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ERIKA MØRUP
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HIGH PERFORMANCE NATURAL HOOF CARE |
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Barefoot Resources
A successful hoof (and horse) care regime is multifaceted. What I and many others have come to realize is that hoof care is not about trimming alone. Certainly good trimming is an essential part of good hoof care but good nutrition and adequate exercise and turnout are equally important. Horse owners should be at least aware of the basics of how a healthy hoof works and how it should look. This will help them to participate in a dialogue with hoof care professionals to ensure that they get the best advice and services from them. In the trimming resources section on this page are links to the books and websites of three of the best in the business. Studying this material will give you an excellent understanding of how the hoof works and why barefoot is the best way to maximize hoof health and performance. Every day veterinary researchers become more aware of the fundamental connections between diet and hoof health and soundness. Unfortunately most equine nutrition has been funded by and directed towards the race horse industry. Horse owners need to become current in their knowledge of equine nutrition for companion and performance horses who are expected to remain sound and healthy for 15 years or more—not young thoroughbreds in heavy race training who are expected to break down after only a few years. In the nutrition resources section of this page are links to two websites. The first focuses on hay and pasture nutrition, the second on a low sugar energy supplements for horses in heavy work—beet pulp. We all know that our horses are happier when they get turnout and time at pasture but most people don’t realize how important getting enough movement is to hoof health. Each step your horse takes helps to strengthen the internal and external structures of his hoof which makes for healthier, stronger feet. Increasing the time your horse is outside is an important component of increasing his movment but increasing the incentive for him to move while out there is equally important. In the lifestyle resources are some ideas for increasing your horses voluntary movement while turned out.
Trimming Resources
Studying the books, online articles, videos, and websites written by experienced barefoot professionals will give you a good understanding of how and why barefoot works. If you’re considering learning to trim yourself these are the best resources to start learning from.
Pete Ramey Books: “Making Natural Hoof Care Work For You” (available at Website/online articles: www.hoofrehab.com Pete’s book was written in 2000 and since then he has updates his book in the form of numerous online articles which are available to read on his website. As he has gained experience over the last 7 years he has further refined and in some cases changed his techniques and his online articles reflect that. Clinics/Video: Pete’s two day clinics have been offered all over the US and the world for the last several years but 2007 was the last year Pete gave his clinics. He has produced a 16+hour video recorded at several clinics and the video is intended to take the place of his clinics. See Pete’s website for more details about ordering his video.
Cindy Sullivan Website/online articles: www.tribeequus.com Cindy was one of the first barefoot professionals and the advice she gives in her online articles is backed up by years of experience. I especially like the portion of her site dedicated to showing the hooves of wild/feral horses living in different climates all over the world. Seeing photos of the hooves of horses living in wet environments with soft ground has given me some good insights into the different hoof shapes I often see on horses living here in Denmark.
Linda Cowles Website/online articles: www.healthyhoof.com Linda is AHA certified and is one of the top trimmers on the west coast. Her website has some great articles but my favorite part of her site are her numerous case studies. She has years of experience and has had amazing results with several dramatic “hopeless” cases.
Nutrition Resources
The saying “You are what you eat” is true for our horses too. The strength of a horse’s hooves is dependant on the health of his metabolism and his metabolic health is dependant on the foods we choose to feed him. In the past, the connection between diet, metabolism, and hoof health was grossly underestimated. Many horses today are overloaded with dietary sugars that come from the grain, pasture, and even the hay we feed them and their metabolism and hooves suffer because of it. One of the essential parts of the solution for many horses I see with sore hooves is a combination of trimming and diet. Many of us feel that our horses and ponies need grain—after all, that’s what all the horse magazines say. The truth is that most equine nutritional research is funded by the race horse industry. The focus of that research is to find out how to pack as many calories into a young Thoroughbred so that he can run extremely fast for a couple of minutes a day. Unless you too are feeding a young TB in race training it would be unwise to take the feeding recommendations of those who are. Below are two of the best sources of information about equine nutrition for companion and performance horses.
