in preparation for a days work.
Smokey Mtn. Stables has a broad representaion of breeds. Among their horses are Percherons, Belgians, Appaloosas, Paso Finos, Tennessee Walking Horses, Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, Arabs and Paints.
Gaited Horses
Missouri
Foxtrotters
More coming soon!
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Barefoot Public Trails
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Horses brought in and getting tacked up
in preparation for a days work. Smokey Mtn. Stables has a broad representaion of breeds. Among their horses are Percherons, Belgians, Appaloosas, Paso Finos, Tennessee Walking Horses, Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, Arabs and Paints. |
| All horses at Smokey Mtn. Stables
are barefoot. |
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steep - often rocky - mountain trails every day. These horses are extremely sure footed. |
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| Two young riders having fun, unaware of the
controversy surrounding the remarkable nature of the bare feet that carry them.... |
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...sure-footed and completely sound. |
| The foot of a Smokey Mtn Stables
High Performance Barefoot Horse! Even though the feet of these horses are shaped
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Relaxing after a day on the trails is a Belgian draft gelding with his friend and new herd member an 18 month Quarterhorse colt. Living and working on rugged terrain keeps these horses' feet tough and strong....naturally. |
| Walking down a steep trail to drink from a stream, the horses at Smokey Mtn. have an ideal environment. |  |
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Sunny (foreground) is a 7 year old unregistered QH out of
a King
Ranch mare and a QH stud.
She weighs about 1200lbs and stands 15.1 or 15.2. She was shod when she was about 4 but only sporadically, most of the time she's been barefoot. The last time she had a set of shoes on was in March of 99. Her owner has been roping on her barefoot since then and
the pair
won their first teamroping event (heeling)
Now the owner's husband is teamroping on Sunny and she has
a new
career as a heading horse!
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This mare recently attended a competitive trail ride at
the Purgatory
North American Trail Ride Conference (NATRC) held at
Purgatory Resort north of Durango Colorado where she placed third. That ride was physically demanding due to the altitude - from about 7000 ft up to over 10,000 ft during the first day ride. |
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| Tonka, a 7 year old Quarter Horse mare.
She's been barefoot (and actively ridden) most of her life. She was shod briefly (about four months) at the age of two (before Katie owned her). Note from Katie: I pulled Tonka's shoes within a few days of buying her. Within
a month,
we moved to Jackson, Wyoming. some of the rockiest land I have ever
encountered.
Most of the valley is made of what is called "glacial moraine."
It's
bascially a huge rock pile left behind by the movement of glaciers
across
the land. I figured I would have to shoe Tonka at some point
because
of all the rocks. I kept waiting for her to get sore, or her feet
to get beat up. That never happened, so she never got shod.
Tonka was trail ridden at the walk, trot, canter, and gallop 4-5 days a
week (2-3 hours at a time) over that rocky land. She had a couple
months
off each winter because the snow always became too deep to ride in.
I have been trimming Tonka myself since I bought her. I DID take a 'Farrier Science' course at CSU, so I wasn't totally in the dark about trimming, but, it was strictly 'old school' methods that were taught. I have always tried to trim according to the natural wear patterns of her feet. As it turns out, I was giving her pretty much a 'four-point trim' before I'd ever heard of the concept. Tonka has NEVER, NEVER been lame, sore, off, or whatever and she continues to be ridden regularly (4-5 times a week). |
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| Casey - a trottingbred pony (Shetland/Standardbred cross) driving at an extended trot barefoot, Casey foundered in May of 1999 while she was pregnant. She was treated with barefoot trimming and she was sound enough to drive in 5 months, she had a very healthy filly on St Patrick's day 2000. The filly has been weaned and Casey is back to a training schedule. |  |
| 5year old arab mare that competes in distance driving events.
These
events are generally 12-18 miles over hilly rocky terrian.
She is driven often the local roads to keep in shape. The mare has never had shoes on and has never been lame or sore going barefoot. This picture was taken with a couple of friends out on a pleasure drive/ride. |
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