Introduction to barefoot - Thoughts and clinical cases
I could talk for hours about the benefits of keeping your horse barefoot and the problems brought by horseshoes (and some of my friends will confirm!). This article serves as an introduction for the "podiatry" section that I develop from there.
Barefoot hasn't always been an evidence for me, although somehow I never quite understood shoeing either. For the French exams equivalent to the BHS in England and Ireland, I remember very well learning about the internal structure of the hooves, especially the role of the frog, of the digital cushion and of the lateral cartilages. I remember reading about how the hoof needs to expand in contact with the ground in order to absorb shocks, or that the frog needs to touch the ground. And I remember asking myself: how a piece of metal can possibly help this mechanism?
But I didn't look any harder or tried to understand - everybody was telling me that it was better for the horse and that was enough for me. Then, I started Equine Science, and horseshoeing was one of the subjects covered. The more I understood the function of a horse, of its hooves and its evolution, the more I was asking myself what a shoe could possibly do to help. I then started an extensive search on barefoot horses and I finally understood what I was missing all these years: shoes only bring problems to the horse and comfort to the owner.
When I bought Willow, he was unbroken and barely touched, and therefore never shod. For a long time I didn't know what to do (and I didn't really know what a healthy bare hoof looked like) and therefore left the farrier do his job. But one day, I was there during the trim, and I saw the scared look of Willow's eyes, he even ended up rearing in front of me. I then understood something: this farrier wasn't doing him any good, when really a trim should be something normal, if not a relief! I therefore started my own research and started trimming myself.
From then, I started on a long road that taught me so many things, and there is a long way ahead. You need to know that "barefoot" isn't just about taking the shoes off, it's an entire way of thinking. Barefoot is about the livery you chose, the feed you give, the way you train your horse... Barefoot is a real state of mind, a guide towards keeping your horse healthy.
During my work experience in a vet clinic last year, I was confronted to the reality of horseshoeing, especially bad shoeing that can be done by farriers that were not correctly trained, as you can see quite often in Ireland. Indeed, around 90% of the horses that came to the clinic for lameness were diagnosed with feet related problems (and usually horses that come for lameness are sport horses that are shod). Feed for thoughts.
I show you here two clinical cases, where shoes are either used to hide the true problem by treating only the symptoms and not the cause, or are the actual cause to the lameness.
Patient: mare Problem: very acute laminitis
She gave birth to her foal about a month previously. She couldn't feed him properly as she spent most of her time lying down. The mare was in a very bad state, really thin, a real skeleton. The foal was given to a surrogate.
Treatment used: putting a shoe upside down, with the rounded toe part under the heels and the opened heels part at the toe.
Laminitis, or founder, is very complex and it can be hard to know its true cause. Something is sure: the laminae is no longer able to sustain the pressure and P3, the bone within the hoof, is not held properly. In this case, P3 was foundering the sole. The reasoning behind the shoe is that the pressure une P3 is taken off and the feet is supported at the heels. And that is exactly what a barefoot trimmer would do as well, but the method to get to that is obviously not the same.
Personally, I think there is a mistake when you think that an upside down shoe actually helps supporting p3. Indeed, in this case, it is only left with nothing for support, as the opening of the shoe at the toe may relief pain but will just leave P3 in the void. If you look at the picture on the right, you can see that the hoof changed colour from its normal white to a strange brownish at the toe (indicated by the red arrow). This change of colour wasn't there before the shoes were put on. That change of colour indicates that this part of the hoof is dying, as it lacks stimulation. So now explain to me how P3 can be supported if you have dead horn under it.
This second picture on the left shows the upside down shoe from the solar view. You can't really see on the picture, but the sole is in reality kind of detached in a manner that makes the frog look like it's "dug" into the hoof. Moreover, the heels are extremely contracted held into that position. Shock absorption and blood flow are the two most important elements when it comes to healing laminitis, but in the case, the hoof is unable to move and blood flow is restricted, thus preventing the proper healing of the laminae (which is extremely irrigated in blood). And now we can only hope that a piece of metal is going help...
Finally, this last photo on the right shows one of the hind hooves. We can see that they are in an extremely bad shape: the sole is dead and pilling off with the simple contact of a hoofpick, the frog may seem developed but it is extremely soft and deeply attacked by thrush. With hooves so deeply attacked by fungi and bacteria, no wonder that they weren't able to support a pregnant mare.
As I explained earlier, barefoot is an entire way of thinking, we prevent rather than heal, and if we have to heal, we deal with the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms. When you see the state of that mare, so thin, and of those hind hooves, so dead, of course that can only lead to problems, especially for a pregnant mare that will give all her energy and nutrients to the growing foetus and milk production. What she lacks in her body, she lacks in her feet, and the weight of the baby was simply too much for these hooves. Knowing naturally about 60% of the weight is on the front hooves, only the front hooves foundered. The shoes will not help that mare that had lost the will to live. Of course the vets will try to help her with that, but not the owner that got her in that state in the first place. And if you think that founder is a hoof problem, then you only treat the hoof and forget about the rest of the horse.
Second case: 10yo sport horse Why he came to the clinic: forelimb lameness Diagnostic after X-rays: arthritis of the coffin joint (that you can't see in the following picture) and side bones (when the lateral cartilages are transformed to bone, which is pointed by a red circle on the following picture).
The lateral cartilages are one of the internal parts of the hoof which function is quite complex. It is linked to the digital cushion and stimulated when the hoof hits the ground through the expansion of the digital cushion and of the hoof capsule, both things that are prevented by the shoes.
Well stimulated, the lateral cartilages are full of blood vessels and fed through them, but without proper blood flow, the cartilages start to change into bones.
A barefoot horse that is treated holistically with the "barefoot way of life" all its life simply cannot have that problem. And don't think it's all about taking the shoes off. Movement and trim are key to this problem, therefore a horse that is badly trimmed or not allowed to move sufficiently may also develop this problem, it's not all about the shoes, although the shoe only makes things worst (this horse is only 10!).
Sidebone is a manmade disease. And once it's started, nothing can stop it. You can slow it down, but the cartilages will become bones eventually. Which gives a lame horse that can't move properly and suffers. Feed for thoughts.
