To pull or not to pull? That is the question facing many hunter exhibitors. PULLING SHOES BEFORE UNDER-SADDLECLASSES: 22 USHJA IN STRIDE / JUNE 2007 Julie Moses Photo
Tessa Magee HORSE WELFARE T he stage is set and the competition is fierce. There are hundreds of riders amateurs, juniors and professionals alike skillfully making their way over courses of all levels. Welcome to one of the country s premier winter/spring circuits, and a year-round haven for horses and horse lovers. We re talking about Wellington, a veritable equestrian village topped off by lush lawns and weather ordered up to perfection. It s an area that boasts an economy built in large part by the horse industry. When you add West Palm and the surrounding coastal paradise to the equation, you ve captured the essence that has become Florida s true calling card. But amidst the flurry of satin ribbons and grand trophies is an undercurrent of determination. Raw desire not only to be the best, but the best of the best. Within this competitive framework, some are starting to see what they describe as an alarming practice. It s not just happening in Florida; indeed, it s becoming increasingly popular at competitions around the country. Forget the grand or reserve grand you won yesterday it s about the repeat performance tomorrow. Or next week. This is a determination that some feel might be leading owners, trainers and riders into a dangerous cycle. It s something Wellington-based farrier Tony Bucci is starting to see all too often. There is presently a practice occurring among some hunter riders and trainers of removing the front shoes for the under-saddle classes, he wrote in a March 2 letter ad- HORSE WELFARE HARMLESSTREND OR HARMFUL FAD? Equestrians sound off about this controversial show ring practice. By Sarah E. Kelley JUNE 2007 / USHJA IN STRIDE 23
HORSE WELFARE dressed to a member of the United States Hunter Jumper Association s Horse Welfare Committee. These people are of the opinion that this enables a horse to move better and consequently win the class, and ultimately, the division. Those who support the practice say pulling shoes helps the horse to be natural, to move more smoothly and lower to the ground, thus catching the judge s eye and boosting the score. But critics like Tony say these supposed benefits are not only questionable, they re built on a bedrock of superstition. This practice is now to the point where these same people are starting to remove all four shoes, thinking that if removing two wins the class, then removing four should make it easier to win. I guess [it s] the old adage that if someone accidentally splashes yellow paint on a horse s face and that horse should win the race, then all the horses in the next race will run with yellow faces, the letter continued. After a lengthy discussion in a recent Horse Welfare Committee meeting, it was clear that there needed to be a community-wide dialogue about this issue. Committee chairman Glena Wirtanen wants to stress, however, that it only came up as a result of the blacksmiths concerns. A long-standing steward, Glena had noticed the growing popularity of shoe-pulling and the ensuing discussion among officials questioning its necessity. But when the blacksmiths started to chime in, it spoke volumes. By and large, the blacksmiths don t like it. They think harm is being done to the horse, she says. They re making money [pulling the shoes], so for them to say that, that s a pretty strong statement. No matter which end of this twosided coin you re on, it s hard to deny the controversy as the discussion heats up. One side describes it as everything from an unfavorable practice to downright abusive, while the other insists it s a fairly harmless score-boosting technique to be used with some discretion. Top farriers agree that their goal is to maintain the health of the foot while improving performance. A Look Back Only a few decades ago, George Fitzgerald walked the path of the great horsemen at Saratoga Springs, New York, hanging onto the side of the rails, eyes hungry with excitement. He wanted to be just like his grandfather, a longtime blacksmith at one of the country s racing hotspots. A few years went by, and George found himself following in those footsteps first shoeing Standardbreds at the track, then making a seamless transition to the show circuit. Eventually, he became one of the more sought-after farriers, building his name largely around New York s acclaimed Madison Square Garden show. When I started shoeing horses, I really felt like I could help make a difference, he explains in earnest. I m helping a horse maintain his career and that s my whole theory on shoeing horses. I m doing something for the animal. His trade has taken him to Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Canada and all over the United States. But it was at The Garden in the 70s perhaps the 80s that George first noticed the practice of pulling shoes as a perceived shortcut to winning undersaddle classes. At least 20 years of Julie Moses Photo that time [in my career], no one pulled