Catherine Watts Website/Online articles: www.safergrass.org The basis of every horse’s diet is grass hay. Many of us also have access to a good amount of pasture in summer as well. What almost no one realizes however is that hay and pasture grass especially can, at times, have almost as much sugar as oats! Catherine is passionate about equine nutrition research that is targeted to the average consumer—not the .1% of horse owners with race horses. This website has the latest research about grass founder and equine metabolic syndromes. Even though the website focuses information towards horses with severe metabolic problems the information and advice it contains are equally relevant to healthy, metabolically ‘normal’ horses.
Susan Evans Garlinghouse, DVM Website/Online articles: http://shady-acres.com/susan/index.shtml Susan is a veterinarian, equine nutrition researcher, and endurance competitor. Her website has great recommendations on managing the diet of every horse but in particular horses with high performance careers. I recommend a free choice grass hay diet to most of my customers but for those whose horses truly need an energy supplement I recommend beet pulp over grain. Beet pulp is low in sugar (assuming no molasses is added to it) and is an energy supplement which provides its calories in the form of fermentable fiber (the type that the horse’s digestive tract is designed to use for energy) rather than sugars or starches (which the horse’s digestive tract is not designed to tolerate). Susan Evans’ article “The Myths and Reality of Beet Pulp” will give you the knowledge you need to feed it properly and effectively.
Lifestyle Resources
One of the keys to healthy hooves is getting enough exercise. American mustangs, living as nature intended, travel upwards of 20 kilometers per day in search of food, water, and shelter. Their hooves are the picture of health not in spite of all this travel but because of it. Encouraging our domestic horses to log many hours walking leisurely during turnout is an essential part of encouraging their hooves to grow as strong and healthy as possible. With each step they take the internal and external structures of the hoof are stimulated to toughen and callus and blood is pumped through the entire lower leg by the action of the hoof mechanism. All this improves hoof health, cardiac health, and the increased exercise improves metabolic health. There is little chance of our domestic horses walking anywhere near 20 km per day but that’s OK. Keep in mind that every additional step your horse walks is an additional step in the right direction. Increasing turnout is an obvious way to increase exercise but remember that increasing movement means providing both the space and incentive to move. Spreading your horse’s hay in small piles around his paddock, giving him friends to play with, and locating the water trough away from where you feed are some of the best ways to provide incentives for your horse to move. If you’re willing to put in a little extra time and effort consider a slight redesign of your current paddock then a “paddock paradise” is for you. The idea behind “paddock paradise” was to recreate the sort of tracks and trails that wild horses use within their home range with the goal of encouraging horses to best utilize the space in their turnout no matter the size. The idea has been more successful than anyone imagined. A paddock paradise is simply a ‘track’ constructed by erecting a second perimeter fence inside of the already existing one of your turnout or pasture. The horses food, water, mineral blocks, shelter etc are located within the track and he must walk around the track to access each. This type of set-up increases voluntary movement several fold and had several peripheral benefits as well. The center of the track can be managed as a pasture and horses can be rotated on and off of it at any time. Small sections of the track can be laid with gravel to help stimulate callusing so that horses won’t need boots for trail riding. The concept of this type of track was first thought up by Jamie Jackson, the father of the barefoot movement who did the original wild horse research back in the 80’s. He has written a book called “Paddock Paradise” which describes his idea in detail and gives a couple of examples. There are also several websites showing examples of what people have done.
Books: “Paddock Paradise” by Jamie Jackson (available from Amazon.co.uk)
Websites/Online articles: http://wildhooves.wordpress.com/ A blog about different people’s experiences with setting up paddock paradises. http://www.thenaturalhoof.homestead.com/PaddockParadise.html A fellow barefoot trimmer’s own rock bottom basic paddock paradise. As you can see even a ‘rock bottom basic’ design works fantastically. |
