What Is Natural Hoofcare?

The term "Natural Hoofcare" describes a complete daily care system that is used in conjunction with a physiologically correct barefoot trim. A natural style of horse keeping will allow a horse to remain barefoot throughout its entire working life in all disciplines. This same system can be used to rehabilitate diseased and lame horses.

Natural hoof care is a method used to return horses to a lifestyle in harmony with their physiology and maintain their hooves in a manner that allows them to perform in any capacity desired by the rider. For optimum results, it is recommended that natural trimming only be used with horses that have been provided a natural environment.

The hoof is designed to serve the horse without the addition of a shoe as long as the horse is housed according to its needs and its nature. Wild horses, Mongolian ponies, horses ridden by ancient armies, and horses ridden by Native Americans were not shod and accomplished amazing feats of speed and endurance. It was only during the Middle Ages when horses of the nobility began to be confined in castles that the hooves were so weakened by confinement and from standing on straw, urine, and waste that shoeing was adopted. And with the prestige of knighthood and royalty, a shod horse began to be associated with the elite. The blacksmith guilds created and preserved a mystique about shoeing and hoof care that persists to this day. Send This Article To A Friend