Find a Stockist. Check Your Scoot Boot Fit. SHOP Boots. Trail Riding. Performance Riding. Barefoot Transitioning. About Us. Meet the Team. Your cart is empty. Hopefully , now you understand a little more clearly the difference between trimming for a shoe and trimming a barefoot hoof. Each is done a particular way for a reason and both are correct for their application. But, rarely are they interchangeable …kind of like ketchup and chocolate syrup.
Loren September 06, Thank you! Excellent piece of information. Paula July 31, Posted July 4, by trelawneequine in barefoot , Coverage in the media. Tagged: barefoot boot , barefoot hoofcare , barefoot horse , barefoot trimmer , boots , concussive forces , easyboot glove , hoofcare , horse care , horseshoes , laminitis , peripheral loading , riding.
This can be contentious, as opinions differ. Barefoot trimmer Angela Corner of Rockcrunchers Professional Barefoot Trimming Services says that essentially, a pasture trim tidies the hooves of a non-working horse at grass, while a natural or performance trim aims to produce hard-working hooves for ridden horses. Mike believes there should be no difference between the two trims. Bevelling the bottom edge of the wall to prevent chipping of the bare foot should be normal farriery practise.
Shoeing is necessary for the simple reason we wish to use these animal for purposes for which they were never intended i. Contact Trelawne Equine to locate your nearest stockist. Tel: , email: sales trelawneequine. This is all fascinating. How opinions have changed. Years ago I would never have considered using a horse without shoes on.
The thought of taking a horse across rough ground would have shocked me. I now find the thought of wearing a shoe, shocking. My little mare is 5 and has never had nor never will wear shoes. At that point, our only knowledge of hoof trimming was from observing the farrier's trim, this was before natural hoof care had become popular, and we were oblivious of the whole realm of specialist barefoot trimming.
So our early hoof trimming was very rudimentary, and certainly not regular enough either. We were also ignorant of the importance of the barefoot horse's diet, and in Scotland the combination of rich grass in summer, and extremely wet conditions in winter, certainly didn't do our horses' feet any favors. Due to the poor quality of hay available in Scotland's wet climate, we were often obliged to feed haylage not beneficial for the horse's gut and consequently feet , and we used hay-feeders, which meant that in the winter the horses spent the majority of their time standing still in wet ground - not good for healthy hoof stimulation.
We are still dealing with the consequences of this now with the horses we have who grew up in those conditions - although most of the hoof wall deformity has disappeared, many years later many of them still have weak frogs and digital cushions. Unfortunately, it would not be until many years later that we discovered Paddock Paradise as a solution for managing the barefoot horse diet and lifestyle. Since we constructed our own Paddock Paradise system here in France photo left it has revolutionized our horses lifestyle and diet.
When we first moved to France, to a much drier climate, our horses' hooves had to adjust, and at first we had a lot of cracking and breaking off of the hoof wall which was not used to the hard ground and dry conditions.
It was not long after this that we had our first exposure to specialist barefoot trims after attending a near-by clinic given by an Australian barefoot trimmer of some renown. Our First Experience of Barefoot Trims. This in-depth, specialist approach to hoof trimming was a real eye-opener for us at the time, and we were keen to apply his technique to our own horses. It so happened that this particular barefoot trim was based on a very mechanistic approach to the horse's hoof , probably explained by the engineering background of the barefoot expert in question.
It was an approach based on imposing certain predetermined geometrical principles on the hoof, which involved some quite severe removal of hoof wall photo right , as well as frog material. Like many barefoot trims, this technique advocated taking the distorted hoof right back to its 'correct' shape in the space of one trim, with no time for a gradual process of adjustment.
Our horses hooves at the time, even though they had been barefoot for some years, had a considerable amount of flaring and general distortion. Applying this particular method meant cutting the hoof wall right back into the white line, often up to the edge of the sole, thereby removing all weight-bearing support and protection normally provided by the hoof wall at ground level.
ALL flaring of the outside of the hoof wall was to be removed, which meant rasping considerable amounts of horn off, up to two thirds up the hoof wall. Paring of the frog to remove any material that was unhealthy or apparently extraneous was also part of this barefoot trim, and for our horses who's feet had suffered for years in wet conditions, this often meant extensive removal of the tissue of already weak frogs.
The difference in appearance that this new hoof trimming technique made to our horses' hooves was striking - suddenly they looked perfectly shaped, neat, smooth and regular. But what we had not realized was that we were artificially imposing an appearance of health onto our horses hooves from the outside, when this health can only genuinely come from the inside.
The price we payed for this was that our horses were becoming more and more sensitive in their feet, and this was actually inhibiting any real improvement in the hoof structure. Hooves need stimulation above all to become healthy structurally, but stimulation goes hand-in-hand with comfort if you've ever had, for example, sensitive teeth, or a bad headache you'll know that the last thing you want to do is stimulate the area of discomfort in any way. Due to this aggressive barefoot trim, our horses' feet were far from comfortable at this point.
The barefoot expert who's method we were following at this point, on top of the invasive trim, also advised working horses barefoot on a hard surface, such as tarmac, in order to 'toughen them up'. He even recommended cantering on the road as much as possible. Not knowing better, we tried to follow his advice, but the horses became more and more resistant to going on hard surfaces, always seeking out the grass verges.
Although it took some time for us to become fully aware of it, our horses were actually holding themselves increasingly stiffly in response to the discomfort of their feet.
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