Shoeless or Brainless
You guys know I will keep you abreast of the latest developments in the horse world, but I’m a little behind on this one. It appears that the barefoot movement has gained a little ground since we last talked about this a few years ago when the German gal, female, doctor was over here trying to convince folks that horseshoeing was evil. Now if you ask me horseshoeing being evil is absolutely backward. If you remember the old story about the devil trying to fool the wise old horseshoer: Once upon a time there was a wise old horseshoer working away in his shop making horseshoes. The devil happened by and was attracted by the ring of the anvil. The devil thought it might be good to get his own hooves shod. He made a deal with the wise old horseshoer to shoe him, but the wise old horseshoer recognized the devil. As the wise old horseshoer shod the devil he made sure that he drove the nails deep into the quick. As soon as the wise old horseshoer was finished the devil paid him and he was on his way. The wise old horseshoer threw the devil’s money into the fire as he knew no good could come of it.
After the devil had walked some distance he began to suffer greatly from the newly applied shoes. The more they hurt him, he danced, kicked, and swore until he could no longer stand it. The devil finally tore off all four shoes and threw them away knowing he had been had. From that day on the devil stays away anytime he sees a horseshoe. That is why we nail horseshoes up over a doorway. To keep the devil away! So you wonder where these nutty people came up with the notion that horseshoes are bad. I’ve even heard some horseshoers say that shoeing is a necessary evil. Nothing could be further from the truth. Do you know why we shoe horses? In a nutshell, protection, correction, and traction. What’s bad about any of those three things? How many horses do you know that can’t perform very well without shoes? I know hundreds. I’ll bet you didn’t think I knew that many horses did you? Horses are some of my best friends.
The other day I heard a horse guru going on to a bunch of greenhorns about how nice he was to his horses by not shoeing them. When someone asked why there were sliding plates on the back of his reining horse he explained that the horse did need some extra protection when he slid. However, I’ve known several old horsemen that would leave the front shoes off a colt so it would get a little foot sore. This tended to make the colt use his hind quarters more. Of course, the horse guru wasn’t going to tell his greenhorn students that. You know there are so many of these gurus out there preying on the ignorant that I just can’t remember the gurus name. Seems like it might have rhymed with Flinton Sanderson, but don’t quote me on that.
What it looks like to me is that the people who buy into the shoeless theory either don’t ride their horse or are too cheap to afford good hoof care. I even heard some equine nutritionist go on that horseshoes poison horses. The only thing that will poison the horse are the greenhorns that believe this hooey and do the wrong thing to their own horse.
The numerous benefits of horseshoes were proven hundreds of years ago by Alexander the Great. No, I don’t believe the Hollywood movie, that he was gay, but I bet he killed a lot of them. Because Alexander had the only army with shod horses he became a great conqueror as other armies had to rest their horses because they became so foot sore without horseshoes. The horseshoes enabled Alexander to keep on marching and defeat his enemies. What more proof do you need?
Yes, I agree that some horses don’t need horseshoes when they are turned out on good pasture or they are not being ridden very hard. The next point the “shoeless” crowd likes to make is “How come the wild horses don’t need shoes?” Well, number one they aren’t ridden and number two they aren’t being asked to perform athletic moves at high speeds carrying a rider. Sorry, but you can’t chase cattle here on my ranch over the granite rocks without crippling a horse. I just wish these alleged “do gooder” folks that get on these crusades because they don’t know any better would do a little practical research first.
Nail’em up and mov’em out!