Footsore

Shortly after Francesca's overreach injury had healed enough for us to start dressage lessons together, she had another set-back. This one would be the start of downward spiral that in some ways I think she's still recovering from.

When I bought Francesca, she had shoes on her front feet. She soon threw one, and I had the farrier pull the other one while he was at the barn for another appointment. My knowledge of hooves at that point was so limited that it never occured to me she may experience some soreness transitioning from shoes to barefoot. Fortunately, Francesca appeared to be "sound" without shoes.

When I noticed that her hooves had started to chip and crack, my trainer suggested it was time for a trim. Shelly, the trimmer at the barn who had introduced me to the herbal product before, also introduced me to the principles of Dr. Hiltrud Strasser's barefoot trim methodology. I promptly learned what a coffin bone was, and words like laminae, callus and bars also became part of my vocabulary. However, with this new knowledge about the hoof came criticism from my trainer regarding the Strasser practice. She instilled enough fear in me that I decided to use a conventional farrier for Francesca's trim. While I would eventually learn that "conventional" is just as much of a label as "alternative" is in the realm of hoofcare, my first experience with the former happened to be a bad one.

Despite my intention to leave Francesca barefoot, the farrier had seemingly trimmed her hooves as he would have if preparing them for shoes. The next day, Francesca was so sore it was devastating to watch her try to walk. I consulted Shelly and she told me why my horse was lame. In short, the farrier had nipped off too much toe and removed sole, which made Francesca painful on just about any terrain. Shelly told me that despite the soreness, getting her moving on a flat, hard surface was critical to increasing blood flow and promoting hoof growth. So I began to walk my sore horse on the lawn beside the long, gravel driveway.

I recall the farrier's explanation later that he trimmed every horse the same way - dismissing that it was his type of trim that rendered Francesca lame. Even then, it seemed wrong to trim a hoof for shoes if you're not going to actually put the shoes on. My trainer suggested that I should put shoes back on her and get back to my dressage lessons. This didn't seem right either, having just learned about the virtues of a barefoot horse. I stuck to my gut, and to the hope that there was truth to Shelly's theory.