By Carlo Faillace

When more than forty years ago I realised that iron horse shoes nailed to horses’ hooves was nothing but a useless torture, and I unshod my horses, I couldn’t imagine that during the course of my life I would witness the crumble and fall of such a deep-rooted prejudice as that of shoeing horses. Customs lacking any scientific basis but nontheless firmly rooted in everyday practice, taken for granted and accepted without question both due to ignorance as well as sheer laziness, while also being sustained by economic interests, die hard and certianly aren’t prone to give way suddenly. In fact as Schopenhauer said, justifiably:

“When one tries to make human knowledge and intelligence progress, one always encounters the resistance of one’s contemporaries, like dragging a burden which wieghs heavily upon the ground, rebelling against every effort.  We have to console ourselves then with the certainty that, if prejudice is against us, we have the truth on our side, which united with its ally, time, is certain of victory, if not today, surely tomorrow”

Today, that which years ago was intuition, though also the fruit of reason and deductive logic, is finding support and confirmation thanks to scientific evolution and the proofs which science and technology provide. The resistance therefore remains simply proportional to the cultural level: the stronger it is, the greater is the ignorance involved.

Thanks to the internet it’s possible to visit an ever increasing number of websites which deal with the bare-foot horse, relating live experiences and providing a large amount of iconographic material, i.e. lots of visual images which show the structure of the horse’s hoof, the circulation of blood in its interior, the pathologies caused by the iron shoe and the difference in the state of health between a shod hoof and an unshod one.

Thus, via the web, I discovered myself to be in the company of many people from Canada and the United States to Australia and New Zeeland, from South Africa to Germany, all convinced of the same truth and all owners of horses rigorously maintained bare-foot. I didn’t lose time getting into contact with the major supporters of the bare-foot horse and very soon I realised how much this practice has progressed in the most developed countries where already courses were being organized for specialists with regard to the trimming of the hooves of bare-foot horses, while as a contribution to the amplification of only general knowledge, I could only supply my solitary experience of a few decades. At the beginning of 2001, “The Horse’s Hoof” (The International Hoof Journal) published an article about me, considering me to be a pioneer in Italy. Now letters arrive to me from China (Taiwan) and even from Spain, which I believed would be one of the most difficult countries to convince, from breeders and owners who swear never again to nail an iron to the horse’s hoof, convinced by positive experience, i.e. by facts rather than by small talk.

Even in Italy the number of supporters of the unshod horse is growing rapidly, and courses are being held  on the trimming of the hooves of bare-foot horses. Certainly many years ago I’d never have imagined that we would even have come to organize a conference on the Bare-foot Horse, like that which was held in Bologna, last January. All this cannot be other than a source of pleasure; not so much for the satisfaction gained after years of determination and perseverance, but for the benefit which the horses themselves obtain, and also for being able to witness the beginning of the end of a practice as damaging as it is useless, which in the near future will hopefuly be abolished definitively, being considered as only yet another form of maltreatment.

In order to realize how horses can be used without horse-shoes in all the various disciplines and equestrian activities, it is sufficient to take a look at the various american websites which are listed via our links. From Dressage to Show Jumping, from Endurance Events to Trail riding and Trekking, bare-foot horses are being used with success, in ever growing numbers. For us here, it is enough to remember that Jag de Bellouet, the eight year old offspring of Viking’s Way and Vaunoise, winner of the Grand Prix d’Amerique held in Paris last month, won, running barefoot.

Coming to matters in Italy, I quote below some parts of an article by Enrico Perez, director of the magazine PEGASO, regarding the successes of the Happy Stable Equestrian Centre at Terrasini, near Palermo:

Yet another victory…..
Palermo – 10/10/2005 – Happy Stable chalked up yesterday, Sunday 9 october 2005, one of its innumerable successes in one of the most prestigious competitions in South Italy, the 47th Csi*** at the Favorita Park of  Palermo. The rider and instructor of the centre at Terrasini in the province of Palermo, Domenico Tripoli, in the saddle of the italian horse Causto, obtained two brilliant results in the “small tour”, 1.30 metres, international category. Tripoli was awarded second place on Saturday, behindValentina Salerno, while he causing the Hymn of Mameli to resound in the splendid structure in Viale Diana with Mount Pellegrino in the back ground, on Sunday, the concluding day of the competition. This rider mounts with the colours of the Happy Stable, an Association which has always supported non coersive methods, and which tends towards the most complete natural state of the horse possibile … In fact this Association at Terrasini has for several years spawned two groups of studies which occupy themselves with natural techniques of comunication with the horse and with the use of bare-foot horses in the sphere of competitive sport. On Sunday the 9th of October, the show jumping ground at the Favorita, had had two days of rain, and after the dispute for Great Prize Cup of the Assi, was really in a disastrous condition. Horses were slipping and tripping themselves up even though they had studded irons fitted. Tripoli and Causto obtained their victory with a five second margin from the second in command, Anna Zerbi, pupil of Roberto Arioldi, the multi-decorated national champion and already winner of 2 editions of the Assi Cup.
“I’m really satisfied – said the rider from the Happy Stable of Terrasini – to be able to compete with riders of a high standard and over courses of great course directors, is very important above all for us who sustain this natural type of conception.  Giovanni Bussu’s course lay-out was very technically domanding and put us all to a great trial, giving each horse-rider couple the possibility to the best of themselves.  And if we remember that on Sunday the test was against the clock, I believe that only he who had a bare-foot horse could have galloped like me, otherwise the’d have run into some error, if not actually a really bad slip”.
The complete article can be found at the link  www.happystable.it under the heading news.

