The barefoot movement is ­gradually moving away from being "alternative" or "radical" to becoming part of the main stream. Although there are hardline disciples of the movement who consider shoes as evil and unacceptable, this is not the approach of Equine Podiatrist (EP), Jayne Hunt, of England.

“Hoof health,” she maintains, ”is the result of a balanced approach to horse management. There are a whole range of factors that determine the health of a horse's hooves, and often the focus in the management of the horse is much more on other aspects of his competitive life than hoof health.

“Take nutrition, for example. High energy diets for performance horses are not ­necessarily beneficial to hoof health. The high protein and starch content can cause a microscopic breakdown of the inter-connective tissue within the hoof horn, which can compromise the strength of the hoof.”

Simple management practices, she says, can play a huge role in improving hoof health.

“A show jumper who only comes out of his stable to be worked for an hour a day, for ­example, will not have had the opportunity for his hooves to develop the necessary strength needed for high performance. The hooves need sustained exercise to maintain health along with the rest of the body.”

“I regularly work on horses that come out of shoes on a temporary basis so that I can ­rehabilitate their feet, and then they can go back into shoes and carry on with their ­competitive career. I find, however, that once the owners realise the effect that shoeing has on the feet, they become increasingly ­reluctant to put the shoes back on. Many only shoe ­during the competition season and take the shoes off ­during the off-­season.”

Although it is possible to compete at the ­highest level without shoes, she says, it ­depends on a host of factors including ­genetics, ­nutrition and lifestyle as well as previous damage that may be permanent. While nearly every horse is capable of light work shoeless, some may be ­unable to achieve competition level without needing the support of a shoe.

So, realistically, how should one manage one's horse?

Nutrition

"My observation in many yards in South Africa is that nutrition can be problematic. It is often the yard owner who decides what the horse is going to eat and the owners themselves do not have sufficient knowledge to understand what the horse needs. So even if I do advise an adjustment to the diet and daily routine, they often are not in a position to provide that change.

"What horses need is a balanced diet, ­consisting mostly of forage. In South Africa, the emphasis is far too much on concentrates. Where I am in the UK, it would be rare for a horse to get more than 2 kg of ­concentrates in a day. Here, such a horse would be considered to be on a diet. Horse owners regularly tell me that their horses are on eight or 9 kg of concentrates per day. This is far too much and can make them vulnerable to colic, diarrhoea or laminitis."

Equine podiatry, she says, involves an ­holistic approach to hoof health.

"I don't just look at the feet. By the time I pick up the hooves, I probably have been ­studying the horse for 20 minutes to find out more about him, how old he is, the ­performance ­expectations of the owner, its medical history and what the ­motivation of the owner is for trying to do what they are doing.

“I would have observed the horse’s movement and checked for any inflammation in the feet. I would also have been looking at the horse's diet and his living conditions, allowing me to roughly gauge how many footsteps the horse takes in a day."

Because hooves adapt to their ­environment, it is possible to maintain good hoof health even though the horse does not live in ideal conditions.

"Some people believe that barefoot horses need constant turnout, but I have not found this to be the case. Nor do I believe that the horse needs exercise at all costs, regardless of hoof health. Forcing a horse to do more ­exercise than the hooves are capable of can cause serious damage, particularly if the horse has sore feet to start with".

"If you understand enough about hoof health, you can make controlled use of ­surfaces that stimulate the various structures of the hoof to maintain, or enhance, hoof health. It is not simply about going barefoot. There are plenty of barefoot horses out there with really unhealthy hooves.

"I do not believe that shoes are evil, but they do cloud the issue. If I am going to try and rehabilitate a hoof, the shoe is not ­going to help. It will stop the hoof from being able to distort as it needs to and the nail hole ­damage will weaken the walls. Therefore, I always remove the shoes to work towards improved structure".

Successful hoof rehabilitation needs a strong understanding of the various ­structures that make up the hoof capsule, ­including how they grow, what their purpose is and how they interrelate with each other.

"Every single foot has a different ­combination of problems. For instance, a horse may have wonderful hoof walls but the frogs may be ­underdeveloped and thin. EPs have a method of evaluating the foot, scoring several individual structures within it on a ­ten-point scale where one is really weak and ten basically perfect.

"Once we have scored the feet, we can ­monitor any improvement over time. In the process we are also keeping an eye on what specific approach has the best effect on each structure by maintaining careful ­records. This allows us to work constructively to ­improve the hoof to the highest level that it is capable of.

“The scoring system also gives a good guide to what type of work the horse is ­capable of at a specific time. An average score of five would mean an adequate hoof for general riding, but not really strong enough for performance."

Although certain hooves simply don't have the potential to develop into a seven or eight on the scoring scale due to ­genetic factors, many hooves are weak simply because of a lack of the correct stimuli. These hooves can improve dramatically once the principles of equine podiatry are applied.