I got a new hip a few weeks ago and am so excited. Getting a new hip is easy – you just buy it, they pop it in and boom you are good to go. What isn’t so easy is the follow-up. For the last few years I was gimpy and lame. Now my physical therapists have told me I have to find a “new normal” way of walking, a new gait you might say. Right about now, you are probably asking yourself, “What does this have to do with me and my horse?” Well, I think my experience is similar to finding a new normal when you pull the shoes off a horse. If your horse is shod, has he ever been gimpy? Does he lose shoes frequently because there is no hoof wall left to hold the nails? If so, your horse is probably wanting a “new normal” too.
I’ll admit having the farrier come out and shoe every 6-8 weeks is easy with hardly any work involved. My surgeon told me no-one dies from having a bad hip and this was an elective surgery. That said, I was in a lot of pain and wanted a better quality of life so I decided to go for it. Horse’s don’t die from being shod either but I think some horses are more comfortable in boots than they currently are in metal shoes.
Deciding to take your horse barefoot and buying EasyCare boots is the easy part. Maintaining a barefoot horse takes commitment and work, just like the physical therapy required after a hip replacement. Even though it takes some effort, in the end it will be totally worth it.
PS – I am doing great on my fight against procrastination (see previous blog) this post is a day early!
Shari Murray
