Deshoeing and is it necessary to boot?
Yesterday, I spoke to the owner of a twelve year-old horse, shod for at least the past six years. She asked me particularly about the transition to barefoot (the conviction is there but the uncertainties about how and when remain…). I won’t go into all the implications of transition here – suffice to say that […]
Houston Police-horses 100% Barefoot
Nice article on the Soul of a Horse blog about the Houston Police Department’s horses. They are all unshod and, no, they were not specifically selected for their hardness of hoof… They all went through some kind of transition, some harder than others, but this is only to be expected since they suddenly have ground […]
Barefoot is Not Negotiable…
All horses’ hooves are healthier without shoes, and barefoot horses are healthier than shod horses. They live longer, happier, less painful lives. Barefoot is a requirement for health and should be accepted as a condition for keeping a horse. Humane management is not just preferable, it is nonnegotiable. The foot evolved to function unshod. Nature […]
Transhumance
It’s the last week before Christmas and once again I am spending the week in the Pyrenees in the company of seventy-plus horses and a smattering of people. We are taking the horses from their summer grounds, some 1800 metres up in the Pyrenees to their winter grounds some 1400 metres lower in the Aude. […]
Winter is here (on paper!)
So the winter has begun; well, according to the meteorological calendar, at least. Our weathermen mark the change of seasons on the first day of March, June, September and December – it makes it easier on the statistics than the infinitely variable 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd or 23rd of the month 😀 Our horses (were […]