Hooves in The Natural State
Both wild and feral equid hooves have enormous strength and resilience, allowing any gait on any ground. A common example of the feral horse type is the Mustang. The Mustang is, in part, descended from the Iberian horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish, but most herds also have ancestry from other breeds. Therefore, the famous Mustang hoof strength is in part a result of natural selection and environment. Thus, it is proposed that other domestic breeds could develop similar hooves if raised under similar conditions.
The recent barefoot movement claims that such a strength can be almost completely restored to domesticated horses, when appropriate trimming and living conditions are applied, to such an extent that horseshoes are no longer necessary in almost any horse. If true, it would undermine the belief that "the horseshoe is a necessary evil."
The barefoot management system has not, however, gained a foothold among serious equine professionals, due to three factors: 1) increased strain placed on the hoof in sports, such as eventing and endurance riding, 2) the added weight of the rider and saddle, and 3) man-made surfaces, such as concrete, asphalt, and gravel, which can wear the walls down to the sensitive tissue over time.
Read more about this topic: Quarter Crack
Famous quotes containing the words hooves, natural and/or state:
“Your hooves have stamped at the black margin of the wood,
Even where horrible green parrots call and swing.
My works are all stamped down into the sultry mud.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I met a Californian who would
Talk California—a state so blessed
He said, in climate, none had ever died there
A natural death, and Vigilance Committees
Had had to organize to stock the graveyards
And vindicate the state’s humanity.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The present war having so long cut off all communication with Great-Britain, we are not able to make a fair estimate of the state of science in that country. The spirit in which she wages war is the only sample before our eyes, and that does not seem the legitimate offspring either of science or of civilization.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)