Barefoot horse inspiration at Performance Barefoot

First the healthy , rock crunching hooves of a sound Nevada feral horse. If they look strange to you then it is probably because you are used to looking at hooves so deformed and sick that they need protection from the very ground that nature intended them to work over. These hooves are things of beauty and strength. They are the way nature intended hooves to be and each domestic horse was born with this hoof and has this hoof waiting to grow if we allow it to through correct diet, stimulus and wear. (Photos taken from Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You, Pete Ramey)

Second Sarah’s bay Arabian, Jesta whom she bought in February 2003 as an unshod five year old. He had been predominantly used as a show horse but had never been shod. After instructions from Sarah’s farrier to go out and buy a horse with better feet than Fari she thought she might have found something he would be pleased with in Jesta. Although he was not too enthusiastic at the time, his willingness to persuade and encourage Sarah not to shoe Jesta until he was competing in distances over 30 miles was to set Sarah on the barefoot road. Thank you Ian!

Third Sarah’s grey Arabian, Fari whom she shod from the age of three to eight at which point he tore a suspensory ligament. It might seem funny that he is an inspiration for he has been a difficult horse to transition to full barefoot soundness. But often inspiration and learning come through struggle and challenge. Fari continues to be a challenge and wears hoof boots on his front feet for many of his endurance rides but his feet continue to become tougher and one day.............!