A high percentage of Icelandics who are allowed to go barefoot seem to thrive without shoes.
This really tell us how far we've come just in the past handful of years.
About a half dozen years ago, most of the Icelandic Horses were shod
because, well, just because that's the way it's always been done!
Reason given was that you were cruel to the horse to ride him without shoes.
Boy, the excitement when Kerckhaert had a distributor in the US! Now "real"
icelandic shoes were available.
No one questioned why the horse had to wear special *icelandic* shoes, or how
they were different from any other shoe. Remember Kerckhaert says they make
them heavier because that's the way the trainers want them. (We should try
to figure out who, exactly, first put weighted shoes on Icelandics; was it
Feldmann?)
So, in that short a time span, we're now discussing different barefoot
methods!
It's a big change for the horse!
Can your horse be barefoot? Is it healthier than having shoes?
