Below are a selection of testimonials received by DAEPs in the UK, and some other examples of shoeless performance.
Superb Action
Cross country
I just wanted to let you know what a success yesterday was. We went barefoot cross country for the first time! It was only a training session, but it was absolutely brilliant! Meg was incredibly surefooted, and all my fears about a lack of traction were completely unfounded - she went better without shoes than she ever did with them. My instructor said she has never seen her going so well, and that her action was superb - she asked when we are going to start doing dressage! I am also really pleased with the way she is today, her legs aren't puffy or swollen at all. So, thanks, I didn't think that not even a year after taking her shoes off we would be charging round a cross country course!
K S in Devon
Good Service & Advice
Summer of 2007 after a bad experience with the farrier I decided to move over to AEP, I had thought about it for a while but just needed the extra push, I had registered with the perfect hoof club and read through the articles and looked at the pictures, then I was convinced that was the path for me.
Before - Sept 07
After - April 08
I contacted Karen Beaumont and that's where we started our journey.
I had put shoes on my Welsh Cob section D for a few months when he was four but had taken them off after he got a splint, he is now six, the splint is hardly noticeable now, my other horses have no problems I have a 5yr old gelding just started under saddle, a 11yr old broodmare with foal at foot and a yearling filly.
I like the attitude of Karen, informing me of the changes in their feet, advising of approaches I can take to improve them, giving information, explaining and taking the time it takes. I would like to learn more, and I am hoping to attend a course because my aim is to manage my own horses' feet with the guidance of Karen. She has made a great impression on me. Now having my horses feet trimmed is a pleasure a look forward to.
Thank you
A C with Darcy, Humphrey, Willow, Zephyr & Dice
Tent Pegging
'Precocious' competing at full gallop in the 'Tent Pegging' competition at the Royal Windsor Show, 8 months after having shoes removed from seriously weak feet.
Laminitis
Bonny is my 16yr old 14.1hh highland mare who I have owned for the past 4 yrs. When I bought her I was aware that she had previously had laminitis which had clearly left its mark on her feet. She still passed a 5 star vetting and had, to me anyway, the most perfect temperament so I bought her.
For the first 2yrs although I had a wonderful time with her there were quite often times when she wasn't 'quite right'. Never exactly lame but a bit footy or she felt lazy. A well known and respected physio recommended that I had her fitted with heartbars as she was showing signs of navicular. Thankfully my farrier didn't agree. In hindsight I believe she was suffering spells of low grade laminitis, something I hadn't heard of at that time.
Bonny & Jay walking through the water at SWEG Fal Valley ride
I'd long been interested in barefoot but thought that Bonny's feet were too badly damaged from the laminitis to cope with it. But it just kept niggling at me so after a lot of research I contacted an Equine Podiatrist and we took the plunge.
I truly believe that going barefoot is the best thing I have done for her along with learning more about conditioning and nutrition. She is completely sound on tarmac and grass and wears boots for long rides or very stony tracks. She is much more comfortable to ride and suffers far less concussion on hard ground. So far we have only done showing in hand and some pleasure and endurance training rides but later this year will be attempting trec. Going Barefoot has not been the cheap or easy option for Bonny but I love all the 'faffing' about with her feet and boots and enjoy the social - and educational - visits from our DAEP.
My husband's horse Jay is a homebred 20yr old 15hh cob/anglo. There's very little to say about his feet really. He's 'sound as a pound' and will travel over any surface at any speed. He never hesitates or stumbles on stony ground and has fantastic traction and balance on grass and mud. He does a lot of roadwork and does tend to wear his heels down but this doesn't affect his soundness or willingness. Nor does the occasional stone bruise he gives himself by 'cowboying' down steep stony inclines. Jay is not a competition horse but takes part in pleasure and endurance training rides, always completely barefoot and bootless, as well as clocking up a fair mileage as a happy hacker.
The best thing about having a barefoot horse -
Apart from the fact that they have beautiful feet, their hooves can work as a hoof should. There is no fixed metal shoe to mask any problems so I know immediately if there is something wrong and can hopefully deal with it before any damage is caused. A big plus as well is that they will not have to put up with the concussion of having shoes nailed to their feet which cannot be comfortable, especially as their joints get older.
The hardest thing about having a barefoot horse -
Is trying not to look smug when your yard friends horses have lost yet another shoe - normally a day before that special event.
From H D in Cornwall
Severe Flare & Crack
An example of what can be done for severely deformed feet in just 9 months.
