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A r t i c l e s A n d C a s e
S t u d i e s
Maggie's Story
by her owner, Sandra
Kerridge
I started barefoot trimming after getting and
invite to join Paul Chapman's barefootnaturally
club. This has proven to be one of the best
decisions I have made regarding my horse Maggies
health.
Maggie has had extensive problems with her left
side front hoof, and even after a year off with
regular "normal farriery " the problem was still
there. Needless to say the frustration I felt was
huge, I am trying to finish level two Parelli with
her but reoccurring hoof problems have seen this
hit the back burner more than once. I was advised
by the vet to perhaps consider her as a breeding
prospect rather than ride her.
After joining the Barefoot group and lurking for
several weeks, as I had absolutely no idea about
barefoot trimming I posed the question about
Maggies hoof and if barefoot trimming would be able
to help her. I was then asked to post digital pics
of her hoof so that people on the group would have
a better idea of what they could see rather than my
description of it.
Well needless to say the hoof was nothing short of
bad and at the time of the pic being taken she had
only been shod 3 weeks but had already tossed that
shoe as is evident in the pic. Now armed with a
little advice but no experience I was able to
maintain a tidy hoof until Paul came over to New
Zealand to help with the technique.
In 7 short weeks the difference was incredible
Maggie developed new walk, trot and canter gaits, I
have never seen her do an extended trot with such a
floating stride as she did the second week after
having her shoes removed so much so that I couldn't
resist getting on her bareback to see if I could
feel the difference and all I can say is WOW.
Her walk had so much power and swing her trot was
smooth with such that float coming through and her
canter had so much power it was hard to sit to ..
This horse normally worked and did as asked when
asked but never with such power in her striding as
after going barefoot.
The biggest difference is within the hoof itself,
Mags had a huge cavity in the front of her hoof
that has been prone to getting "seedy toe" and she
had stretched white line and in seven weeks of
rasping the cavity has grown out and even though it
will take time for the white line to repair its
noticeably different already.
Without Paul's help and support I probably would
have gone and put shoes back on ? but since
understanding barefoot terminology and getting much
needed tuition and watching Paul's clinic I will
never put another shoe on my horse or future horses
that I might own again.
The dissection of the cadaver hoof was a huge
insight for me personally as I have never seen
inside a horses hoof and now I understand the
mechanics of the hoof so much better, also it was
coming to grips with new terminology, and changing
my perception of what I understood those old
terminologies to be.
On the other side was having watched what farriers
do normally and how much barefoot trimming is
different. But now being able to know what my horse
requires for good healthy hooves and how to
maintain it myself is fabulous. Kind of reminds me
of Parelli concepts, see what normal people do with
horses and then apply the opposite principals.
Sandra Kerridge and Maggie, New Zealand,
email: Chanceyy@paradise.net.nz
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