A letter from Kirt Lander to the organizers of the Man V Horse Race held in the UK concerning the fact that barefoot/booted horses were excluded from the event.
Dear Man V Horse Organizers and Officials,
My name is Kirt Lander, a hoof care professional, endurance competitor, and President & CEO of Lander Industries Inc., a USA hoof boot manufacturer.
It has come to my attention that barefoot and/or barefoot and booted horses will not be allowed to compete in this year’s event. While it is understandable that those with little knowledge regarding the history and track record of barefooted horses would have concerns regarding said horses competing in your endurance event, here in the USA we have a great many endurance competitions, including many in the Western part of the USA, where footing conditions are incredibly demanding, where many of the competitors are barefoot and booted. I have personally been involved with many of said endurance competitors, including those competing in the prestigious Tevis Cup, which is considered to be the world’s toughest 160-kilometer endurance event. Said USA endurance events, including the Tevis Cup, are showing fields of competitors whose barefoot and booted entries are frequently 25 to 50 percent of the entire field, with many, if not most, of the top ten horses barefoot and booted, and it’s now quite common for the winning horse to be barefoot and booted too. In fact, last year’s Tevis Cup event was won by Jeremy Reynolds riding a barefoot and booted horse.
Karen Chaton rode the 40-day, 2000-mile Pony Express endurance event barefoot and booted. Karen was the only competitor to complete all 40 days with only two horses. Valerie Kanavy, a world class endurance competitor and horse breeder whose horses are valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, has all of her horses barefoot. She trains her horses either totally bare or booted and competes in boots with great success, which includes many wins and top tens. If something does not truly offer an advantage or is detrimental in any way, Valerie will not implement said methods or ways into her program. Very recently, the FEI trials held in Texas to determine who will represent the USA in this year’s Endurance World Championships to be held in the UK were won by a booted and barefoot horse, not to mention the second place horse (owned by Valerie Kanavy and only two seconds behind) was also barefoot and booted.
The list of barefoot and booted successes here in the USA is very extensive and I could go on for hours reporting them to you. Endurance competitors are showing and proving not only the health benefits of going barefoot, but performance benefits as well as the use of hoof boots providing superior shock attenuation and sole protection, not possible with traditional “shod” methods. Hoof boots are superior to metal shoes on pavement where their polyurethane compounds offer outstanding traction like that of vehicle tires and greatly reduce the shock and concussion, allowing horses to comfortably and more safely gallop. Hoof boots with the use of embedded studs offer excellent traction on slippery grass and leaves. Hoof boots are showing superior locomotion efficiency in sandy conditions where riders report their horses float on top of the sand. And in rocky conditions, hoof boots are undeniably superior to metal shoes (even with pads) at protecting the sole from stone bruising.
Further understand that “going barefoot” is not becoming popular because it saves the horse owner/competitor money, as in reality, it costs more for a proper barefoot trim and the use of hoof boots costs more, too, not to mention barefoot horse owners pay special attention to other aspects of horse keeping such as forage, hoof supplements and living conditions, which for a high performance barefooted horse require much more consideration than the iron-clad hoof. Barefoot endurance competitors care just as much, if not more so, than the “traditionalist” about the health, safety, and well-being of their horses. I respectfully suggest you reconsider your banning of barefooted horses for your event.
Kirt Lander
President & CEO
Lander Industries Inc.
Maker of the World-Famous Renegade® Hoof Boot
www.renegadebootstore.com
kirt@renegadebootstore.com
P.S. Our USA equivalent of the UK Man Against Horse Race (28 years running) is often won by booted barefoot horses. Dayna Weary won the 2007 event, besting the previous year’s winning time by an hour. She then repeated her winning performance in 2009, and in addition was awarded Best Condition.