shoes off in New York. Then somebody started pulling the shoes off. One horse went in and happened to win and that s how it all began, he reflects. When I was in New York, we pulled a bunch of them. We kind of shook our heads, but we did it. George and his fellow tradesmen seem to agree that the goal of a blacksmith is twofold: maintaining or improving the health of the foot and improving performance. We all want our horses to win, says Tom Gregory, a 36-year veteran of the business. That s our ultimate goal, to get a hunter to move better. The most important thing with shoeing a horse is the balance the angulation of the shoulder in comparison with the angulation of the feet. George, Tom and others at the top of their trade have arguably seen it all. And it s not without cause that they re starting to question the reasoning behind the shoe-pulling trend. A Roll of the Dice with the Horse at Stake? Blacksmiths agree that during the course of the competition season, hunters should typically be shod once every few weeks, the frequency depending on the condition of the horse and the health of his feet. The shoes are there to protect the feet and allow the horse to have the support and traction he needs to maximize performance. It s the pulling of these very shoes, these means of support, that has so many of them shaking their heads. If you re going to pull your horses shoes off and let them go barefoot, you cut the feet down and round the edges so they don t break, George explains. When you re at a horse show, they have no foot to begin with [because they ve been recently shod]. You can t really round the edges, because you have no foot. So naturally, when they come out of the hack class, they do break their feet up, he says with certainty. All you do is pull the shoes off and let them go in the ring. Some- 24 USHJA IN STRIDE / JUNE 2007
times they come back all busted up. If they re thin-soled, they can get bruised. If a horse steps on something, he can be laid up for several days or a week. During the popular Florida season, Tony practically runs himself ragged because of mounting requests to pull shoes requests that he feels indicate bad horsemanship. He says competitors are starting not only to ask for, but to demand this service. It s hard for me to refuse clients, but it s almost gotten to an excessive point, he says. Tony says it s not unusual to have 40 entries in an under-saddle class, clearly presenting a logistical problem when all 40 want the shoes removed. It also ties him up when a horse who really needs help might be waiting in another ring. I can only speak for my own shows the excessiveness of it, the amount, how they re doing it, he admits. But the inconvenience, he agrees, is only the beginning. The real issue is the damage that can be caused. If you start pulling shoes off for one show and putting them back on, the foot becomes unhealthy and brittle, George explains. The nail holes crack. It s just not good for the horse s foot. It s not healthy. Our standard is to maintain a healthy foot or make a bad foot better. That s our job, he asserts. As for the kind of damage pulling shoes might cause, the answers vary widely among the experts. You ve got eight nail holes, and you pull the shoes off and the sides of the feet are really weak because of these holes, Tom says. When you take the support off the foot, the foot is so much weaker. So then the horse goes into the ring and breaks his foot all to pieces. According to veterinarian Stephen G. Soule, who specializes in orthopedics, the practice of pulling shoes merely for a competitive edge borders on abuse. In the most severe cases, he says, we have tremendous bruising of the sole because of the concussion of the sole on the ground. One of the things the horse shoe does is elevate the sole and frog off the ground. So the shoe and wall are bearing the majority of the concussion. [As a result of pulling the shoes], the wall that bears the weight of the shoes is frequently chipped and worn away. You ve got sole bruising and frog bruising. Even when [they re competing on bare feet] only for a short period of time, you may wear away some of the wall, he continues. Then, when you go to put the shoes back on, you put them back on a slightly smaller foot. It sometimes leaves you with almost no wall material to nail to. In conclusion, he says, Repeatedly even occasionally removing the shoe from a well-shod foot, even if the blacksmith is careful, is causing concussion from the hammering. Perhaps there is some refitting in the process and the horses are re-clinched. This can traumatize the foot and cause problems. Doing that unnecessarily when the horse is not due to be shod is causing more trauma to the foot. Then there are the obvious symptoms of lameness that this veterinarian has observed. He recalls a prime example witnessed at the Washington [D.C.] International Horse Show. A horse that had made a fine showing during the week had his shoes pulled for the hack, per his trainer s request, and came out of the ring limping. He d broken up his foot and