Laura Seegers is an endurance barefoot rider from South Africa and has an interesting article regarding conditioning of the barefoot horse. Her article "Some Broad guidelines to Conditioning the Barefoot Horse" gives you the following 9 basic guidelines:
Education--Be proactive in finding out all you can. Want to read more, EasyCare has some great educational articles as well.
Adaptation of your horse's lifestyle--Take them out of the stable and let them be horses. Let them live outdoors with other horses. You can also read this other article on "How to Create All-Terrain Barefeet".
Get personally involved with their hooves. Get an expert barefoot trimmer. You can find one with our Hoof Care Practitioner Search.
Watch what they eat--Keep it simple and plain. Laminitis can be brought on by obesity.
Ride often--Frequent movement is vital for barefoot success.
Monitor hoof wear and adjust when needed--If you need to train hard or their hooves are getting too short, use hoof boots. They have personally tested and recommend the Easyboot Bare.
Start slow and build up gradually--Don't be in a hurry to see results. The hoof grows slowly.
Avoid oils and paints--Use water to moisturize the hoof. The hoof gets hard slowly through conditioning. Think of the money you will save on oils and paints if you just use the EasySoaker and water.
Keep photographic records--These are wonderful encouragements. Sceptics will not take your word for how well the hooves are.
You need to read the whole article to get more out of the information it has. Go to www.endurancehorse.co.za.
Comments