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Natural Hoofcare

Thank you for visiting 4Hooves! My name is Bruce Armstrong. I own barefoot horses in the Grampian Region. Contact Me

This web site is all about our experiences of transitioning horses from shoes to barefoot, our growing understanding of laminitis and about giving barefoot horses the best chance of success. It's about the discoveries and the challenges of keeping barefoot horses, but mostly about the benefits.

This web site will help you to find out more about keeping horses barefoot, information about laminitis, optimum feeding and it will even help you with practical things like finding the digital pulse! There is information about how we have coped with multiple laminitis events over the years, and what we have found works for us.

I hope you enjoy the site and find the information and stories useful and thought provoking. Please have a look at the Products pages too. There are products for you and your horse.

The Barefoot Horse

More and more owners are taking their horses barefoot. They are discovering that our horses and ponies do not need to wear shoes, and that there are significant health, behavioural and performance benefits to be gained by going barefoot. Most horses can happily make the transition to running barefoot, and can do everything barefoot that they did iron-shod, do it better and more safely.

We all want long life, and lifelong soundness for our much loved horses and ponies – so it’s really time to rethink the use of metal shoes and all the compromises that they imply.

Barefoot horses are generally happier, healthier and more relaxed than shod horses. A barefoot horse will almost certainly enjoy a longer working life than a shod horse. He will slip less than a shod horse, be less fatigued after long hacks, will be more evenly muscled and will probably be more relaxed in temperament.

As a rider, thanks to the reduced concussion, you will notice that you feel less tired and have fewer aches and pains after long rides too!

Every horse or pony can enjoy the benefits of naturally bare feet regardless of their age, or whether they have worn shoes all their lives or only for the last year. Big horses and litle ponies, horses with black, white and striped feet can all go barefoot successfully.

Barefoot must not be seen as a low cost or effort free alternative to shoeing. Barefoot does not just equal shoe-less.

Going barefoot requires committment on the part of the horse owner. As a horse owner wanting to going barefoot, you have to consider the changes that you may have to make to your horse's diet, it is possible you may have to adjust his workload during transition, and you will probably have to make changes in the way that you keep your horses.

A barefoot horse requires regular hoof care, just as a shod horse requires regular shoeing.

Some owners who have transitioned their horses have found that shoes were masking underlying hoof problems and soundness issues, and often these became apparent when the shoes come off and the horse is allowed to walk as nature intended him to walk. Sometimes horses that were previously fine on grass are found to be sensitive - the deadening effect of the shoes on the hooves were masking the low grade footiness that became more apparent when the shoes came off.

So if you find yourself saying “my horse can never go barefoot, his feet are awful” then maybe your horse really does need to go barefoot, to be free of shoes, and allowed to grow a new hoof that is of a far higher quality, and more functional, than the shod hoof he has today.

Keep a pony working!

The videos below are of our pony Bramble - a chronic laminitic who was in and out of crisis when he was shod. With Anni Stonebridge's help he has grown fantastic hooves and has remained sound and working - even on tracks like this! He had a big setback this spring, and you can read about it here.

Barefoot book - written by UK authors for UK horse owners!

Nic Barker and Sarah Braithwaite published their first book "Feet First" in July 2010. This book challenges the notion that shoeing is essential and demonstrates that horses’ hooves are capable of high levels of performance on all surfaces without shoes.

Practical, measured and research based, the book discusses how diet, environment, exercise and trimming affect the hooves, and shows that going barefoot can often improve hoof performance dramatically. This book will appeal to anyone who wishes to improve the performance of their horse’s hooves as well as to professionals involved in equine hoof care.

Click on this link for a full size PDF of the cover.

Buy it here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feet-Firs...ks&qid=1242991544&sr=8-13

NEWS & Announcements

4Hooves is going to move !

First - thank you for all the visits over the last few years. I'm very moved by the many folks who have been in touch and told me the story of their horses, and how for some of them the stories and information on this site have been invaluable and inspiring as they struggle with their own sensitive and laminitic equines..

If this information here sets even one horse on the road to recovery, then it's all worthwhile!

The Microsoft Office Live Small Business service is changing to Microsoft 365, and although it still provides the simple website service it provides lots of other functionality that I just don't need in the price of the subscription.

So 4Hooves will close down at the end of the month and we will be moving to another hosting provider. Hopefully it will be better and faster than it is at the moment.

It also gives me the push I need to restructure and update the site and make it more streamlined and easier to read, and more information for the owners of laminitic horses.

See you at the relaunch!

Picture page updated!

Picture page updated just for Abbi and Darcy!

Bramble Update

Bramble's page on his 2011 laminitis episode has been updated with an up to the minute report!

We have moved!

We moved to our new yard at Begsley yesterday. After days of hammering in posts and stringing wire, it's all done and the boys are settled.

Pictures Here!

Pictures Page

Bowing to pressure from Becky and her friends, I'be put up a picture page with pictures of the boys. I'll add more as they become available.

Bramble's Laminitis

Updated!

It has been a tough year for Bramble so far. he went into acute laminitis in the early spring. Read about it and his progress Bramble Springtime Laminitis 2011

More surgery

I'm just back home from hospital after the third attempt to reconstruct my abdominal muscles. Feeling sore, but glad it is behind me now.

14th Birthday!

Becky celebrated her 14th birthday with some friends at the yard having fun with the horses and ponies, and consuming lots of fizzy drinks, chocolate cake and sweets! Then a massive feast at Jimmy Chungs!

Pictures are here!

A minor swing

I have signed up for this site - it's massive fun and I'm learning loads.

I have followed Martin Taylor and his unique style of Jazz guitar music for many years, but now he has provided an innovative site that helps guitar players like me improve our playing and musical skills.

So it still sounds like I'm playing a chainsaw, but at least it might be a tune you can recognise!

Find out more about Martin at his home page, and listen to sample tracks http://www.martintaylor.com/

Forrage Plus

Sarah Braithwaite of the UKNHCP has introduced a new service "Forage Plus" which provides a bespoke equine nutritional service.

Her site is http://forageplus.com/

BIG changes at McLaren Software.

This week the company I work for, McLaren Software, been acquired by IDOX Group. This is good news and allows us to broaden our product range and secures new funding, and also gives us access to the resources of a much larger organisation.

The McLaren press release is HERE and the IDOX press release is HERE

Fantastic progress at Rockley

Nic Barker is a leading barefoot practitioner and rehabilitation expert based in Devon UK. She is doing groundbreaking work on rehabilitating navicular horses at Rockley Farm.

Nic's blog is HEREand you can read about Kingsley and Solomon and see the changes in their hooves and gaits.

Trimming

So sorry - if you have come here looking for trimming services, I am not trimming at present, mainly due to recovering from abdominal surgery that makes bending difficult, and will update this site when I can trim again.

Please browse and enjoy the rest of the site and I hope you find the information useful! I recommend that you contact Anni Stonebridge.

Her contact details are on the Useful Links page.

4Hooves

A Journey Without Shoes