RIDING ON ROCKY GROUND

QUESTION: 

Dear Dr. Teskey: 

I have read with interest your paper on the barefoot horse program. I have been following most of what you recommend just because that is the way horses seem to be happiest. You will be gratified to know that all three of my horses are barefoot. One is seven and has never had shoes. She and her mother, a mustang, have rock-hard black feet so are not in need of "protection" at any time. All of these beasts now live together on our 40 acre, desert, rocky creek-bottomed land so get plenty of the natural environment you recommend. 

I follow your arguments and have learned alot. Many thanks. My question is about how an adult who might weigh between 150 and 200 lbs. or more plus a saddle can ride a horse without out doing serious harm to the horse's feet when they are ridden in the rocks? Are there boots which one should use for this purpose? 

Many thanks for your hard work on bringing folks around on this. The big issue is keeping horses in individual stalls and not letting them out together to romp around as they are wont to do being horses. People just don't seem to want to let horses be horses! 

Sincerely, 

B. 


DR. TOM'S ANSWER:

Hi B., 

Thanks for the email and information on your healthy horses! That's pretty neat how well they are doing for you. On your question of weight...I think a thousand pound adult horse can handle 200 to 250 pounds if conditioned properly...no problem. We're beginning to understand that "adult" means getting towards four years old for most horses. Heavily weighting two year old horses is turning out to be quite damaging, as their back bones are not developed enough at this young age. With the feet, it's important to keep them tidy, rounded, no flares, no bar pressure...all in all what I would call a high performance barefoot trim. More weight means you need to keep the horses that much more fit, and that goes for their feet as well. Our domestic horses' feet can OUTPERFORM feral horses feet if we keep them groomed correctly and condition them. The horses are athletes and can be conditioned to excel beyond what nature would normally demand of them...especially with fewer predators to chase wild horses these days. Even with conditioning, I often use boots in the sharp, rocky areas, as I figure it only takes one mis-step or stumble or trip and my horse could badly bruise...999 times out of a 1000 he won't take a bad step, and lots of times I just go slow, but there are some trails I work that are pretty awful...so I slip the front boots on him until we're through it. There's a picture of one of my geldings on www.wayofthehoof.com showing the rocky trail. 

Keep up your good example of horsemanship...nice to email with you, 

Dr. TT