What is Merry Wearing on her Feet?

I keep Merry barefoot; it suits our lifestyle perfectly. The most important reason why? Her comfort – and the positive side effect is that she isn’t ripping shoes off with parts of her hoof wall.

Barefoot and No Going Back!

The more I learn about keeping Merry barefoot, the more it confirms it is the right decision for us. Merry is ever so slightly pigeon toed, when she was initially shod she would rip her shoes off and we eventually had more glue than hoof. This was the first reason that I realized shoeing Merry was not right for her.  Now she’s barefoot her feet look fantastic.

Merry has been barefoot for 99.9% of the time that I have owned her. When she arrived I had her shod.  Her feet were a bit of a mess and I automatically thought having her shod was the answer.  I was wrong, and unfortunately it made them worse – a lot worse.  My heart would sink when she would walk into the yard, minus a shoe and lots of hoof wall missing.

Looking Hard for the “Cons”…

Over time, I’ve learnt about the anatomy of the hoof, the pros of keeping her barefoot, (I’ve not found any cons I have to admit) and how the foot flexes and absorbs movement. When Merry is ridden regularly over the Summer, her feet condition nicely.  However, we continue to use our Cavallo Trek Boots because they offer Merry protection from any terrain or distance – and when we arrive home and untack – we can just take them off.  Her feet are checked and trimmed accordingly every 6 – 7 weeks to make sure they’re in good shape and to avoid any flares or cracks occurring – which has never happened.

Merry has hoof boots on all four feet to give her maximum protection whilst hacking, I take extra care of her feet because she has had Laminitis in the past (before I owned her) and we had White Line Separation to overcome when she arrived with us.

It’s About Comfort

I keep Merry as comfortable and natural as I possibly can. Keeping her barefoot is just one way of achieving that.  It works brilliantly for us, her feet have never looked so good and we don’t feed any supplements or use any ‘lotions or potions’.  It’s down to mother nature with a helping hand from our Cavallo Hoof Boots……… 

-Sarah Kirk, Blogger at Multiple Sclerosis, Merry & Me

Sarah is a blogger and lives in the UK.  To view her Facebook page, please click HERE!