Barefoot Bliss, LLC

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"Knowledge is power and for each level of knowledge, you are held responsible for how you use it."   Gary Zukav

Facts about Horseshoes and Bare Feet

Fact: From the 2006 Kentucky Derby favorite, Brother Derek, who trained barefoot, to the 30+ horses 'employed' by the Houston Mounted Police, more and more high performance horses are being given the chance to show how much better they can excel if allowed to go barefoot.

Fact: With every step it takes, a horse's hoof is supposed to flex. 

Fact: Hoof flexion provides shock absorption for the joints, tendons and ligaments, acts as a circulatory pump for hundreds of blood vessels in the hoof as well as pumping blood into the heart and helps the heart get the blood flowing back into the leg. But....

Fact: With an iron shoe nailed to a hoof, there can be no flexion and blood circulation is dramatically reduced.

Fact: Without flexion, the hoof simply cannot be healthy: the hoof mechanism is impeded and causes the heart to work harder, shock absorption is eliminated and there is reduced sensitivity or feel under its feet. 

Fact: Horses can appear to feel better wearing shoes because when the blood circulation is cut off and there is no flexing, the nerve endings go to sleep.  The reason many horses appear to be sensitive or 'ouchy' when the shoes are removed is simply that the hoof begins to experience sensation again when blood circulation is allowed.  It is no different from having your foot go to sleep and tingle as it 'wakes up.'

Fact: Even Emil Carre, a two-term president of the American Farriers Association, said, "The horse's foot was designed to be unshod.  Anything that you add to the foot, like a horseshoe that is nailed on, is going to interfere with the foot's natural process.  Most horseshoes have six to eight nails, possibly three clips, all of which constrict the foot's ability to expand and contract.  Add pads, packing and an number of alternatives to the shoe and you create a gait alteration.  It all interferes with the natural process of mechanism."

Fact: Naturally trimmed bare hooves actually have better traction than shod hooves because they develop concavity and strength that will rival any  shoe.  A (traditional) flat pasture trim has little or no traction and tends to cause the hoof wall to split and chip.

Fact: Less than five percent of horses in the wild have any kind of lameness and only 10 percent of domestic horses in the world have no lameness. 

Fact: There is more to high performance barefootedness than just the way the hoof is trimmed.  Environment and diet play as large a part in the success of your barefoot horse as the type of trim. 

It all makes you scratch your head a bit, doesn't it?

"Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your Bliss.  Nothing is as rich.  Nothing is more real."  Deepak Chopra

Barefoot Bliss is about a new life and new (ad)ventures, horses, creativity, artwork, a state of mind and a few other projects and/or topics I hope to share over time.  It is also a company created to symbolize a philosophical approach to life where it is just much too serious to be taken all that seriously.  Someday, it will be the production company that creates a particular documentary I hope to make.  My initial focus is on the horse, but my intent is to share information, ideas, articles, etc. on a variety of topics that challenge our minds, our habits, our beliefs and, in particular, may challenge the complacency that is in the best interest of numerous corporations in order for us to continue habits of buying products, services, foods, etc. that are at minimum, not good for us or the planet, and are, in the worst cases, poisoning and killing all animal and plant life.

For starters, however, I want to share my initial journey into the barefoot world of horses which began as a result of my 'baby,' Apollo (above), turning 20 last year.  I began to re-evaluate everything I was doing in order to see if I was doing all that I could and should be doing to maintain his good health and overall wellbeing.  Because I was looking into everything, I also wanted to find a more 'comfortable' alternative for his feet other than iron horseshoes.  I had long been under the impression that he 'needed' to be shod since he always seemed 'ouchy' when his shoes were removed.  Now, that limited scope seems as archaic as thinking the world might be flat, but it just never occurred to me to question this.... I just assumed it was a result of having been shod most of his life because he had been shown for so many years.

Initially I thought about looking into rubber horseshoes.  In very little time, that search led me to hoof boots and then I discovered that 'barefoot' meant much more than just being without shoes.  There was a whole 'movement' where horses are conditioned to have strong bare hooves and, if necessary, occasionally wear hoof boots (in situations where they are being brought to terrain much rougher than what they are accustomed or while transitioning from wearing shoes or in competitions where they are required to wear something on their feet).   

Although it was a bit daunting to wade through all the web sites, philosophies and overall plethora of material on the topic of 'barefoot horses,' I continued reading.  For a number of weeks, I knew I was 'on to something' but felt compelled to continue researching the many methods, practitioners, schools, programs and organizations. 

At that time, I was just trying to best determine from which 'discipline' of barefoot trimming I would seek a practitioner to get Apollo on this path.  But I just wasn't sure how to separate the posers from the pros.  Then, I remembered hearing that Clinton Anderson was a big advocate of 'high performance barefootedness,' so I thought I should take a look at his website to see if it had any info on the topic.  It did.  From there, I discovered barefoot practitioner Pete Ramey and his book, Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You.  I figured if Clinton Anderson was recommending him, he must be 'legitimate.'  Then, when I got Pete's book, his opening paragraph discussed how he had become a barefoot advocate as a result of first reading Jaime Jackson's book, "The Horse Owner's Guide to Natural Hoof Care."

He went on to write that reading [Jackson's] book "is a prerequisite to learning anything from this book." There were so many references to Jaime Jackson in the first two pages of Pete Ramey's book that it only made sense to temporarily put the book down and get back on the internet.  And soon all the pieces started falling into place. 

I read about Jaime Jackson and the books he has written, and then went to the website for the organization he had co-founded, the American Association of Natural Hoof Care Practitioners (AANHCP).  I ordered a copy ot "The Horse Owner's Guide..." (as referenced by Pete Ramey), contacted an AANHCP practitioner in Minnesota and was confident I had found what I'd been looking for all along. After receiving and then reading "The H.O.G. to Natural Hoof Care," I had the same reaction to it that Pete wrote about in his book: "This book made so much sense to me that I didn't have to take Jaime's word for even one sentence.  Somehow I knew I was reading the truth."  And my entire horse care paradigm shifted.

Fast forward several months ... I was incredibly fascinated by all that I was discovering and decided to explore learning how to do this type of trim myself.  What an amazing learning curve! Having owned horses for the great majority of my life, I am constantly finding information that challenges numerous beliefs and practices. 

I completed all of the coursework, classes, and workshops as well as the first round of mentorships / apprenticeships, last summer and have approval from the AANHCP Board to work on client horses as a part of its "Independent Study" step in the certification program.  I also continue to be fascinated by new research, new theories and new questions coming from the articles / papers that Pete shares on his website.

Making a difference in the lives horses is a road with no turning back.  I want to be a part of a future when horseshoes and other unhealthy horsekeeping practices are obsolete. 

Learning how to perform this trim has been an incredibly humbling experience. Having been a 'horse owner' for a great part of my life, I am continually amazed to learn how ignorant so many of us -- of reasonable intelligence at that! -- have been when it comes to feeding and caring for our horses.   

So at the same time I strive to 'read' all that the horse can tell us if we look for it, I am also researching the continually expanding topic of holistic horse care.  The artistry of 'sculpting' the hoof is not so different from other forms of art in the natural world.  The organic origins of the wild hoof model as well as the ease, comfort, and balance it brings to each horse -- and its significant role in the natural healing process -- are all a part of what makes this method of trimming so special.

If you take the time to really understand the impact of iron shoes and its role in unnatural horsekeeping practices, you are unlikely to ever go down that road again. And you'll want to spread the word....

Jill  

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace.  But making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, is truly creative." Charles Mingus