Is Barefoot the Future for Sporthorses?
There's no denying that the idea of keeping horses barefoot has gained a lot of traction in the past few years, with many big names in the equine community taking their horses barefoot.
Among the most vocal on their advocacy of barefoot horses is Olympic Gold Medalist, Peder Fredricson; who attributes his horses' soundness, and lack of injuries to them being barefoot. Peder has paired with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in a new comprehensive research study on how sport horses are affected by being ridden with or without shoes lead by Professor Lars Roepstorff, veterinary surgeon, Professor in Equine Functional anatomy and currently working with applied biomechanics in three different areas; development of tools for objective equine lameness diagnostics, horse-rider interaction and equine footings.
Here’s what they’ve found!
Purpose and Goal of the Study
"To use scientific quantitative methods to investigative how movement patterns can change when a horse moves with or without shoes, with particular focus on the lower leg and hoof" and to calculate forces on the tendons and ligaments in the lower leg in a horses that are shod and barefoot. "More specifically, if we can quantify load in the hoof joint or deep digital flexor tendon when the horse is working with or without shoes, we can get very important information that can be used to explain the positive or negative effect of shoeing on different anatomical structures".
Findings
Barefoot Horses Prepare Their Hooves for Landing
Roepstroff and his team discovered that the hoof will contract mere moments before the landing phase.
“One can speculate whether it is due to the horse preparing the hoof for landing and weight bearing by starting to tense the deep flexor tendon at the same time as the hoof is slowed up in both rotation and position, and thus creates inertial forces, which mean that the tension in the deep tendon, so to speak, receives a counterweight similar to what you see during rollover.”
This preparation was only found in bare hooves, and non-existent in shod horses, due to the restricive nature of the metal.
Future studies will provide more information on this relationship between shoes and the deep flexor tendon.
Shod Horses Move Slower than Barefoot Horses
This study measured just how much even just a tradtional 8mm metal shoe can effect a horse's movement and speed.
With the added weight and height of a horse affixed to the hoof, the horses are forced to lift their limbs higher, exaggerating each stride. This is commonly seen in a lack of "floaty-ness" in a gait.
By permitting a horse to be barefoot, they literally become more light-footed, in turn, allows the horse to accelerate quicker and more more swiftly over and between obstacles.
"All goes a little easier and smoother. (…) You get the feeling that the horse has better control over his body and his feet, because he can feel the surface and there’s no extra weight.”
-Peder Fredricson
Barefoot Horses Use Muscle Power More Efficiently than Shod Horses
As stated before, when the shoes are removed, so is the need for the horse to over-lift its leg.
With this more natural movement, the hoof can remain on the ground for longer in each stride. This allows for "a faster change between support and hover phase, the barefoot horse can keep the hoof on the ground relatively longer than the shod horse during each stride cycle". All the work of movement, whether it is straight forward movement, acceleration or deceleration, quick turns or jumps, is done during the time that the hoof is in contact with the ground".
At his media presentation, "Roepsorff forwarded the question to the audience and asked; Well, who wins the second round against time in showjumping? The horse who can take more steps per second!"
What's next for Lars Roepstorff and his team's study?
As suggested before, there is still a good bit of research that can be done on this topic. Namely, the effects that shoes cause on the deep digital flexor tendon, the direct comparison of blood flow in the body between barefoot and shod horses, as well as,
“The other potentially important effect of increased mobility could be that you get a better shock absorbing mechanism in the lower part of the limb which could reduce maximum loads in joints, tendons and ligaments. The latter we have so far not been able to quantify in this trial, but there are still some analyzes that can be done,” the Professor writes in the research report.
