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Competing a Naturalised Horse
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 Although
I love this new system of horse management, I am worried about
eventing a barefoot horse. ******* I have also tried to keep
dressage horses on the road in a 'conventional' yet
heartbreaking regime and needless to say have not managed to
keep them sound. It has also resulted in me losing my own
confidence along the years. I have currently got a little
coloured cob to play with!! I really hope that one day I will
find the confidence to get back to riding and competing at a
decent level and am very eager to speak to anyone who can
inspire and encourage me. ******* I am in the process of
converting my horse to going barefoot but am very interested how
your competition horses have coped with the conversion and how
it is being received in the competition world, as I have already
come across some great opposition to it - not that that will
deflect me from my goal!
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 Don't
be put off! For a start it seems ridiculous that any dressage
horses are shod; the owners are so fussy about the surfaces they
ride on and the horses are rarely hacked out (not that this is a
good thing, necessarily!). For jumping, the frog is a natural
shock absorber and anti-slip device to rival studs, and a number
of riders are now working barefoot. Les Sparks is completing
100-mile endurance rides barefoot, Simon Earle is very
successfully racing barefoot thoroughbreds, and it seems that
Emma Hindle, member of the Senior British Dressage team and
owner of a number of top stallions, converted last year to
barefoot horses. For me, I find that Simple Systems feeds and
Top Spec between them provide enough energy for my horses to
compete throughout the winter, and working them properly keeps
them fit. Being hairy will not detract from their ability to
perform; in fact a full coat will regulate their temperature
better than a clipped horse. The only limit is in your own
commitment.
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Would
you compete in a bitless bridle if you could? I ride my mare Taz
in one (not a hackamore) and so far only ever able to do one
unaffiliated preliminary dressage event (where she came 6th out
of 24).
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I
must admit that I have some reservations about the action of a
hackamore: I think that the bridle could damage the nose just as
badly as a bit can damage the mouth in the wrong hands. Instead,
I think we need to understand that it is up to us to be
responsible for riding a horse in such a way that it can be
comfortable, whatever bridle he is wearing. My bit of choice at
the moment is a loose-ring, rubber-covered snaffle, which all my
horses seem to like, but for competition we have to stick to the
British Dressage guidelines, obviously. At the Regional Dressage
Finals in August 2005 i was the only rider in the Avanced Medium
class riding in a snaffle. However, I have ridden piaffe,
passage, one-time changes and many more movements on Black with
no bridle at all, just a piece of rope around his neck. It is a
lovely experience.
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I
have a TB x pony horse that I wanted to event this summer. The
problem I had is that although his flatwork is much better now
that he is barefoot, how do I compensate for not having studs in
the showjumping and cross-country sections? I am worried that he
is going to slip over, or that I will have to make turns so wide
that we will get time faults. What would you suggest? I have
tried boots on him and he just pulls the front ones off.
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First
of all, the frog is a shock absorber and anti-slip device in
itself. Without shoes his suppleness and balance should start to
improve as they very often hold themselves to avoid slipping:
metal is remarkably slippery, as you may have noticed on tarmac!
Also, more of the foot makes contact with the ground and
provides a better weight-bearing surface. I have ridden my
horses on sheet ice, and although one foot slid, it still did
not bring the horse down. There IS a difference between slipping
and sliding! Studs have actually accounted over the years for a
lot of injuries, not only over-reaches but also because they
change the foot balance drastically. Try being springy, balanced
supple and athletic in rugby boots when you only wear them
occasionally. The strain on the muscles can be dramatic. This is
worrying in the face of the fact that many riders are now
putting in studs for the dressage section of eventing too if it
is on grass! Horses slip because they are unbalanced or not
supple, not because they don't have studs.
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bowhayesfarm@btconnect.com