it took a significant period of time to recover, Stephen explains. They pushed the envelope and they lost. I guess one of my pat lines to say to trainers when I m discussing the topic is: Look: Lame horses don t win the hack. If you re going to abuse this horse s feet to the point of lameness, you re not going to win anything. Stephen isn t the only one questioning whether pulling shoes produces wins. That s the thing of it, says George. If you ve got a good moving horse, he ll move well with anything on. Someone won barefoot and started a fad. But if you take a percentage of horses that go in and win with their shoes off, the percentage is very small. I d guarantee you that the horse who won with his shoes off would have won with his shoes on. WHAT TO DO IF The USHJA Horse Welfare Committee has developed the following tips regarding what to do if you witness cruelty or abuse at a horse show. If you see a case of abuse or cruelty, please contact the show steward to report the incident. You may go to any member of the show staff who is carrying a radio and ask him or her to locate the steward. Have the steward come to the location of the incident. If the steward is not available, then locate the show manager and follow the same procedure. Also, try to have another person witness the incident. If there is anyone nearby with a camera, please ask that person to take pictures or a video of the incident. Remember that it is critical to have the steward at the incident location so that he can intercede and stop any action that is cruel or abusive. While waiting for the steward (or if unable to locate a steward), you may, in a calm manner, approach the person committing the act and ask him or her to stop. Many times this is all that is required to halt the action. If the steward arrives at the incident scene and you feel that he or she has not handled the situation properly, you may fill out a United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Member's Confidential Evaluation Form, which can be obtained from a steward. Should you feel uncomfortable asking the steward for the form, you can download it from the USEF's website (www.usef.org). Once at the website, click on the Forms and Publications section, select All forms, and then look for Evaluation forms. It is important that we work together for the welfare of the horse. Put simply: If you witness abuse or cruelty, get the steward! JUNE 2007 / USHJA IN STRIDE 25
HORSE WELFARE The Case for Pulling Hunter Shoes Not everyone agrees with those who say that pulling shoes is a suspect practice; some even maintain that it s a lot of fuss over nothing. One of the practice s biggest advocates is Florida s Jack Miller, also a highly respected blacksmith in the hunter/jumper world. His two biggest shows are the Washington International and Maryland s Capital Challenge; he s spent about 15 years at each. In fact, Jack might be responsible, at least in part, for the trend. I m the one who started pulling the pony shoes back in the 80s for the under-saddle at Washington, he says. As for the discussion making its way around the equestrian world, somebody s got nothing better to do than sit around and think about this, he asserts. Not only is it seldom detrimental, he contends, it can make the difference between winning and losing. It makes them go back to natural, he observes. They move better; they stay lower to the ground. You want a smooth horse, and without the shoes, they re moving much smoother. Regarding the damage of which his fellow farriers speak, he just doesn t see it. If the shoes are getting pulled right there at the ring and getting put right back on, they re not going to get sore; they re standing on dirt. If you pull shoes and go ride the horse up and down on the concrete, is it going to hurt? Yes, he says. But you pull the shoes and go right into a dirt ring, then they come out and the grooms walk them about a hundred yards and they get their shoes put back on. As for the breakdown of the foot, Jack continues, If a horse is coming to the shows and he hasn t been shod recently and you pull the shoes, you might see some breakdown. But you re going to get very little breakage if the horse has been shod recently. Those of us who pull the shoes for the big shows, we get the nails back in the same holes about 99 percent of the time, he says. Maybe this is happening at some of the smaller shows, but I ve been doing this for many, many years and haven t seen the horses get sore. He does have a note about frequency, though. Ideally, only the toptier competitors are pulling the shoes, and only at the top shows, four or five times a year. If you pull them every week, then yes [it could be harmful] but if you re pulling them four or five times a year, it s fine, he says. If 600 shoes are pulled, maybe five come up sore, but maybe four of those shouldn t have had the shoes pulled to begin with, and maybe one was walked across a gravel parking lot a long way. And although he doesn t think pulling shoes is usually harmful, Jack says he s not afraid to tell customers