Barefoot is better...and we've known it for CENTURIES...

Think barefoot is a new idea that goes against hundreds of years of farrier science? Think again. Even in 1889, it was widely recognized that shoeing and traditional farriery caused most of the hoof and limb maladies suffered by domestic horses. We knew it then...we just didn't know how diet and environment thwarted our attempts to keep barefoot horses comfortable!

Read the section on horse shoeing from page 686 through page 691:

Horseshoeing: Supplement to Encyclopedia Britannica, 1889

Sure, there are a few assertions in the text that I would vehemently argue...in particular, the idea that the hoof wall is the primary load bearing surface, and the notions regarding how energy is dissipated (via the laminae? yikes!!), but hey, it WAS 1889, and the overall message is that the nailed on metal shoe is the root of many of the evils prevalent in the hoof and limb of the domestic horse.

Now that we understand how movement, hygiene, diet and trim work together to forge and maintain a brilliantly healthy bare hoof, it is indeed time for an end to horseshoes...