Before - March 07
After - December 07
Lameness
Wearing Perfect Hoofware
l quick one... he was fantastic today! I'd say he's a 3 again overall, but when he followed me to my photo shoot (instead of staying on my lawn) he was incredible... passage, extended trot, canter (not so pretty), even a bit of a gallop, bucking.... UNBELIEVABLE
Infected & Weak
In order to give a testimony for Karen I have to explain the journey of me and my horse with her in order to put things into context. I can honestly say that I don't believe that Unico would be rideable or sound and perhaps not alive if it were not for Karen.
I have had Unico from a 3yr old colt and have never shoed him. This was done partly because there was no necessity because I didn't back him till 5yrs old and as a pure bred Lusitano his feet are particularly hard and not susceptible to crumbling.
I initially came into contact with Karen 2 years ago when I became concerned at Unico's footyness. There were a lot of stones in the drive way we had to walk on but also I had become concerned when a farrier unfortunately took far too much hoof wall and frog away in a pasture trim a few months before. The problems had really started then. I had put boots on Unico for hacking because of his sore feet and contacted a barefoot trimmer who told there was a problem with thrush and gave me some spray for it.
At this point I had moved to a new place but was still concerned as Unico's frogs were detiorating rapidly. Karen was attending someone else and I had a quick word with her, she told me she felt Unico needed immediate treatment and came up with a number of solutions including a foot soak and the equipment to use it with and impressed upon me not to ride him. I think actually Karen was very shocked at the state of Unico's frogs although she didn't let on. She did say something about a possibility of sheared heels but at no point frightened me. I'm afraid although I didn't realise it then his central sulcus on both feet was nearly sheared through. Karen gave me immediate support and solutions and I never felt pressured to accept her advice or treatments but was impressed at her knowledge of the horses hoof and how to treat it. She was happy for me to contact my vet who in turn was happy for a podiatrist to treat Unico.
I have stayed with Karen from that day onwards and Unico has made slow but progressive steps forward, Karen told me it was not an overnight job. He now has the most wonderful feet, frogs, hoof wall and concavity and completely sound and healthy. He has wonderful elastic paces and I am training him for classical dressage which would not have been possible without Karen's help. I must add Karen not only helped Unico but helped me immensely in gaining a greater understanding of the horse's hoof and how a healthy one should look. She is a font of knowledge about new treatments and methods and ideas and is truly a holistic practitioner approaching things from every angle; she is always accessible and supportive; she is open minded and ever vigilant and will go that extra mile to help, and she is a thoroughly nice person as well.
Most of all I am so grateful to her for helping my horse and getting him back from the brink of disaster. I love looking at Unico's feet now because through Karen I know what I'm actually looking at. I would not consider putting shoes on him and holes into such healthy hoof walls would be such a perverse thing to do. I am very, very grateful to her and have never found this level of knowledge and support accessible from vets or farriers.
From A B
Heel Pain
Pip was in fairly light work on a weekly basis but began to fall lame occasionally over a period of two years. The lameness would always be prescribed box rest and bute by my vet and after a short while Pip would become sound again. These intermittent periods of lameness increased in frequency until the summer of 2006 when I demanded more from my vet as I felt that the problem was not being solved sufficiently through bute and box rest. The vet agreed to x-ray him and diagnosed him with "heel pain", and more bute and remedial farriery were prescribed to bring him back to being sound. My farrier began with putting on heart bar shoes, then full frog shoes when Pip's frogs began to deteriorate. On each of his visits my farrier would lengthen the heel plate at the back of the shoe in order to compensate for Pip's heel pain, and what the vet had called his "upright pasterns". Still, Pip continued to go lame and I continued to spend more and more money to make him comfortable.
It was at the point I reached the limit of both my finances and my tolerance of watching my horse go through these painful processes that I contacted Lindsay.
Lindsay sat me down and calmly explained to me about AEP, gave me lots of things to read and made me feel safe, and that someone finally understood the heart wrenching rigmarole of watching your horse in pain and not knowing where to turn to.
Before - June 07
After - April 08
She explained to me that if I decided to take the AEP route it would be a long journey to Pip's recovery but the recovery would be one that was maintainable, not one that would just be another quick fix. 5 months on and I am riding again, Pip is a totally different pony and we are both happier then we have ever been. It took a lot of hard work and we still have a long way to go but I know that we are going to get there now.
