Recently, I had a students' Mom ask me about the dynamics of the herd here at our place. She was wondering how it is when a new horse is introduced. Often times when bringing a new horse in, to join in with an existing herd, there can be a lot of chaos. The Pecking order is quickly established.

Through a fair amount of dirty looks, biting, kicking and running around, the herd boss is established. The order becomes set from lead horse down to the last horse allowed to drink. At our place it is a matter of minutes until the hierarchy is established.

The fact that our herd has a set order, prior to a new horse coming in, helps to quickly calm the chaos. Mostly the new horse, in order to integrate and become part of the herd, volunteers to take the bottom spot. Over time they will try and work their way up the ranks. Herd dynamics are ever changing as horses age or become injured.

It wasn’t always this way for us

Our implementation is adopted from the natural horse model. We actually have a track system based on the ideas laid out in Paddock Paradise by Jaime Jackson. He spent years studying wild horse herds and became intrigued on the superior health of wild horses versus domestics.

The observation being that horses in the wild are easily covering 15 - 2o miles a day, mostly at a walk or trot, over rocks, hillsides and other varied terrain. Contrast that with most domestics who are kept in stalls, corrals or pastures constantly grazing, with no natural predators to keep them moving.

Frustrated with the common way of horsekeeping that previously had us constantly worrying about foundering, lameness or injuries, we decided to set up a track system that is about 20 feet wide and runs along the perimeter of our boundary fence. We also have several “feeding stations” set up where native grass hay is fed from a hay net with 1” wide holes.

The track also allows horses to move constantly and not get “caught” or “cornered” by another horse. And, in our mind, this was a much safer way to have horses and keep from paying unnecessary bills to the veterinarian. Plus, their bodies are healthy, hooves in good condition, and muscles with noticeable definition.

Safe escape routes are important for horses

As I was relaying this information, I told this students' Mom that "because of our setup here, the new horse always has an escape route. They have a slim chance of being cornered and kicked repeatedly. That, and the fact that we don't shoe our horses helps to keep the new horse from getting severely injured."

This last bit really surprised her. She had never seen a riding horse that was barefoot. Amazing! Though she had wondered in the past why an animal that goes barefoot in the wild would need shoes to begin with.

I told her that I too had shared a similar belief. Joanna and I used to shoe our horses and a part of me always wondered if it were truly necessary. We made the switch to barefoot close to nine years ago.

We have a gelding here, Bombay, that used to hate getting shoes. Taking him to the shoer brought on nervousness and irritability. He was typically pretty well behaved with his feet, but around a shoer he would become troubled and impatient.

For a few years we just dealt with Bombay becoming troubled around the farrier. "He needed shoes and that was just the way it was." We would have him shod every six weeks during the riding months. The behavior element was one thing.

We figured he would eventually become used to it and get better about being shod. The thing that we couldn't get past, and ultimately led to us transitioning to barefoot, was the fact that we were always dealing with lameness issues.

It seemed that every year it was only a matter of time until a horse would need time off. Typically, Bombay was the one who would become lame but occasionally our mare would sore up too. So every summer we counted the days until lameness. Frustrating for sure, but what could we do?

It seemed that dealing with a lame horse was just the way of it. We had an arsenal of tools for dealing with stone bruises, bone spurs, body soreness, cracked hooves, swollen joints, and spinal misalignment.

The Turning Point

The nail in the coffin though was one season, when after switching farriers, Bombay had a nail driven too far up into the hoof. Immediately blood came pouring out. So here we were, the "best shoer in town" was pulling out and repositioning the ill-driven nail. Advising us that Bombay would need some time off and that the bill for the shoes was to be paid in full... WHAT! There had to be a better way.

Divine intervention came that Christmas in the form of a book. My Mom, who is not a horsewoman, saw a book she thought could be helpful to us. Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You by Pete Ramey. In reading Pete's book we decided to give natural hoof care a try.

He had explained briefly the benefits of going shoeless and lined out a hoof maintenance plan. All of it made sense and seemed quite viable. That January we began our journey into the world of natural hoof care.

Since that Christmas we have accumulated quite a collection of books, articles, and DVD's on hoof care. We have worked with natural hoof care trimmers and I have taken over the trimming on all of our horses. We have completely transitioned from steel shoes to barefoot.

Some of our horse’s hooves support their own weight just fine, but may require a velcro-on boot for the front hooves when supporting a rider on rugged terrain. The main horse that I ride now has hooves so hard that I doubt a nail could even be driven into the hoof wall. It is rare that I put her boots on at all.

Our horses are completely happy with going barefoot and we now reap the benefits. Added energy, strong healthy hooves, and natural shock absorption. Lameness issues are a thing of the past. Sure there is a little more maintenance required from us but we will never go back to shoes. Our horses are worth it. Happy and healthy. These days Bombay no longer trembles at the sight of a hoof stand.

Thanks Mom!

Do you have a game changing moment in your horsekeeping? Let me know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear about it.

Happy Trails,

Eric

Easton Horsemanship