Text: Christine Pinna
While I have come across many extremely well-managed yards that are horse and hoof-friendly and more than willing to accommodate management changes, I have also sadly dealt with many a distressed horse owner who is faced with the opposite scenario. After doing some research and deciding to go barefoot with their horse, they discover much to their horror that their ‘wonderful’ yard is not on board with their decision. Worse, the yard manager seems to want to make all of the decisions for their client’s horse while the client pays all of the bills. Sound fair? Probably more needs to be written about the bullying that goes on in these sorts of situations where some managers even go as far as jeopardising horse and rider safety in an attempt to prove themselves ‘right’.
I’m sure that scenarios, where simple requests such as feed changes or the raising of hygiene issues are received with contempt, will sound familiar to many horse owners. It’s not that these are new problems. They’ve been there the entire time, but the horse owner, armed with new information and open eyes, is seen as a threat to the manager, who has probably been doing the same thing for the last thirty years and is unwilling to change. Nobody wants to admit that they were wrong, and maybe they actually weren’t – the information just wasn’t there back then, and times have since changed.
Sadly, in almost all of these cases, the horse owner and yard have to part ways in order to find something more suitable for their horse and often their sanity. Those who stay try their best to make it work, usually due to yard/work/home location or there simply being no better option. Having said this, even these loyal individuals are still keeping their eyes open for the right place and they’ll be off in a shot when it comes about.
If you are the horse owner who is thinking of taking your horse barefoot but wary as you are going to run into trouble at your current yard, or you have taken your horse barefoot, and you’re looking for a different yard due to the above issues, read on. Below I will go through the various aspects of barefoot hoof care from the most important to least important. While they are all conducive to helping your horse to develop healthy and strong bare feet, you may have to sacrifice something along the way. For shod horse owners who want to do better for their horses, hopefully you will find some value in this article too.
Diet
I may be starting to sound like a broken record by now, but I cannot over-emphasise how crucial this is if you want a horse with strong hooves. Diets low in roughage and high in concentrates containing mielies and molasses will not result in strong hooves or a particularly healthy horse. Check with the yard as to what they feed, and more importantly – are you able to feed whichever food you choose? Perhaps the yard by chance feeds what you feed already or are planning to feed, but what if it turns out that your horse is allergic to one of the ingredients, or you find an even more suitable feed down the line? Flexibility is key here.
Other questions to consider are whether the yard will feed any supplements you choose for your horse and whether they feed sufficient roughage? Horses eat almost constantly and need free-choice access to typically low sugar roughage such as eragrostis or teff. NOTE: If you are planning to have the roughage tested, find out if the yard gets their hay from the same farm consistently before going to this expense.
Hygiene
Living out with access to a shelter is ideal for developing strong hooves, healthy bodies and sane minds. If this is not possible at the yard or in the area due to African Horse Sickness, then what is their protocol for stable cleaning? Do they remove urine and manure thoroughly each morning? Is the bedding clean and thick? Dirty stables are terribly corrosive to hooves and can be another deciding factor as to whether your horse will have strong hooves or not.
You then need to find out exactly how many hours your horse will be stabled. This is sometimes wholly overlooked, and you might be surprised to find your horse standing in most of his day with only an hour or two of turnout. If his diet is good and the stable is cleaned pedantically many times a day, he may still maintain healthy hooves, but the lack of movement will do nothing to improve on them. Worse yet, this is just a terrible arrangement if you want a calm and sane horse who gets some sort of joy out of life. A relatively common complaint we hear is an owner suddenly finding their horse to be far too dangerous to ride with the sudden lack of turnout. This is not a sustainable situation.
Lastly and very importantly, are the horses’ hooves picked out daily? This needs to be done in the morning when leaving the stable and again when returning in the afternoon. The former is quite commonly neglected, meaning the horse stands with dirty bedding and manure in his hooves all day, has them cleaned out briefly when he goes back into the stable and then stands back in the dirty bedding.
Hoof care provider
Are you allowed to choose your own hoof care provider, or does the yard enlist the services of only one hoof care provider? Is this someone reputable who you would like to use? Do they understand how a barefoot trim works and how to utilise alternative forms of hoof protection instead of metal shoes? Of course, the above applies to other professions such as vets, chiropractors, saddle fitters and dentists too.
Paddocks
While it goes without saying that paddock fencing should be as safe as possible, the amount of space in the paddock is often overlooked. If you can avoid paddocks that are barely larger than the size of a stable, please do. Horses need space to move, run and play, and while they do this, they are stimulating and strengthening their hooves. The more space they have, the less chance they have of standing in manure which also helps to keep hooves clean and healthy.
Ask the yard how often the paddock is cleaned? I recommend doing this daily or at the very least every second day in paddocks of about a hectare or two in size. You need to do it every day or twice daily if the paddock is smaller than that. Will your horse have a companion or be in a herd? Specifically, which paddock would they put him in?
If you want horse to live out, is this possible? What if your horse was to develop a respiratory condition or arthritis which would require fresh air and constant movement? Would he be accommodated?
Is there a shelter in the field or at least good shelter in the form of trees and bushes? What is the blanketing protocol? Is it in line with your own?
Final thoughts
While the first prize is to find that yard that is designed for barefoot horses with owners or managers that are holistically minded, flexible-thinking barefoot advocates, most people won’t find these too easily as they are still in the minority. To further complicate the situation, they often check all of the boxes listed here and then completely miss others you need to ride your horse or compete. As an added issue, the yards I know of that check all of these boxes seldom have any openings, which is no surprise.
Should more natural yards be thinking in the lines of jacking up facilities to accommodate the rise in barefoot competition horses? This would include improving arenas and perhaps offering smaller night paddocks with shelters for horses who are used to stabling or paddocks for pairs or smaller numbers of horses if owners are nervous about their horses being in large herds. Grooms may need to be educated with regards to blanketing and grooming needs which may not be as relevant for some horses living more naturally.
With the rise in barefoot competition horses, should traditional yards be coming to the party and thinking out of the box to support their clients and the horses under their care? Somewhere there is a middle ground that, while not perfect, will make a lot of holistically-minded horse owners a lot happier.
In closing, it will probably be impossible to find the perfect yard that checks every single box and gets everything right all of the time. But, you don’t need to find the perfect yard in order for your horse to be happy and barefoot with healthy hooves. If you are looking at moving to a new yard, write down a pros and cons list to gain perspective and decide what is most important to you while considering your horse’s health and happiness. You will need to decide what you can compromise on and what you absolutely cannot.