Hoof Sculpture

by Dermot McCourt

When I first realised that there was nowhere in a horses foot that you could safely drive in a nail, I did not believe my own findings, and so I started all over again; and got the same results.

This was in 1987 in Saudi Arabia. My job was to supervise the hoof care, shoeing etc of all the horses in the Royal Stud, situated 70 kilometers outside Riyadh and later in Al Kobhar. Before this I had never seen a horse in work unshod. As part of my research into hoof problems in horses, myself and the vet in the King's employment removed the feet from any horse that were put to sleep (PTS) as a result of hoof problems.

As a result we discovered that many of the hoof problems were at worst caused by, and at best exacerbated by, shoeing and nailing.

Navicular 'disease'

In the main, navicular cases seemed to be caused by out of balance shoeing and heavy toe landing. In not one case was bone deterioration present. All that was present was inflammation and hemorrhaging in the navicular area and a degree of stretched white line at the toe. In all cases the recommended treatment had been the fitting of balanced shoes and anti-inflammatory drugs. This raised the question ‘why wait for navicular to set in before using balanced shoes?’ Why not use balanced shoes all the time? It is my opinion that balanced shoes while very harmful, were less harmful than regular shoes.

The stretched white line detected was in effect localised concussion laminitis caused by the outer hoof wall at the toe being forced to carry weight through the shoe, when in fact the outer hoof wall was designed to protect the bone and not to carry any weight.

Laminitis

Leaving navicular to one side we then did a fresh study on horses that had been PTS as a result of incurable laminitis. As a result of my finding I was drawn to the conclusion that while the systemic/chemical causes of laminitis are not fully understood to this day, I am firmly convinced that in every case the outward tug of shoes on the hoof wall causes further violent insult to the laminae thus leaving no possibility of healing.

The horse whose feet you see in the following pictures was to be pts at christmas, you can see why. i used a variation of my support system, designed for daily cleaning, urithane resin rim used to fix a removable pad, no fixing to hoof wall or laminae...

Bedouin Horses

My work took on new vigour, on a day in a town called Hoffuf (no pun intended) when a tribe of Bedouins came to pick up supplies on their way east. None of their horses were shod. With the help of Abdullah (my right arm man) we talked to the tribesmen who were happy to explain that the horses were ‘ahumdulilah’ (very happy) without shoes. The only lameness they knew of was strains and sprains. I looked at many feet that day; they were like blocks of wood, hard and rounded. The most noticeable thing was that the sole and hoof wall were all as one. Everything was rounded, tough and smooth, no straight lines or flat surfaces anywhere. In fact there was nowhere flat to put a shoe and no flare to nail to. Shoeing would have been impossible.

I went back to work with a new mindset. Every horse diagnosed with laminitis, navicular syndrome or any other hoof related problem was de-shod and trimmed like the desert horses. All returned to soundness in a short time, remained unshod but more importantly sound. Unfortunately I was not permitted to de-shoe sound horses even though it became obvious that this was the way to go. (Change must happen slowly)

At this point I should explain that the expat’s, Arabs and everyone wore sandals / shoes as the terrain was the roughest I have ever seen. Rock, stones, rough sand and the temperature of the sand was too hot to bear. (But not for the horses)

Back to the UK

Back home in the UK I continued to practice my work with laminitic and navicular horses with great success. As a result of what I have learned I could never again be a party to nailing a shoe on a horse. There is nowhere on a horse's hoof that you can safely drive a nail and be sure you are not hitting the pedal bone edge or piercing the sensitive laminae. In other words the nailing of shoes onto a horse is unnecessary, cruel and medieval - and must be seen as such.

The following pictures show before & after trim, all taken within 30 minutes:

Before Trim

After Trim

The question now is why do we do it? And the popular answers are ‘well we have always shod our horses’ or ‘to protect the horses feet’ or ‘to hold the horses feet together’ or ’we need the grip’ or ’the feet would wear away’ etc. In answer to these statements we used to do lots of things that we don’t do any more as they were harmful and barbaric, we must progress and move forward.

I now know that all this information is available. It is well known that shoeing is harmful. There is proof that an unshod horse will perform better, behave better and live longer than if shod. So why do people who love their horses continue to nail shoes onto their feet? The current barefoot movement is correct in its teaching - unfortunately others with a shoeing agenda refuse to acknowledge the facts. I believe that instead of resenting these new people and criticising their work, farriers and vets should study the subject and consider it an option - not a threat. The people who meet the most horses are vets and farriers; they are the people who should be at the forefront of this new thinking. As the custodians of animal welfare it is their duty to do what they know to be best practice.

To conclude:

‘there is an excuse for anything a man does if he thinks it is right - but if he knows it is wrong or harmful, then there is no excuse and it becomes a crime’

My veterinary advice is mostly from DR TOM TESKEY DVM USA. I should also tell you that i am well known to Marjorie smith [Barefoot for Soundness] Dr Tom Teskey [Ed: further reading - articles by Dr Tom Teskey "Breaking Traditions", "Treating Navicular Syndrome" & "Veterinary Attention for Hooves in Trouble"], John Stewart [john the vet] & others.

Contacting Dermot:

Dermot is an active contributor to Nagtrader Forum - with the name of "hoofsculpture" and may be contacted by email or by posting in the Barefoot section of the forum.

Tel: 02843725961 or (mob) 07736877358
Address: 171 Newcastle Rd, Castlewellan, Co Down, NI

 

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