I noticed the "experts" in the barefoot article were all people who shoed horses for a living! I think you should have had input from a barefoot expert. My horse has been barefoot all his 15 yrs of life with little to no problems. 2 abcesses in 8 yrs. I feel the article was bias to shoeing. The last thing I would do is put shoes on my horse and it's the first thing they ususally take off if the horse has a hoof issue! Ask the experts.
I have to agree with Cathie. The writers of this article all rely on shoes. Maybe most of their clients have stalled horses. My horses live in a herd environment on a small pasture. They have been barefoot trimmed for about 6 years. Three have never worn shoes. The fourth is 27, and wore shoes 9 months of the year until 6 years ago. The benefit to her is amazing. The old mare did not seem to be a good candidate for going barefoot. Her hoof walls were paper thin, heels flared on hinds, thrushy and ouchy after shoeing and when unshod. But the barefoot trim is different. At 27, she is barefoot sound on all surfaces. Her hoof walls have thickened, and her frogs developed, and her heel flares are barely noticeable. She is in great condition, and still enjoys being ridden. The "reason" for shoeing is given in this article as "wall wears too fast." This makes the assumption that the horse's weight should be supported on the rim of the foot, the hoof wall. After all, the wall is the hardest part of the foot, right? Yes, it is the hardest part, but that doesn't mean that it should be the supporting structure. Barefoot horses don't rely on long hoof walls to keep delicate frogs and soles suspended. On the contrary, the hoof walls need to be short enough so that the flexing sole and frog will contact the ground and develop thick callouses (similar to how a barefoot person develops callouses from friction against the ground). This distributes the horse's weight over a greater surface area, and reduces the concussion. The barefoot trimmer may "clean" the sole and remove overgrown bar, but the callouses are retained without thinning. See Pete Ramey's book "Making Natural Hoof Care Work For You" for an interesting account of a draft horse that works on concrete all day. Going barefoot has been a benefit to this horse, with the concussive forces dissipated in the soft tissues, rather than being transferred by a steel shoe. He is noticeably less tired at the end of the day now that he is barefoot. If you want to condition your horse to barefoot soundness, you might want to consider looking for a barefoot trimmer that has a good reputation. There are as many good trimmers as there are good farriers, and as many bad ones, too. Check references!