Here is another personal story that has affected my entire way of thinking about feet. I have many clients who are interested in keeping their horses unshod or barefoot.

Personally, I learned the conventional approach to shoeing as a veterinarian, and have known many excellent farriers who have done excellent work, and I have also had my share of horror stories and damaged horses from not so excellent work. The problem remains that in conventional shoeing, there really is no clear paradigm. The feet need to be kind-of, sort of this way, or that way. This depends on whether the horse’s feet look like the feet in Adams, “Lameness in Horses” or not (most do not.)

I have kind of, sort of given fairly good information, for many years, kind of, I sort of think. However, I have evolved!

This evolution came about because of my serious quest to understand what this “barefoot” movement was all about. The name “Strasser” came up. Many of my good clients are very much involved with this method. Many truly believe in it. I had some real problems with some of the concepts and the fact that the paradigm didn’t make sense. Now that I have personal experience with it, and see what these trimmers are actually trimming away from the foot, I am horrified.

There are lots of excuses why there are so many lame horses trimmed this way. The horses were NOT trimmed yesterday, or they were trimmed yesterday. They have not made the transition to proper circulation, or they need more circulation. Their “second heart” is not beating right, because they have been crammed into evil metal shoes all their lives. Or, possibly, they are “detoxing” from many insults to their bodies, and that is why there are so many abscesses.

I will give you one word about this method, and repeat it several times: BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! If you find one of the dedicated, but misguided people, ask them one question, “Do you know where the Live Sole Plane is?” If they say, “what’s that”? Look out! The Strasser techniques actually recommend cutting into, and through, the live sole plane, losing the orientation to the coffin bone. This is also exposing the live, sensitive tissue to the bacterial assaults from the environment. Is there any wonder abscesses are so common. Is the “second heart” sometimes confused with throbbing pain in the feet?

I sacrificed a dear old friend, my elderly thoroughbred, who had never been lame ever, to find out what this barefoot trim was all about. There was certainly no malice in this perpetrated by anyone – however, I did end up with a lame horse that took three months to correct. The good part is I just happened to meet a lady farrier there at the same clinic, who, not only, helped my horse recover, but who has become a good friend, as well as my teacher in Natural Balance Trimming. I did not get involved with this method when Gene Ovnicek first presented his research. However, now is the appropriate time. “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”.

Please look at the Hope For Soundness web page. Now this is a paradigm that works, is logical, and I truly believe is THE TRUTH. When I saw for myself how that hoof opens up and shows you exactly where it needs to be, how you can determine where the coffin bone really is, where the medial and lateral balance is, and where the breakover needs to be, I was just “blown away.” One of the parameters of any shoeing or trimming methodology is that the patient walks off as comfortable, or more comfortable than he did before you fixed him. There is no excuse for an animal to be in more pain after a procedure than before. This is true of feet as it is with dentistry. Why shouldn’t your horse eat better right after dentistry than before? I want that horse to be happy immediately.

I realized that if I were really going to understand this method, I needed to learn how to do it. So, after discovering muscles I didn’t even know I had, I am now trimming all my own horses, and patients, when I simply can’t stand to leave them they way they have been abused, and the farrier is not likely to do any better the next time.

The interesting thing, though, in developing my new muscles, is that my sitting trot is much more solid. I didn’t expect that, after a few weeks of intense pain. I can recommend that you take up this work for that reason alone.

We all realize that certain performance horses are shod a certain way for certain effects in the show ring. But do be aware of one thing – sooner or later they will break down! I don’t want this to happen to my own horses. They are all barefoot now, and that works for us. But they are trimmed with Natural Balance, and will remain so. I do not believe that shoes are evil and are certainly necessary for some horses. The Natural Balance shoe is an extension of the foot, not just a protection for the wall, and I highly recommend you look for someone experienced in the proper application of these shoes. Or, if you decide to go barefoot – PLEASE DO IT THIS WAY!