Just got a big pitch e-mail claiming that "barefoot is best for your horse". I don't know how people claiming to have some intelligence about horses can get so fixated on there being only one answer to every situation. To do so invalidates the claim of having some knowledge about horses. Yes, barefoot can be beneficial to some horses under certain circumstances. But barefoot is not best for your horse unless there are numerous considerations all influencing the same problem at the same time. This "barefoot is best" advocate proves she doesn't know what she is talking about with her claim that horseshoes "were intended to elevate the hoof out of the manure and urine saturated ground where the horse was tied." Why invent horseshoes when you could tie the horse somewhere else? Her second claim is even worse...that the horse was becoming a good war vehicle and that "stomping on the enemy with a metal shoe was more damaging than a bare hoof." That might be true, but hardly a valid reason for nailing an iron shoe to the horse's hoof when the rider was going to stab the enemy through the chest with a lance or lop off his head with a sword. Not going into it all now, but shoeing domesticated horses is more often than not the right thing to do to balance the foot and protect the hoof. Most good farriers or horse shoers today will say "balancing the hoof" is the primary reason to shoe, followed closely by "protecting, correcting, easing pain." Barefoot has its place if you aren't planning on using the horse much and you have turned the horse out into his natural arid habitat, allowing him to walk 50 miles a day for food and water....which, of course, you haven't. Other than that, think about shoes on your horse; first to balance the foot, second to protect. Here's the kicker...the barefoot advocate is selling "protective hoof boots" to put on your barefoot horse when you want to go for a trail ride.