The conversation about barefoot horses has gone on for years, it is one of those subjects which has many advocates as well many protesters.

I am in fact a true advocate in every since of the word. My opinion comes from knowing people that have experienced huge benefits to their horses and myself. My mare had no real problems when I bought her, but I wanted to see more of a concave hoof. Barefoot trimming gave me that and much more.

I want a horse to be as natural as possible. Being barefoot is part of the equation, along with treeless saddles, bitless bridles, the more comfortable a horse is the more natural they move.

I hear some of the most ridiculous reasons why someone, will not even try to have their horse trimmed by a barefoot trimmer. One lady I knew, insisted that her horse had such a thin hoof wall that it was not possible to not have a shoe. If she would have only realized that, that is exactly why she needed a barefoot trim.

A barefoot trim puts the horse down on his frog. The frog is the triangular pad in the middle and back of the hoof. This pad, when pressed against the grown by the weight of the horse pumps blood through the hoof and keeps the hoof healthy. Thin walls can be corrected using barefoot trimming. I know many people that have had navicular, and laminitis in their horses and the problem was corrected with the use of barefoot trimming.

I was once invited on a trail ride, the area where the ride was to take place, was extremely rough and rocky, a lot of up and down, I had about 5 different people tell me that I needed to have my horse shod, because she would be limping and it would make her very sore. Well we went with no shoes and my mare had no problems at all either during or after. All during the ride, different people kept looking at my horse, after the ride they all admitted they were wrong. Every show I went to, people would comment on how good her feet looked.

The thing that upsets ne is that so many people will ask their farriers if they know how to do a barefoot trim. Well of course, they are not wanting to loose a customer, so they almost always say, " sure I do, " when they do not have a clue. Barefoot trimming requires special training, so many people that shoe or trim think if they trim like they are going to put a shoe on and then just leave the horse with no shoe, that's it. WRONG!

There an entire association dedicated the barefoot trim, and a lot of research has been done to prefect this procedure.

There are horses that have bad problems due to genetics or some other inherent problem that makes barefoot not a option for them. However these horses are few and far between. If you type barefoot trimmers into Google you can find a trimmer in your area, hopefully. If you have a horse, I highly recommend you give this a try, you won't be sorry.

HAPPY RIDING & ENJOY YOUR HORSE!