Putting shoes on!

                For the first time in many years we have had to put shoes on most of the barefoot horses.  We have been having to do more road work because the grass is so wet therefore the feet have been getting more wear than growth and a few of the horses were getting a bit sore.  We would be planning to take them off once it gets drier in the spring.

                I would agree with Chris Keable (our farrier & trimmer) who said – we much prefer to see a horse moving and going well without shoes but we also don’t like to see them struggling.  The horses are here to race and are not garden ornaments so the shoes go on and we keep going.  What is all important to prevent a horse getting a leg is to make sure the angles of the foot are correct and we feel our horses' feet are in a good place still, so hopefully they will not be having shoes on for long.

                Unfortunately over 90% of racehorses get a tendon injury at some point in their career.  Since Chris has been working for us this has not happened and I can’t recall the last one with a tendon strain – we are talking over 5 years now (I am touching wood whilst writing this!).