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“Studies carried out on the relationship of foot imbalance to lameness conclude that up to 95% of all horses have some form of foot imbalance which predisposes them to injury. ……. It is a sad fact that approximately 70% of all sport horses (certainly in the UK and possibly worldwide) will sustain at least one musculo-skeletal disorder in any one season, but it may come as an even greater surprise to know that as many as three quarters of those injuries are caused or contributed to by imbalances in the feet.”

“…..because of the way the horse is put together and how he moves, there can be little doubt that sore backs and incorrectly balanced feet have a causal relationship with each other. Women readers will know that standing up all day wearing high-heeled shoes takes its toll on their backs as well as their feet.”

The following quotes come from No Foot, No Horse, 1999 authored by Martin Deacon, a Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Farriers, and Gail Williams who has a PhD in Equine bio-mechanics.

“If the feet are imbalanced, then the whole horse is functionally imbalanced and his ability to perform optimally is impaired”.

“As soon as we apply a shoe to the foot of a horse we are preventing him from undertaking his own natural foot balancing, the normal wear and tear that his feet would be subjected to in the wild. After all, feral horses do not need farriers.”