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"The greatest advantage is to hoof health. By leaving a horse barefoot, one allows
the hoof's natural functions of shock absorption, traction, and biomechanics to perform at
their optimum. Shoes inhibit natural function and the horse's natural way of going, and
limb interference with shoes can cause injury."
---Debora Ash, American Farrier's Association (AFA) certified farrier, BHS assistant
instructor, and co-author and publisher of Study Guides (to aid farriers for AFA national
certification examinations)
 
"The foot was designed to be unshod. Anything
that you add to the foot, like a horseshoe that is nailed on, is going to interfere with
the foot's natural process. Most horseshoes have six to eight nails, possibly one to three
clips, all of which constrict the foot's ability to expand and contract. Add pads,
packing, any number of alternatives to the shoe, and you create a gait alteration. It all
interferes with the natural process of the mechanism. Ideally, for the foot to work the
way it's been designed through evolution to work, you'd rather do less than more to the
foot. But that may or may not be a realistic wish."
---Emil Carre, AFA president, AFA certified journeyman farrier, and a consulting editor
for Hoofcare and Lameness magazine
  
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