High Level Competition Hooves
Oct 9, 2026 · 31 min · 10 segments
Matt French talks about competing his barefoot mustang in Working Equitation.
- Speakers
Matt FrenchGuestAlicia HarlovHost
Oct 9, 2026 · 31 min · 10 segments
Matt French talks about competing his barefoot mustang in Working Equitation.
Matt FrenchGuestAlicia HarlovHostSo it sounds like, too, as you were saying, it's really good for the horse, and it sounds like it's something that would help with proper biomechanics and increasing fitness in a way that's ideally setting them up for soundness long-term.
I feel like it should be all of our goal for all of our horses, right? We want them to last and be healthy.
You know, they come in after years of competition or, you know, even if they're just quote unquote backyard horses that have what I would consider like a chronic repetitive strain type injury from just improper movement day in and day out over years.
I don't want to say a blanket statement, but I think at least the horses that I go to see off property, a lot of times it's not often the first thing that owners think about, you know, how they're moving under saddle other than like, are they lame or not? And that's something that I am passionate about of, you know, how they're moving and making sure that they're using their body in a better way or at least in a way that's not going to harm them.
I'm curious if like they're grinding, do you know what I mean? They get on and then they're just, you know, turning and burning and running real hard and are like the vast majority shot as well.
So almost every horse that comes to my property comes in shoes, but I rehab them all barefoot and use boots as needed.
So we have two track systems that they are turned out on, and they have to move over various surfaces throughout the day to help improve their joint, muscling, hoof health.
Impact matters, right? They need blood flow and stimulation in their hoof to promote growth.
But the more I worked with them, we never were running into issues with the feet.
out here, everyone was into like the barefoot, basic, natural, you know, they called it the Mustang roll, you know, where they kind of round over the edge of the hook and stuff like that.
So it sounds like, too, as you were saying, it's really good for the horse, and it sounds like it's something that would help with proper biomechanics and increasing fitness in a way that's ideally setting them up for soundness long-term.
I feel like it should be all of our goal for all of our horses, right? We want them to last and be healthy.
You know, they come in after years of competition or, you know, even if they're just quote unquote backyard horses that have what I would consider like a chronic repetitive strain type injury from just improper movement day in and day out over years.
I don't want to say a blanket statement, but I think at least the horses that I go to see off property, a lot of times it's not often the first thing that owners think about, you know, how they're moving under saddle other than like, are they lame or not? And that's something that I am passionate about of, you know, how they're moving and making sure that they're using their body in a better way or at least in a way that's not going to harm them.
I'm curious if like they're grinding, do you know what I mean? They get on and then they're just, you know, turning and burning and running real hard and are like the vast majority shot as well.
So almost every horse that comes to my property comes in shoes, but I rehab them all barefoot and use boots as needed.
So we have two track systems that they are turned out on, and they have to move over various surfaces throughout the day to help improve their joint, muscling, hoof health.
Impact matters, right? They need blood flow and stimulation in their hoof to promote growth.
But the more I worked with them, we never were running into issues with the feet.
out here, everyone was into like the barefoot, basic, natural, you know, they called it the Mustang roll, you know, where they kind of round over the edge of the hook and stuff like that.
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