. By placing a metal shoe directly on it, it receives a huge amount of pressure stimulus through impact shock energy which causes it to grow far too fast. This shock energy is dissipated by the buffer of the inner wall in the unshod hoof but in the shod hoof shoots straight up the outer wall and then the limb itself. Concussion is generally four times greater in the shod hoof. Because the inner wall can't keep up with the growth rate of the outer wall, growth rings appear around the hoof capsule. The fast growth of the outer wall often means it also grows too thin, making it brittle and resulting in cracks. A good analogy is imagining ceramic floor tiles laid down over very thin cushioning. Inevitably they'll split and break. This is exactly what happens to the outer wall if the inner wall (its buffer/cushion) is undeveloped due to lack of correct stimulus. There is often mechanical flare too, from the distal border of the coffin bone downwards, when the hoof wall on a shod horse becomes overgrown and the wall bends outwards as it has nowhere else to go. In unshod horses this excessive growth naturally chips off, provided of course they have plenty of daily movement over hard or abrasive surfaces.
During stride impact the bars are designed to force the lateral cartilages upwards and outwards, which instantly creates negative pressure on the digital cushion by creating more space so that it can expand. This expansion forces blood through every available outlet in the cartilages, bone and entire vascular network within the foot (Dr Robert Bowker 1998). Wearing metal shoes long term means that the heels often become underrun. The angle of the bars are then no longer where they should be, with a resulting decrease in correctly placed pressure stimulus to the lateral cartilages. They become atrophied due to this lack of pressure and blood supply nutrition. They can also be crushed by contracted heels or too high heels. Finally, because the lateral cartilages cannot move as they were designed to, restricted by the iron band of a horseshoe, they absorb an awful lot of shock which is not dissipated. Chronic repeated concussion will cause them to thicken and harden, which will ultimately cause them to calcify and become sidebone.
How many people consider the health of their horse's lateral cartilages, or even know where they are? Yet they are a vitally important structure within the horse's foot. So few realise that EVERY structure is as essential as the next, and all part of the composite whole.
Impact shock is not the bad thing that most people envisage, as the ensuing pressure both nourishes the foot and provides growth stimulus, but if its not allowed to be dealt with as nature intended then the results quickly turn from positive to negative. The foot MUST be trimmed and balanced correctly, and kept free of disease to ensure that all of its structures remain healthy and in perfect equilibrium. Only then can they support each other without loss of either individual or overall integrity.
Page 1 ~ Equine Podiatry | About the Services Offered
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