5 months ago I was considering putting Pip to sleep as I thought that it would be the only way to stop the pain that he was in. Now I am back in the saddle of a pony who is livelier, happier and more at ease than I have ever seen him.
Mel with Pip
Expertise
Onyx is a 7 year old TB bought out of a race yard Jan 05. He was very underweight and very depressed. His feet were in the same shape as the rest of him and his soles were so soft that I could press my thumbs into them. My farrier at the time was very patient, putting new shoes on every week or two as he continually pulled them off. When he did I had to bandage his foot within the hour or he would be so lame. He also tripped very badly, I only ever trotted on grass, and sometimes he ended up with mud all up his face where he had taken a nose dive. After a year of getting him mentally and physically well I decided to give him a month off over Christmas, and when I suggested taking his shoes off my farrier said his feet wouldn't handle it and they would fall apart and he would be lame. Anyway he wasn't and they didn't. I decided I would try going barefoot for a while as we weren't doing much and he was okay. My farrier really didn't like the idea and I felt I was getting no support from him so I contacted an equine podiatrist.
Initially we progressed well but I noticed that gradually his hoof structures began to deteriorate again, his toes getting longer, heels starting to under run and quarter cracks and toe cracks appearing. When I questioned her I wasn't getting any real explanations so I made some phone calls took some advice and decided to contact Lindsay Cotterell DAEP. I can now be rest assured that as an Active Alumni member of the Institute of Equine Podiatry Lindsay follows a Code of Ethics and attends regular Continual Professional Development and her explanations of hoof function are evidence based. His feet have improved so much, even after the first couple of trims, the difference was very noticable.
Lindsay has been full of advice and help on how to improve his feet more and more and with this advice they just keep getting better. She is very kind, gentle and patient with Onyx as he can be a bit cheeky, but can be easily upset.
C B in Chippenham
Neglected
When I purchased my Welsh Section C mare, she had very overgrown feet, landed toe first, had White Line disease and infected frogs. Through the care and advice of my DAEP, she now has very good feet and is landing much better. There is still a little work to do with regards to improving her frogs, but I am convinced that this will come with time. My mare is also not that happy having her back feet held up for long periods of time and Jo has been very patient and kind with her. I have found the Spectrum of Usability Sheets and the photos very useful for tracking Gabby's progress and cannot believe how much of an improvement there has been, when I look back!!
N K wih Gabby, a 4yr old, 14hh, Welsh Section C
Endurance
I have a 15' 2 Anglo Arab mare (Emily) who I compete with at endurance riding. I have always been interested in keeping my horse as naturally as possible within my particular circumstances and decided to try her barefoot at the back to see how we got on. Well to be honest I thought we were doing pretty well. My master farrier basically just shod her fronts and did a quick tidy up of the backs, they never really needed trimming much, miles of road work saw to that! Anyway we kept on until she started to fail a few vettings - lame on her shod front hoof, not the barefoot backs! Then we had a period where she was just felt off - but wasn't really lame - passed the pre-ride vetting then went hopping lame on a ride. We trailered her back to the venue, the vet examined her - no heat, no swelling, not foot sore - advised to rest and see how we went.
I panicked and had her re-shod at the back. This made no difference to her way of going, still a bit off. Then met Karen after advice of friend.
Had all shoes removed and we began barefoot again. I remember saying to Karen that I learned more in the first 10 minutes with her as my Podiatrist than I had in the last 3 years of having my horse traditionally shod. I learned that my mare had worn her back heels away - I had no idea! I learned about thrush and the importance of trimming the frog. How important boots were for the transition period. Diet, exercise stable management, turnout. We spent the next few weeks constructing a little pebble beach in front of her stable to help condition her feet. I cannot tell you how much information I was given to help me to care for my mare. I felt supported for the first time in many months with what I had been trying to achieve with my mare - that was to ride her unshod.
Emily's trophies
Now it has not been plain sailing. Gentle hacks and my weekly lessons are done barefoot but when we compete we boot up. I must have tried every boot on the market - some were difficult to put on, some rubbed, most came off at speed but eventually we got there. Last year we were Staffordshire's top horse and rider for Sport Endurance, as well as top mare, and top unregistered horse and nationally we were second to the champion horse and rider in our group - I can tell you that felt good.
We also tried our first ever 50 mile race ride - completed in our Old Mac G2's.
So I guess you could say its working for us. Many people still look at us as if we are mad when we boot up and ride but I am convinced Emily will benefit from being barefoot and with Karen's support hope to keep her that way.
