Something I have never seen- can anyone explain?
 

Yesterday at Laurel, there was a horse in the 8th race who raced with no shoes. I have never seen this before and wonder why anyone would do this? I can't imagine it is very comfortable for the horse.

Any ideas?

Paul

Turf or dirt race?

It was a dirt race (maiden Special weight) going one mile. And I am talking no shoes at all, front or back.

Paul

He must have fantastic feet. It would actually be more comfortable and natural to run without shoes. Who is he out of?

The trainer must have felt the track was safe enough to run on with no shoes as well.

My girlfriend's horse (a racing-retired T-bred) never wears shoes, he's just got fantastic feet. Correct me if i'm wrong but i think this is more common in europe than the US.

I don't know about Europe but it's not that common here. What was the horse's name yesterday? Deb

The horse's name is Quiet Search. He is trained by John M. Myers and was bred in Kentucky by Francis Hill Myers.

Paul

Thanks. I see he finished last. Curious if next time he'll still be shoeless. If you follow the Laurel meet, would you watch for him please and let me know? Thanks, Deb

Sorry to get off topic, but your dog is beautiful.

Thank you. He's an 11 year old Alaskan Malamute. His registered name is "Demon's Begone" but we call him Damien. He's a 90lb fool. Deb

Paul...there are many reason's why a horse might NEED to go barefoot, and then there are the reasons why an owner or trainer might WANT the horse barefoot...I wouldn't want to speculate on this particular horse. But there is a very popular method of trimming horse's feet right now to closely resemble a 'wild' horse foot...I'm not a fan--but many others are.
If a horse has good feet, there is no reason why it can't go barefoot, most TB's don't have good feet IMO and that's probably why it's not seen very often. There is a barn in England that is very big in to going barefoot...check the links on the site below.
http://www.thehorseshoof.com/barefootperf_race.html

Good info, Bethani... I'm not so sure I'm a fan of the glue on shoes that BD uses, either. What are your thoughts on those?

whatever works for a particular horse is okay with me...if the glue on's keep him sound great. One of my best friend's is a farrier who does a lot of corrective work--he's always b*tching about what a pain they are but for some horses it's the only thing that they can tolerate

Glue on shoes are usually used if the hoof wall can't take the nail (too thin or damaged). Not sure why they use them on Brother Derek. I don't see them training him barefoot if his wall is damaged.

Yeah, that didn't make sense to me either, but I'm not familiar with glue ons. I've only heard that if they come off, they can really mess up a hoof, but I guess that's typical with most shoes.

I just read the article on barefoot horses. Maybe they're trying to grow out Brother Derek's hoof so they can run him barefoot. I emailed the article to the equine vet I work for so I'll let you know what he says. Deb

I remember hearing something about BD that he just got really foot sore when they put nails in him...no exact details though.

More factors to consider about glue ons (from my farrier friend)...
application is a very exact and time consuming thing--if your horse won't stand still for the farrier they are not a good candidate.
cost--it will add about $100 per pair to your shoeing bill. And they have to be changed every 4 weeks and they are not reusable.
it takes 2 shoeing cycles for the glue to fully adhere to the hoof--basically it just draws all of the moisture out of the wall...after the first cycle the whole foot is just a mess in terms of composition...it is crumbly and the walls get very brittle...if anything goes wrong and the glue ons are not working at this point there will not be enough wall left to hold a nail and you have to wait for it to grow out.
there are a couple of different brands/kinds of glue ons...'Sigafoos' have a kevlar cuff which goes over the foot and the shoe is attached to that so if it falls off the hoof wall is not damaged...but the rest...well lets just say if a horse pulls one off you will have quite a mess do deal with...I can't remember what he told me but the amount of force required to get one off is pretty amazing, and no surprise that they tear the foot up.
http://www.equineshoetechnology.com/pages/9/index.htm

Thanks for posting that link... very interesting. It looks like a tough job for sure! :eek:

I never knew how good my blacksmith was until I read this. We've used glue ons for 10 years without any of the above problems. But I wont tell him because he already charges too much.

Well I tell my farrier all the time how great he is...cause I always hope the flattery will get me some kind of better rate (he charges too much too)...We actually considered glue ons for my horse at one time but I didn't want to pay for them (go figure)...what are you using them for?

I did not think it was THAT uncommon.
but maybe it is.
Ive certainly seen it before though.

Ive read Dixie talk about this very issue in the past.


Repent

What else...bad footed horses!!. The usual problems, bad walls, tender soles, etc.

thanks smarty....guess I deserved that.:o

I once ran a horse barefoot behind on the grass at Gulfstream. We discovered that the blacksmith had changed the back shoes on the horse and got confused and thought that horse was running on the dirt and put shoes with toe grabs on behind. The stewards let me pull the shoes in the holding barn, they announced the change and the horse ran really well (2nd). Better than he had. When I took him to Belmont for his next start the stewards would not let me run without the hind shoes.

hmm,
good information.

I was playing Belmont one time earlier this year.
McLaughlin(I think that was the trainer) had a filly that was light years faster than the other horses in the short field.
anyway, she was acting up and they could only get like 3 shoes I think.
so the stewards scratched her and let her run for purse money only.
Im at Lone Star just watching on the monitors and did not have any audio.
it said SCR next to her name, so I adjusted my play.
thought she was not running.

then I watch her win for fun.

maybe shoes are overrated.


Repent

Sometimes....

I asked the vet today. He said as long as the horse has good feet to start with, it's healthier for him to go barefoot. It allows the frog to expand and contract which allows for better blood flow. The foot will actually grow a "hook" (may be the wrong word to use as it's not an actual hook) that will allow the foot to grasp the ground better. Shoes with toe grabs will not let that hook grow.
If I didn't explain this well enough, I apoligize. We didn't finish barn calls until late and I just got home 1/2 hour ago. Deb

Yeah but its also probably healthier for horses to run around in fields than race and that would get a bit old after a while.

Years ago at Calder (1993, I think) Happy Alter ran a horse named D J Cat barefoot and, for whatever reason, it was a big deal. I mean, I guess it's not too common, but it does happen from time to time. It was also a time well before glue-on shoes became fashionable.

Local media picked up the story (remember when local media actually cared about racing?) and one of the features reporters took off his shoes and walked around the tow ring behind D J Cat. I just remember how much that guy cracked himself up about it. Hey, to each his own...

And I don't think Brother Derek was ever without shoes. Glue-ons, maybe, but not barefoot. At least I've never seen him barefoot.

He was barefoot for a period of time in Del Mar before he ran his first race back.