I love the feed back I get from blogging! All the photos in this post are found on bing... however I could not find the source to give credit! Please know these are NOT mine do not associate them with my name... I did not take them, own them, only found them in search.    They are also NOT of my horse but used as examples for discussion.

Why?
Because this gives me a way to share information I have collected over years of having or being around horses.  And having learned from some great people... I think we should all pass on what we have, but again... we all have to keep an open mind, not take ANY ONE PERSON as a source or mistaken anyone for a VET when they are not... and I AM NOT A VET! I just do a lot of research...

Sunday Morning the cotton was nice, dry, and still mostly clean!   Life is good!

 

PLEASE NOTE ... I got this photo from... bing photos and could not find the source...

below is the diagram info...

I also found another I like MUCH MORE;  Another Barefoot BUT more concavity that I like in a horse! It is posted down further below...

I could NOT find the information on this one... but you can match from above...

I like this foot below a lot more as it has more of a natural curve (concavity)  in the bottom of the hoof, something I strive for in each of my horses. 

I did however get a comment from a barefoot lover who said I was doing my horse a dis-service by having shoes on him, him having no bar in the foot, and a shoe that was too tight!   Again ... I so appreciate all this!      Because ...     when in fact ... I have only recently put shoes back on this little boy! And the infection is the result of not having shoes that caused him to walk more on the soft tissues of the foot, the toe to grow beyond LONG and the fact he is still getting over an abscess that started just between the bar and the frog growing into the heal...

So yes I can see what was trying to be said, what we has horse people / and humans in general don't do is think about what else could have been going on. 

1.    I try to take the shoes off my horses every winter.  I have however decided NOT to do so for WR Prince Navarre this year as it has taken me 8 months to get his feet back in order AND then the abscess came about and I am still dealing with it! BUT my mare will go without shoes as soon as our wet season sets in...    I love a barefoot horse as well!      No big deal... but his weight, his angles and his feet never fair well when he doesn't have shoes.  I will however take all four off my little girl who is much more suited to barefoot although is a breed that rarely fairs as well as she.  I have to say she has the best feet for a Saddle bred that I have ever seen!

SO... Bars (on the closest picture above are #7) are cut down when the hoof is trimmed and cut more to the concavity of the foot, as the concavity supports the coffin bone, hoof wall, etc... remember a curve/ circle or arch has more tensile strength than a flat board/ square etc...  Normally we only trim the bars down not out like we did this time!(the abscess was on the edge of the bar; more like the collateral groove)...   Bars and Frog support and create the suspension of the foot.  So the bar is like that extra set of wheels tucked up on a dump truck... till he has a really heavy load, otherwise the frog and wall support the normal load.  

If I don't use shoes my little boy gets a very flared hoof with a long toe leaning back on his bulbs... This one foot with the abscess did exactly that.  Normally I keep a carbon fiber and resin poured in Navarre's front feet due to his weight and likely hood of foundering at any given time.  He gets visual veins in his hooves if he is not supported. (founders easily)  He is not a great horse to have as far as his... muscles, diet or feet so most I do is VERY preventative... otherwise he would need to be put down.

Navarre is a different case... so lets not judge all my decisions on one side of the issues!

Like I said... everyone has to make decisions about their kids based on their own information.  the point it to always be open to new things... I've tried barefoot... and I love barefoot... it just doesn't work for mine or my horses lifestyles right now, maybe later!

like a said an open mind is the key to children and animals...
Good luck everyone..
My love to the world...
AegF