Humans do develop thick callus comparable to that of the soles and frogs of a horse's hooves when they remain barefoot and conditioned to withstand navigation of all terrains. You will never see a human athlete fitted with a rigid metal shoe which would interfere with normal flexibility, circulation, and shock absorption and significantly damage the feet and tissue and joints above them. The reduced blood and lymph circulation and reduced shock absorption that results from shoeing horses is established scientific fact that is not in dispute. Barefoot hooves maintain far superior flexibility, blood and lymph circulation and shock absorption than shod hooves. If a horse needs hoof protection, a flexible hoof boot is a much better choice than metal shoes to provide for shock absorption.
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Add per Happy Equine...................Horse's hooves actually are made out of the exact same tissues that our feet are made from. The horse's outer hoof capsule is the skin that envelops the inner foot. The ground surface of the hoof corresponds to the outer layer of epidermis of human skin, and the walls correspond to our fingernails. The pastern and coffin bones are the pedal bones in a horse. They correspond to the 3 bones of a single finger or toe in human anatomy (proximal, middle, and distal phalanges). The navicular bone corresponds to one of our ankle bones. The tissues are just arranged differently, and the blood supply has more shunts (anatomoses). Otherwise, the similarities outweigh the differences.
***************************************鈥?br>Add 2 per Go Big or Go Home.................Building callus is as important as balanced mechanics of landing.
In horses, we want a heel-first landing. In humans, that is not desired. But realize that the bone of a human heel (calcaneus) is found in the hock of a horse. However, in either species, building callus on the ground surface is essential to optimize function. Note the reference to callus in this excerpt from your link.............
"..... By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision, much less than most shod runners generate when they heel-strike. Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts, but actually you can run barefoot on the world's hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain. All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot. Further, it might be less injurious than the way some people run in shoes......"
The thickness and density of callus built is relative to the amount of weight being borne on each digit, among other factors.
If a horses feet are conditioned they can ride without shoes. The main reason a lot of horses need them is because they had shoes put on immediately at a very early age and their frogs got soft and can no longer handle the conditions they could have handled if their hoof had been allowed to grow and condition normally. Its just like if you walk on gravel barefoot at first obviously it hurts. But if you had to walk on that gravel everyday the skin of your foot would grow callouses and toughen and no longer hurt. Also how do you think horses in the wild walk on tough terrain with no shoes? The horses hoof is naturally made to handle those conditions. So if the horses hooves are properly conditioned it can ride without shoes.If you are against horseshoes...?
I go barefoot frequently and as a child, my feet were so tough that I could walk across asphalt in 100 degree weather like nothing.
Its all about need.
My mare doesn't NEED shoes. When I got her, her back feet were horribly deformed from having shoes on too long. It has taken over 6 years for them to properly straighten out. She is a wild caught mustang. If I'm going to be riding for a prolonged period on rocky terrain, I put her easyboots on.
In my experience, most horses are better with shoes than without. I believe in shoes as a corrective measure in most cases.
I am not AGAINST shoes, but I find my horse works best without it, and that a good qualified barefoot trimmer does a better job of trimming and balancing for his tendon injury than a farrier does.
I don't understand your crusade against going barefoot. Some horses can do it, some horses can't. If a horse has hard excellent feet and goes barefoot without trouble, I don't see the point of putting shoes on him. If he can't, then of course I'll shoe him.
But posting a "question" on here just to crusade against barefoot horses, that's just unbelievably childish. Grow the heck up. You can't compare human feet to horse hooves, so just GROW UP and start using proper examples.If you are against horseshoes...?
I agree - this new craze of going barefoot is a bit stupid. Horses are individuals and if they have hard feet and are not ridden over rough ground, on asphalt etc, then they are lucky. But to have other individuals going barefoot is asking for trouble and is not fair to the horse. There is an old saying that holds true to this day "No foot, no horse!"
And what I find even more alarming is that you are allowed in the US to trim your own horse's feet. In the UK this is illegal and unsafe. As you say abnormalities need specialist support and correct balancing because it is not just the feet that are affected but the whole leg and skeletal system.
Horses' feet are nothing like a humans. You can't compare them.
Horses walk on a substance that is very much like the material our fingernails are made up of. Their hooves wear down over time. If the horse's hooves wear down faster than they grow, either shoes are necessary or a change of what they are traveling on or how they are traveling is needed.
All horses can survive without shoes, but some need them depending on what demands we humans place on them.
My horses have been barefoot since day one. And none of them have experienced any injuries or lameness. They can handle the work on their hooves and I make sure with my farrier that their hooves are nice and strong every trimming.
Not to mention, horse hooves and human feet are two very different things. Comparing them is beyond ridiculous.
Despite that I wear shoes when I am at work and at school (because it's a must) I am normally barefoot at home or in areas I can be. I have very strong feet when it comes to different areas, whether it be rocky or flat. I climbed on boulders barefoot as a child and I have monkey feet grip. As a volleyball player and tennis player as well as a horse rider, I can handle the bottoms of my feet quite well.
