Skip To Content

My horse just can’t go barefoot…

Dr. Thomas Teskey’s opinion on if all horses can go barefoot from – Breaking Traditions: A Veterinary Medical and Ethical Perspective On the Modern Day Usage of Steel Horseshoes

Some owners believe their particular horse, or perhaps some breeds of horses, are intolerant of being barefoot. No doubt, these people have had experiences with horses that get sore feet or whose feet deteriorate whenever they are allowed to go barefoot. What is likely the case here is that these owners are seeing horses whose feet are weak, chip easily, are always bruised and lame because they have a history of having been shod, improperly trimmed for a long time, or disallowed adequate movement on appropriate terrain from the day they were born. It isn’t being barefoot that these horses are intolerant of–rather it is an intolerance to being shod, improperly trimmed and/or inappropriately managed. The further claim that the “horses have had the hooves bred right off of them” is also an excuse that certain ones need steel shoes to do their “jobs”…in actuality, it is the mismanagement of horses from the moment of their birth, and even before birth, that sentences them to a life of mediocre hoof and leg quality.

Previous Twenty Horsey Things to Do Before You Die Next You and Your Horse – A Sensory Relationship – Touch