Thank you, Dr. Matt, for your helpful and informative posts. Thank you, Carin, for the compliment. Thank you, Kay, for pointing out the actual chain of command. The rules pertaining to Modern Shetlands in the rulebook of the American Shetland Pony Club are the OLDEST continual mandates. THIS section of the association's rulebook is the one that goes back to the origins of the registry.
My original post was targeted toward the individual who posted about the TREND. What you see is NO trend. See the history I shared. In fact, the TREND is actually just exactly the opposite. There are many, many fewer overshod ponies today than in years past because the animals have simply been bred to be more talented. Although, I am not sure that anything that happens over the course of the 40 years we've been involved can be termed a TREND.
My post also answered the poster who commented about the tails. Again, the TREND is away from nicking, tailsets, etc.
Finally, someone posted about the long-term viability of these ponies. Pull show results and compare divisions from Miniature to Modern. You will find MODERNS are the division with the largest percentage of older animals competing, especially among the performance animals. Obviously this fact flies in the face of the assumption that someone posted that
My family has done this nearly 45 years. I can't even begin to imagine how many total ponies have passed through our hands, barn and pasture. Do you know how many of those have been cripple or had long-term feet problems? EXACTLY ZERO.
We are proud to own the winning-est mare in the history of the Congress. She took her 5th Congress grand championship just this summer and her 6th national liberty title. She is 17. We've been shoeing and professionally managing this mare's feet for 17 years. If you need any proof of that ... check out the LIBERTY titles. She's never lost a shoe doing that ... so her feet can't be too negatively impacted. Of course, she doesn't carry the kind of foot referenced in the pics as she doesnt' really need it. I hope she's around many years and believe there is certainly every possibility of that because we just lost her mother at the age of 30 .... she lived healthy and happy until about 24 hours before she passed away. The pony in the best shape in the pasture? A 22 year mare who had a long, long, long career as a very, very, very successful World and Congress grand champion mare & roadster pony. She probably has the healthiest feet on the property!
MY contention is EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what some folks propose here: I think most of these ponies actually have better feet, better feet & leg management and better medical attention to leg and feet health than any other division. As anyone follows any performance type horse breed ... from show to racing ... you will know that leg health can dictate long-term viability. Otherwise, you don't have a pony MORE capable & fit to win at 16 (as a wet broodmare with a foal on her side) and at 17 than she was at 3 ... when she was still immature and not fully developed.
When you see Miniatures that trot, sometimes they have been subjected to banding ... and I mean overbanding. Improper & uneducated use of that tool is way more likely to cause long-term problems than overshoeing.
EVERYTHING hinges on education and proper care. While there will also be ignorant people who do the wrong thing on any given topic, you can't judge an entire group based on that. Just like you can't make assumptions about a division by a few photos in a book. Again, I looked back through the pics. I see only TWO that have the old-style up tails. I see only a small, small, small percentage of shoeing that gives me pause. Even in those cases ... as someone who has been managing feet for long-term viability ... my more likely comment would be the length of the hooves.
As another point of eduction, the legal matters related to Tennessee Walking Horses relates to soring. That has nothing to do do with shoeing, shoes, pads, etc.
Of course, it is possible that I don't know much about this as someone looking only at photos.