I actually find trainers quite uncomfortable and if I can I wear sandals in public. Yes, footwear has caused humans to have much more sensitive feet, but if you were to take away shoes permanently, eventually humans would get past the blisters and sore feet and their feet would become adjusted to their surroundings.
And as PeaBee stated there are other runners who have competed barefoot. Before trying to be snarky and claiming to know your history....actually KNOW your history.
You obviously haven't seen the damage shoes can do. I have, I'm also generally barefoot (not at work because i can't be). My mare was lame for weeks after having shoes put on incorrectly by an experienced farrier, this never happens bare foot, I don't even get her feet trimmed unless they are flaky, dry or damaged. I ride her on the road to keep her feet down and send pictures monthly to my barefoot farrier so she can decide when she needs to come out and trim them back.(Twice last year!) When I need them I use boots when riding.jumping and they do just fine. YOU don't wear shoes 24/7 yet you think horses SHOULD?
Actually, I think YOU need to brush up on your history.
Shoes in today's sense were not always around. If you take someone that wears shoes and have them run barefoot, yes it will hurt. If one has run barefoot all of his/her life, they will experience no pain whatsoever. No, this is NOT due to calluses forming.
It's due to the way the foot strikes the ground. A person who wears shoes will strike the ground with their heel. A person who does not wear shoes will strike the ground with the ball of their foot or in the upper third portion of the foot. It makes sense if you think about it. All of the weight on the heel can't be very practical, and it's not.
Let me see if I can't find a link or related webpage.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201鈥?/a>
Anyway, one of my horses is perfectly fine barefoot. The other needs shoe to correct an issue, but in time (hoping for a year) she will no longer need them.
Like others have already said horses and human feet are very different and really can't be compared.
Most of the horses in my area aren't shod, and don't need to be. Unless the horse is being ridden on ground which is too rough etc for them to go barefoot, or they need it for corrective purposes, most horses are fine being without shoes. Even so, it's a personal opinion, and there is nothing wrong with either, as long as what benefits the horse comes first :)
You may be too young for this, but an Olympic runner competed barefoot.
My husband did not have shoes growing up in the coal mine areas of Kentucky and went everywhere barefoot until school.
Amish children in my area are always barefoot. As are many of the women.
The orthopaedic surgeon that operated on my daughter with a congenital club foot TOLD me to leave her barefoot. He empasized that shoes, even good tennis shoes, are not what the foot requires to function properly.
I am barefoot in the house and outside as much as possible unless I am worried about being stung by a bee. So is my mom at age 82.
In my teens, I could do gravel parking lots barefoot and not feel a thing.
In underdeveloped countries, people go barefoot everywhere.
So your analogy to us wearing shoes does not really coincide with horses needing shoes. I am not saying that shoes may never be needed for specific equine activities, I am saying that it does not correspond to humans wearing shoes and your premise.
So my horses in pasture do not have shoes. The sign at the grocery store, however, requires that I do.
Edit: Zola Budd, a female barefoot Olympian, was whom I was thinking may be an older era than you. I actually lived through that history.
Shoes are necessary when the situation calls for it. My horse has strong feet and is not ridden or turned out on ground that would cause excessive wear quickly. If she needed shoes I'd get them, but she doesn't (now maybe when we start showing she may need them, but until then I keep her barefoot).
As for me no I do not go barefoot much anymore outside of the house because my feet have gotten tender from wearing shoes. When I was a kid though there was a summer that I went barefoot where ever I went (still do in the summer, forget it in the winter). If I was going outside to play or going for a bike ride my parents would tell me to put shoes on, so I would, but I would take them off by this brush covered hill at the edge of our neighborhood and go barefoot from there, picking back up my shoes before I went home.
I understand what your saying but feet are fairly different to hooves.
Also some horses are better not having shoes on.
My pony has never had shoes on in the full 18 years of her life and she has never had a single problem with her hoove and she does a fair amount of road work. Shelve actually has better hooves than my mare that has shoes.
Also it's a personal opinion, some people like having horses shod and some don't. Just like everything else.
What people arnt understanding about shoes is a crutial point. Hrses are not built the same. Some have bad hooves. I get my horse shoed. My farrier said he has such weak hooves, he would not of survived out in the wild, or be able to handle regular riding without them. Some horses have strong hooves and are fine without them. Human feet are nothing like horse feet. Come on, people.Duh, putting nails in to our feet would cripple us. But a horse? Not so much. Their hooves are not made out of the same materials as our feet.
If my horse didn't wear cool shoes, then all the other horses in his pasture would laugh at him. They'd call him names.
I, for one, am not about to subject my horse to bullying. His self esteem is far too important to me.
Yes, although my feet now look like Bruce Willis' in the first Die Hard movie.
Do you have nails put into your feet?
Didn't think so.
Yes, yes I do. Do you?
To each his own.
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