no when a horse s feet aren t in shape for it. It s about being a professional, whether you pull the shoes or not, he explains. As for the difference it makes, one of Jack s longtime customers will vouch for that. They re much lighter on their feet, says experienced hunter competitor Rachel Kennedy. They re much freer about moving they re not carrying the weight of the shoes. While Rachel advocates pulling shoes in the right circumstances, she s quick to note the amount of care her team takes to prevent unnecessary soreness or injury as a result. When they come out of the under-saddle, they go right back to the blacksmith most of them standing with the ribbons still on their bridles, she explains. Our grooms put cotton in their feet, wrap them in vet wrap and put duct tape over them the minute they exit the gate. A Lesson Learned the Hard Way Like many of us, Rachel knows what it s like to want to win. She and her husband Oliver own ESP Farm in Brookeville, Maryland, a successful hunter/jumper training barn that last LETTER TO TRAINERS As this issue of In Stride is dedicated to horse welfare, we at the USHJA would like to take this opportunity to ask you to be ambassadors in this field. Most sports require equipment in order to perform. If you play golf, you need clubs; if you play tennis, you need a racket; if you run, you need sneakers and obviously, if you compete in equestrian sports, you need a horse. Why point out something so obvious? Because in the throes of competition and in the business of making money, we can often overlook this key piece of our sport: our horses. It is the role of the trainer to fill many shoes and wear many hats. Our children look up to you for guidance and imitate how you, as mentors, behave and handle horses. The USHJA strives for excellence in educating its members, but without ambassadors in the trenches, we will all fall short in our mission to achieve that excellence. We ask that every trainer make it a point each day to stop and take a few minutes to reflect on the importance of demonstrating and teaching horsemanship and appreciating the gifts our horses bring us each day by merely allowing us to be in their presence. As the show year gets going full tilt and our lives are consumed by the busy summer, please remember that you are not just teaching horseback riding; you are shaping our youth, our grassroots equestrians and our industry. You have the ability to change the way people think, act and behave. We ask that you take your role seriously and strive to achieve excellence in each of your horses and riders, thereby helping to create an industry filled with talent, empathy and true horsemanship. 26 USHJA IN STRIDE / JUNE 2007
year boasted three Vermont circuit champions, a reserve champion at the Capital Challenge and a second place in the Adult finals at Washington. But Rachel can remember one experience in particular that changed her perspective about winning a title. A few years back at the Capital Challenge, she was preparing to show a customer s horse one last time before retiring him. His owner had been a loyal, avid equestrian whose full-time schedule prevented her from devoting as many hours to the sport as she might have liked. Rachel really wanted to win for that owner, and she wanted the advantage that pulling shoes might offer. I said, Jack, do you think we could pull the shoes for this one class? Rachel recalls. He said, I guess we could, but we probably shouldn t. The shoes were pulled and the horse sent into the ring. Rachel says that all it took was one reversal of direction, and the horse was lame. A mistake that not only may have cost a title, but one that devastated Rachel. I knew I should have never pulled the shoes on that horse, and afterwards I said I would never, ever pull shoes again when I knew I shouldn t, she recounts. He was a much older hunter maybe not sound to start with. He needed that support. He always wore steel shoes because he s 17.1 with small feet. I should never have pulled the steel shoes off. That was the mistake I made; that was my greed getting in the way. Luckily, everything came out fine in the end. Rachel says she admitted her mistake to the owner. They got the horse patched up and helped him recover. Then they took him to Washington s local show, where he performed well one last time before retirement. Make no mistake: Rachel continues to pull shoes on her horses, but she says it s only for the big shows, and only when her blacksmith and trusted family friend, Jack Miller, says it s okay. Last year, at the Capital Challenge, she was again confronted with this decision in what might have been a crucial moment. She had a talented horse While a well-made shoe should endure pulling and resetting, the hoof named Cowboy Logic. Having already racked up numerous champion and reserve titles, he clearly had great potential and Rachel hoped she might gain the advantage by pulling his shoes twice in the same week. Her farrier, however, advised against it. Rachel listened, happy to take the cautious route. Jack said he would prefer