There’s also another interesting piece of news- On the 1st of December, 2005, Christy Harchie and Billy Brencheley started a journey with unshod horses across the whole of Africa, following an itinery 15,196 kilometers long, which will take them from the northernmost point at Bizente, in Tunisia, until Cape Agulhas in South Africa. Billy is a farrier/blacksmith who while still continuing his profession, always recommends keeping horses bare-foot. The journey will also serve as a research-study on the protection of the hooves of bare-foot horses in extreme conditions. One can follow his diary of the journey at www.africanhoofprints.com, and learn about all the details – without doubt, both interesting as well as useful.
 I ask myself, however, how is it that we forget about the Anabasis of Xenophon, who describes the withdrawal of ten thousand Greek mercenaries after the great battle of Cunassa, as far as Trapezunte, and from there across the Eusino Bridge to Bisanzio, in a laborious march across the high snowy mountains of Armenia, in an impervious itinerary with horses which were not shod, given that the Greeks were not in the habit of shoeing their horses. And we’re talking about 401 BC.

At present, in Italy, holding courses to popularize the bare-foot horse, useful rather from a cultural than a practical standpoint, ( and I have held such conferences from Palermo to Vittorio Veneto!) is not of such paramount importance as organizing courses for the creation of specialists on the trimming of unshod hooves, which could both satisfy the growing demand, and at the same time earn a justified income.  It would therefore be desirable here, as happens in other countries, that intelligent and open minded farriers should interest and occupy themselves in such activity without them fearing thereby that unshod hooves will take their work away from them, because in fact it would rather provide them with another. All that they need is to learn the technique of trimming the unshod hoof; something which isn’t at all difficult.

Here are the latest arrivals in the family: two little chamois goats, one and two days old respectively, born from two mothers saved, in turn, from being destined to the grill. They are observed curiously by Grey Star, a quarter horse who arrived here at three years old because he was declared to be ‘unusable’ and who could barely manage to walk.  Today, recovered a 100% and duly bare-foot, he enjoys his horsey life  galloping sure-footed and with incredible equilibrium over the most impassable and rugged terrain.

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The campaign against export of live horses in Poland

The Polish "Klub Gaja" is starting its campaign against the export of live horses for meat in the Polish Parliament. Here are the terms of their campaign as they wrote them to us. If anyone feels like helping, the e-mail to contact is: klub@gaja.most.org.pl

The problem is the export of live horses for meat, mostly to Italy, but also to France. Every year, from our country, we export about 100,000 horses. In Poland, horses have special status, they are special animals in Poland. In our history, horses have been a very large part of many important events such as battles and national ceremonies. Many painters and poets have used horses as the main subject of their art. In Poland there is no tradition of eating horses for meat.
At the beginning of the 1990's, the largest population of horses in Europe was in Poland, about 1 million. In the same time, after our country began a democratic system, a mass of exporters from Italy and France started to arrive in Poland and create businesses to transport live horses for meat to their countries. During this time the export of live horses and their cruel treatment really began. At this time, two tiered transport of horses was legal. Today, we now have only 500,000 horses in Poland.
Horses are bred mostly in the eastern agricultural regions of Poland where people are poor. Unfortunately, we have also received information that in some of the equestrian centres in Poland they are also breeding horses for export for meat. In Poland, in 1999, we had 36 companies which export live horses.
We export live horses to Italy and France where they are slaughtered. The Polish law is good at European level. The problem, is that, in the most part this law is not well respected by those who have to implement it. Long term aim of the campaign. That the place of the horse in Poland returns to the positive one traditional in Polish culture through changes in Polish law, education and public opinion. That Poland will not export live horses for meat.

Short term aims

1. We want to find materials and documents which present the problems in Poland relating to the export of live horses for meat. This information will then be put into our materials.

2. To inform public opinion about this problem through our actions, meetings, literature and co-operation with the media.

3. To build a network of organisations, experts, especially included horse clubs and people who love horses and use this network to help the campaign.

4. We want to obtain 500,000 signatures to the petition to stop the transport of live horses from Poland for meat.

5. We want to support and promote people and institutions who buy horses from the meat trade to save them.

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With the aim of putting a stop to the sufference caused by the long transports to the live horses destined to the Italian slaughter houses, ILPH (GB), DVSP (GER), PROEQUO (ITA) and KLUB GAJA (POL) are deeply involved in a campaign in favour of the alternative to such transports: the trade of the chilled meat of horses put down in their country of origin.

Some of the Governments of the exporting countries (such as Rumania and Hungary) are beguinning to give some positive answers. The Polish Parliament is going to discuss the banning of the transport of live horses.

The map published in the Polish bulletin "Wspolodczuwanie" show the route of the transports from Poland to Italy, avoiding Austria, and that Italy is by far responsible for such transports, being the greatest importer of live horses destined to human consumption. (In the diagram Italy is represented by the green colour).

We have information from Poland that the greatest resistance against the alternative to live transports offered by the trade of chilled meat comes from the Italian importers, who only want to buy live animals.

It is on the Italian Government to ban the import of live animals destined to human consumption

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The epidemic danger of BSE and FMD has caused Italy to decide for a total ban of imports of live animals.
The ban puts Italy in a unique position within the European Community, which complained about such drastic measure.
The Italian Ministry of Agricolture Alfonso Pecorario Scanio, however, has firmly stated that he will not recede from his decision, even if it creates a desagreement with the European Commission.
The Ministry also affirmed that, when this emergency will be over, the Italian imports of live animals will be reduced to a strict necessary minimum.

Credit for this attitude goes only to Italians and no foreign organization has anything to do with it.

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