# Noo Shoos



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)




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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Fascinating Kev. Most farriers will not explain in such detail all the technical stuff that they know. Most vets will pass foot problems over to a good farrier. I wonder if anybody wants to go into the trade nowadays?


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## Drew (May 30, 2005)

As you are a "horsey" person Pat. can you please explain how the wild ponies in the New Forrest and Exmoor e.g. cope with having no shoes.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I imagine they don't need them on grass, and it's paved areas which wear down what I assume it like fingernails.


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

Wild horses do less "work" and are usually "off tarmac" so that their hooves grow faster than they wear. Hence they dont need shoes.

As too the future of the farrier, I was told by one that the horse population of the UK (C1M) is bigger now than the mid 20th C. and growing.


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

Pudsey_Bear said:


> I imagine they don't need them on grass, and it's paved areas which wear down what I assume it like fingernails.


Keeping them mainly on grass allows the hoofs to grow that's why they need regular attention. Hard surface work requires shoes to avoid the hooves from wearing down.

The 'wild ponies' are all owned and have annual inspections when they get rounded up, their hooves are usually kept under control naturally by being on both hard and soft surfaces, any that overgrown are cut before being released to roam free again.

The boys get doctored whilst the old and sick become pet food. :surprise:

Surprising what you learn when you help grandkids with lockdown assignments. :grin2::grin2::grin2::grin2:

Terry


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

As above  Also any native pony with bad feet is not going to thrive and so will have died out during natural selection.

Some people now ride their (mainly) ponies unshod. Because they are not heavy and can be kept to grassy tracks etc they do not wear too much hoof away. Wearing the hoof wall away leads them to walk on the soles (center part surrounding the frog) which is painful and they go lame.

I won a trip to Fiji, once, courtesy of a horse feed manufacturer to see the work of the ILPH, now World Horse Welfare. The Fijians tether their horses mostly and the horrendously overgrown feet that we saw was truly gut wrenching. The aim of the charity is to train farriers and saddlers within the country to care for the horses feet and to fit saddles that do not cause awful saddle sores. Much better than arriving, fixing and flying out again. Interesting to note that the men had no interest in learning about treating the saddle sores. The charity had to train the women. They were only allowed to train the women in the use of traditional herbs because they were never going to have access to Western medicine.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)




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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

That's what the horses in Fiji looked like


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)




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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Clever bit of kit. Didn't say how long it took to train that horse to tolerate it. When being shod the traditional way they get a chance to put their foot down in between and rest the other three legs.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)




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