I didn t pull his shoes twice. He didn t want to have the horse go through having the shoes pulled Wednesday and again on Friday, she explains. It wasn t smart. Julie Moses Photo Monkey See Monkey Do? Those who make their case for or against the practice of shoe-pulling can agree on one thing: It isn t for everybody and it certainly isn t for every competition. The Kennedys contend it should only be used at the highest levels, and even then, only at the top four or five shows of the year. You need to be conscientious, Rachel says. It s not something you do at every horse show. It s something you do when it s of utmost importance. That s why some of those opposing the practice are most alarmed. The trend, it seems, is spreading to the masses and being used at the smaller shows, something that, according to George, is cause for concern. I don t believe the novices understand this. They do it because they see it at the top shows and they talk to people who say it works, he says. I don t think it should be done. That s what we need to remember the younger people are doing this and they shouldn t be taught this stuff. When they get to the big leagues, it may be different. Right now, they need to learn to be better horsemen. ESP Farm co-owner Oliver Kennedy, who is also a jumper judge, agrees. The problem is [that] there are some young or inexperienced trainers or owners who think, Well, they re pulling the shoes; we should pull the shoes, he says. There are bad horsemen who see somebody do this and they don t know what they re doing. Even with the good horsemen, it can backfire every now and then. But a good horseman will learn his lesson once. Once you ve had it backfire, you re pretty much not going to do it again. In addition to the trend s trickledown effect, there is a win-at-all-costs reasoning that critics and supporters alike are noticing among some lower-level competitors. This is reasoning that they feel should never be used when making a decision to pull shoes. Tony says that, according to the trainers, some of these problems stem from over-involved parents. It s being pushed by the owner, by the parent. It s one of those things where mommy has a little child in dance lessons and modeling and all this and they re proud of their kid, he maintains. They want the ribbon so badly, they re pushing their trainers to do this. They re pushing the pony or horse to do this at all costs. For a lot of people, winning is everything, agrees Stephen Soule. That s why we re considering this as a welfare issue. Going Forward While farriers like George Fitzgerald and Tom Gregory can t personally prove horses go lame from pulling shoes, they do advise against it because of the damage they ve noticed. We d have broken feet, horses that were barely able to go, and the trainers JUNE 2007 / USHJA IN STRIDE 27
HORSE WELFARE or owners wanted their shoes pulled off, says George. Your professionals watch it pretty well, but is it necessary? That s what you ve got to get to. Is it a necessary thing to do? I don t care how careful you are, bad things can happen. It would be better if people didn t do it at all, pros or amateurs alike. If there was a vote for it, I would say not to pull the shoes. But at this point, a vote isn t likely. While opponents of shoe pulling would like to see a rule banning the practice, that s nowhere in sight. Making an unenforceable rule is worse than making no rule at all, Oliver Kennedy maintains. You can t legislate horsemanship and you can t legislate integrity. The biggest problem in our business is there are those who treat their horses with integrity and there are those who think, If we break this horse, we ll get another one. If a rule or rules were to be put in place, Oliver and others feel that many people who like the practice would simply find creative ways around the rules. What they re going to wind up doing is pulling the shoes and putting other [thinner shoes] on. That, to me, is worse, he says. There s no way you can dictate what a horse can wear, agrees Jack. If they pass a rule not to pull shoes, they ll put special shoes on that are thin. Almost like a bare foot, to simulate being barefoot. It should be up to the horse owner, concludes Tom. I think there are too many rules as it is now. I don t like my horses going in there with their shoes pulled off; I think it s ridiculous, but if somebody asks me to, I do it. I m working for them. As for where the USHJA stands, it s with the welfare of the horse. This issue should be an important point of discussion, says Glena Wirtanen. We just want to make people aware of the damage they may be doing to the horse, she explains. You may not be improving the horse s movement at all, but rather, damaging his feet. We have no intention at this point of putting forth any kind of rule about this. The objective is to bring it to people s attention. 28 USHJA IN STRIDE / JUNE 2007 Writer Sarah E. Kelley has worked to promote equestrian sports through public relations and is now a journalist in her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky.