Why do some horses go barefoot and do not need shoes

Not everyone believes that horses MUST have shoes. The movement towards barefoot horses is gaining a lot of momentum. I have read some of Dr. Strasser's studies and find them quite convincing.

The problem is that horses who have always been shod may need to continue to be shod, or at least given a good period of adjustment. If you always went without shoes, you'd have tough feet and built-up callouses. If you are like me, and hate going barefoot and so have very soft feet, you couldn't just go out and start running barefoot over gravel. The horse's hoof, in the same way, is hardened and toughened by going barefoot, and if he has always been shod, then it's not an overnight transition.

Dr. Strasser puts much emphasis on not only barefoot trimming, but also limiting stabling time as much as possible. She points out that in the wild, horses graze and nibble and forage most of the day, and are constantly taking a step here, a step there. She found that this slow pattern of walking increases circulation to the lower legs.

When you think about how unnatural it is to put metal on the horse's hoof and then ask him to stand in a stall most of his life, as opposed to what the horse's body would be doing in nature, it's really no wonder that so many horses suffer from hoof problems, navicular, laminitis, and a host of lower leg lamenesses. (and colic, too, from going hours without anything passing through their digestive tract.)