I was recently contacted by a trainee animal communicator who was looking forward to asking questions of horses such as ‘do you prefer shoes or being barefoot’.  This isn’t a specific question as such but it is an interesting topic and it prompted me to answer a question which I was asked some months ago;

“Should I ask my animal communicator if my horse prefers shoes to going barefoot?”

This is our reply:

We have quite a bit of experience working with horse communicators and we do not dispute the ability of most. However we have serious concerns with the possibility of the mis-interpretation of results and we feel a reading is only as good as the interpretation and evaluation of the information and not simply the ability to receive ‘information’.

For example, a horse which has been shod may have poor structures in the foot (we are talking mostly here about internal structures which determine health and function and therefore performance of the hoof as a whole). Why? When a shoe is placed on the foot, it doesn’t allow the foot to function properly and certain structures deteriorate in health. The rate of the loss of health and performance is individual to the horse and the environmental stimulus it is exposed to (stress, diet, exercise, chemicals, toxins, etc, etc). This may become apparent in the loss of conformation of the hoof capsule and the un-trained eye may recognise imbalances such as low, under-run heels, flares, cracks , rings, bruises in the hoof wall, infections, shortened stride, etc.  For such hooves, correct environmental stimulus is required in order to heal the internal foot and this is what DAEP’s do (with the owner’s commitment and understanding).  This would normally involve removing the metal shoe and the horse given a structured period of rehabilitation.

Now, if you were to take a horse with diseased feet barefoot without the guidance of a holistic equine podiatrist (DAEP), there is a chance that the horse may experience a period of discomfort. Even a horse being rehabilitated under the guidance of a DAEP may experience moments of mild discomfort in the early stages, if say the owner inadvertently lead the horse over an unsuitable surface, or the horse ran around with his field mates and over did things a bit while the foot was vulnerable. So if you were to ask this horse in this state; ‘do you prefer shoes to barefoot’, the answer may well be ‘yes’. However, providing proper stimulus from a period of correct rehab without shoes for example, may be the appropriate course of action to heal diseased feet.  So is the horse wrong? No! He is answering a simple question with a simple answer! If you ask the horse would he prefer sugary chop to healthy oat straw chaff he will probably choose the sugary chaff but we all know which we would like him to choose to help keep his weight down!

A lame horse is a diseased horse, no matter what the cause.  With disease there often comes inflammation and with inflammation often comes discomfort.  The role of a DAEP is to protect the horse from harm and with help from products such as Sole Mate pads and management alterations and teamwork with your vet, horses need not necessarily ever become sore. Indeed, everything must be done to prevent unnecessary soreness.  If you decide to remove your horses shoes for rehabilitation, this must be carefully planned in advance.  To not have the correct environmental management practices organised in preparation for going barefoot could cause unnecessary discomfort.  This is unacceptable.  However, if for example, a horse were to have an necessary operation, there would be a period of discomfort afterwards even with the use of prescribed pain killers. That would be seen as an acceptable consequence and a process of healing (if the chances of full recover were acceptable).

I have no objection for owners to seek advice from animal communicators, but with regards foot health, it should be taken with context and with proper evaluation of the health of the foot, preferably by a DAEP. I strongly advise anyone looking to work in the equine industry to learn about true foot function. This way professionals can work together to help provide the owner with information so that they can make an informed decision.  A 3 day introductory course in Applied Equine Podiatry would be a perfect starting point. For more information about AEP and how to book a course near you, go to www.appliedequinepodiatry.com

The question we as professionals should pose shouldn’t revolve around the whole ‘to shoe or not to shoe’ debate.  Instead we should be constantly asking ourselves ‘what is correct environmental stimulus for health?’.  This is a quote from KC Lapierre regarding this topic and rather sums things up;

‘Applied Equine Podiatry is a science for the treatment of the equine foot, and should not be considered exclusive to the shoeless horse. Whether to shoe or not to shoe is not the question. The question is how do we provide the correct stimulus for the development of proper structure, function, and performance while protecting and safeguarding the welfare of the horses in our care’.

KC La Pierre; founder of the Institute of Applied Equine Podiatry.

The questions we pose and the answers we respond with carry with them a tremendous amount of responsibility.  Sometimes simple questions give simple answers but the information carried within them must always be evaluated in context with the subject matter.