In the interest of their horses' health and welfare, more and more horse owners are turning away from the traditional horseshoe. A successful transition from shod to barefoot, however, depends on a certain amount of knowledge and specific conditions to enable the horse, after a time of transition, to be ridden or driven over any terrain without problems.
For most horses, the transition from shod to barefoot means some amount of stress and discomfort. Not only do they have to grow accustomed to a new way of movement, they must also contend with changes in the shape of the hoof, the corneal coffin joint and the joint ligament. The discomfort or lameness in the period after the shoes have been removed are NOT due to excessive wear of the hoof; with the few hours of daily exercise most horses get, this is not a danger.
THE REASON FOR THE PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AFTER REMOVING THE SHOES IS THE HEALING OF A DEFORMED HOOF, ALTERED FROM ITS NATURAL, PHYSIOLOGICALLY SOUND SHAPE.
Two hundred years ago, the English vet Bracey Clark already stated that a hoof, AFTER ONLY A SINGLE YEAR OF SHOEING, becomes deformed, ie. contracted.
How severely the deformation of a shod hoof is depends on several factors. Among these are: how long the horse was shod, what type of shoe was used and at what intervals the horse was shod, the type of work it was used for, and whether, as a young horse before its first shoeing, it had good conformation and sound hooves.
However, even an unshod hoof can, through incorrect hoofcare, lack of exercise, drying out, and lack of varied terrain, become considerably altered from its normal, functioning form, and present problems without ever wearing away too much horn.