the hoof is the shoe...

pableus only shoe holds his good luck

Creator did such an amazing job designing nature and this is exemplified in the animal nations. the speed of the panther, the intelligence of the gorilla, and the grace of the horse. then man comes along and tries to alter the design to satisfy his greedy needs. let's take horse hooves for example. they are perfect. they are the shoe. if you study (and everyone with a horse should) the anatomy of the hoof, both inside and out, you will see that the hoof is designed to function just fine, bare. i got this visually when i saw martha olivo dissect a hoof. it all came together for me when i saw how the hoof works from the inside out and the incredible beauty of it. but because some people want their horses to go longer, faster, and harder while oftentimes lame, they nail shoes into the hoof over the shoe that's already there. dumb idea. then comes 'smart' man and he sees the health potential of being shoeless and invents boots for horses. cool hm? a healthier alternative for horses who need to heal or horses who need support over rough or rocky terrain while being ridden. if a horse has had shoes for all of it's life and an owner wants to transition to going barefoot, there's usually a period of healing that includes the owner being pro-active in helping the horse along and, the horse usually shoudn't be ridden until the hooves are healthy and healed again. time and time again, people bulk at this and don't want to do what's required of them to help their horse heal and really want to continue to ride. they will cave, give in, and slap shoes back on. this is dumb too. it takes patience and lots of it, to have a healthy horse and  the problems our ponies experiance can only strengthen our knowledge about them and provide us with info we need to learn about them and their needs.  again...we have to listen! we have begun teaching pableu about his hooves and trimming and we will give him all the time he needs to get comfortable with it. his hooves so shiny and stripey, so vital for keeping his heart pumping and strong, have little invisible wings attached to them that bloom when the moon is full, and carry him to places we can only dream of. hehe...

his hoof waiting for it's first trim