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Blazing a Barefoot Trail
Horse owners from all over the world are taking the shoes off their horses and finding them to be more athletic, more capable, more surefooted and healthier than ever. Commonplace are stories and accounts of "unsalvageable" horses who once suffered the excruciating pain of navicular disease or founder, being returned to a state of soundness, free of pain, and full of life. It's not magic, it's as simple as providing a natural diet, the appropriate environment, and proper barefoot care! In our own little corner of the world here at the Copper Caballo Ranch, our barefoot horses are proof to those who need it.
Does it take time and patience to grow a hoof that's tough as nails? Sure, but the payoff is HUGE! "...we now know that steel damages horses' feet: every time, all of the time, one-hundred percent of the time, every minute that steel contacts a horse's foot, damage is being done." Dr. Tomas Teskey D.V.M.
read more about going barefoot and the natural lifestyle
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At Copper Caballo Ranch we offer confinement-free boarding, providing full-turnout in a well-socialized herd in an exclusively barefoot environment.
We use the pioneering principles of
Natural Horsekeeping
to encourage maximum movement, provide various
surfaces that promote healthy barefoot hooves,
and stimulate socialization and play with other
horses in order to achieve a higher state of
physical and mental health for every horse. Nestled in a private setting on 1.1 acres at our new Phoenix/Paradise Valley location, we are conveniently located at the Tatum and Shea Rd. area. We invite ALL horses, and welcome those with debilitating hoof issues such as navicular, laminitis, founder, etc. $425 monthly board includes farrier care.
We're here to help change the standards of
horsecare traditionally accepted by horse
owners. We're here to demonstrate to farriers,
boarding stables, veterinarians, equine rescue
groups, trainers etc, that not only is there a better way
to care for horses, but we also invite them to
see it in action. Our horses deserve better than
to live in cages, to have their feet bound in
metal, to be isolated from others of their kind,
and to be fed improperly on a daily basis. Is it
scary to change? Yes! Does the horse industry
need to change? Absolutely!
"It's time to stand up for our horses.
We should no more force a horse to live in a
cage than we should force a loved one to
live in a room the size of a small bathroom.
Where's the humanity in that?" --
Rebecca Herbert-Clum, author of the upcoming
book Natural Horsekeeping in Action
A recent study found that horses turned out
on only one acre, using non-incentivized
movement strategies, move an average of
three miles per day!! Stall
confinement can arguably only be measured in
"feet per day".
Stall confinement is severely detrimental to
horses both physically and emotionally. It
is an outdated and inhumane way to keep
horses. We do not endorse nor use stall
confinement, and we strongly believe it is
not a responsible method of horsekeeping.
Human
convenience and profit margins should not be
determining factors in how a horse is cared
for, but until horse owners cry out for
progress, those limp excuses for sub-par
equine stewardship will continue to be the
poor standards accepted by the horse
industry as a whole. "Without constant motion,
the circulatory system will function below
average, and regions of the body receive
inadequate supplies of blood, leading to any of
a variety of health problems. It reduces bone
density in adults, and in foals it prevents the
entire body from developing properly, from
hooves to lungs. Prolonged standing also results
in improper hoof growth and function, hoof
deformation, and conformational flaws."
--Dr. Hiltrud Strasser, author of
A Lifetime of Soundness.
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Think Outside the Stall