Adidas for Horses

One of the humbling parts of chronicling my journey thus far, is remembering how I've stood with conviction on some ideas only to find out down the line that I couldn't have been more wrong. All I can say is, when you know better you do better and that's about the best any of us can do.

Last year I had Whisper's track shoes taken off and my stance on how healthy barefoot was for a horse I proclaimed loudly. I don't deny that I still feel that way, what has changed is my opinion that every horse can be a barefoot healthy horse. You can go back to wild horses all you want to and the truth will still stare you in the face that we've bred lines of horses off of that for so long that it's not healthy or productive to paint a broad brush stroke on all horses based solely on the Mustang.

Without shoes Whisper stone bruised. Multiple times. Then she abscessed. I began to re-access and looked at the very painful lame horse in front of me. I needed to go a different direction and fast. It wasn't the food, it wasn't the pasture, it was the plan we were using on feet that were VERY flat, incredibly low in the heel, and had a long splayed toe.

She needed shoes again and fast to give her poor sensitive foot some clearance over the ground. Since that time we've been allowing the hoofwall to come down with that abscess hole slowly over almost a year, working to maintain the hoof as best we could to get through this time. Now that has finally occurred, she is ready for some work to start actually correcting her problems for the long term.

Today Whisper got the horse version of sneakers. Basically the farrier shaped up the foot, shaped a shoe and a mesh screen, then attached the mesh to the spotless hoof under the shoe.

Then he filled the whole thing up with a liquid urethane that sets up like firm silicone. This will give her foot a foundation to grow a healthier hoof, one that is supported from the inside to prevent the growing down caving in on itself. It also allows a more uniform pressure to the foot, ironically more like a barefoot horse feels, when she steps down. As a traditional shoe only supports the hoofwall, this pour-in also cushions the frog and gives support like an arch support in your shoe does. The pour in feels like a sneaker sole, firm yet very shock absorbing. She had already had it down a few times before I could grab a shot so it picked up some dirt already.

With a little wedge added, she now has a heel to walk on. I'm hopeful that over time this will help her hoof correct itself and we'll see a normal foot emerge. Whisper LOVED the shoes, though maybe not so much the process, did I mention she pooped so much she actually slipped on her own poop, tore out a crosstie and almost broke out a ceiling light? Once I turned her out she took a few laps around the pasture strutting her stuff awhile, bucking and kicking up her heels like a silly youngster.