Beschrijving
What History, Science, and Practical Experience Reveal About the Horse’s Hoof
Why Does My Horse Have Poor Hooves?
Why?
Not because I wanted to prove anyone wrong, but because I genuinely wanted to understand how we had reached those conclusions.
In practice, I kept seeing horses that did not fit the story. Horses that were said to need horseshoes for life eventually walked comfortably without them. Hooves that had been weak and crumbling for years became stronger once their circumstances changed. Not every horse, and certainly not overnight, but often enough to make me wonder whether we had been looking at the wrong problem all along.
Perhaps we have spent decades trying to improve the hoof while the real cause lies somewhere else.
That thought never left me.
I started searching for answers in books and scientific research. The more I read, the more questions appeared. Many ideas we now consider unquestionable have simply been repeated for generations—not because they were conclusively proven, but because they had always been accepted.
My search led me back through history.
I discovered that Xenophon was writing about strong, healthy hooves more than 2,400 years ago.
I came across the work of Bracy Clark, who described over two centuries ago exactly what prolonged shoeing does to a horse’s hoof. I studied historical veterinary texts, old manuscripts, and modern scientific research.
Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.
What surprised me most was that much of this knowledge was not new at all. Some of these insights were already known centuries ago but gradually disappeared. Other beliefs originated during a time when horses lived completely different lives. They pulled ploughs, artillery, and heavy wagons. They travelled long distances over hard roads every day and were essential for farming, transport, and war.
That also changed the way I looked at the horse’s hoof.
Not just the hoof itself, but everything that influences it.
History.
Housing.
Movement.
Terrain.
Workload.
Again and again, I found myself coming to the same conclusion: many hoof problems are not isolated problems. They are the result of something else.
That is the journey I invite you to take in this book.
Not to convince you that I am right.
Not to dismiss everything we think we know.
But to explore where our ideas about the horse’s hoof came from, which of those ideas still stand up to scrutiny, and which deserve another look.
Read the history.
Study the research.
Compare it with what you see in real horses.
Then draw your own conclusions.
Because in the end, this book is not about horseshoes. It is about the horse.
— Piet Loof
What’s Inside This Book?
- Introduction
- Xenophon Already Knew
- What More Than Two Hundred Years of Research Reveals
- The War Machine of Persia
- When the Hoof Became a Military Target
- The Farrier of the Past
- My Horse Can’t Go Without Horseshoes
- The Impact of Stabling on Hoof Health
- The Lymphatic System: The Hoof’s Natural Cleaning System
- What Happens When a Horse Doesn’t Move Enough?
- How Did This Become So Normal?
- The Rise of the Hoof Boot
- The Biggest Misconceptions About Hoof Boots
- More Than Just Hoof Protection
- Conclusion
Who Is This Book For?
This book is for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the horse’s hoof.
- Horse owners
- Hoof care professionals
- Veterinarians
- Riding instructors
- Students
And above all, for people who are curious and want to understand how our knowledge of the horse’s hoof has developed over the centuries.
About the Author
For more than thirty years, Piet Loof has dedicated his work to understanding and improving hoof health.
He is Chairman of the Barefoot Horse Advisor Foundation (Stichting Barefoot Paardadviseur) and provides education, training courses, and lectures on hoof health, movement, and the horse’s natural biomechanics. Throughout all those years, one question has remained at the heart of his work:
Why does one hoof remain healthy while another develops problems?
That question eventually became the foundation of this eBook.
Get Your Copy
Why does one horse develop strong, healthy hooves while another struggles with hoof problems year after year? And how did we come to believe that some horses simply cannot live without horseshoes?
For Centuries, the Truth Has Been Bent takes you on a journey through more than two thousand years of history. Drawing on historical sources, scientific research, and over thirty years of practical experience, this book explores how many of today’s accepted beliefs about the horse’s hoof came into existence—and whether they still stand up to scrutiny.
This is not a book that tells you what to think.
It invites you to ask questions.
Read the history.
Study the research.
Compare it with what you see in practice.
Then draw your own conclusions.
Instant download after purchase.
100% of the proceeds from this eBook support the Barefoot Horse Advisor Foundation. Your purchase helps us develop educational resources, support new educational projects, and continue sharing independent knowledge about hoof health and the horse’s natural biomechanics.
