High Country Horses is nestled in the foothills of Merrijig near Mansfield in North East Victoria. We have been operating trail rides in the Victorian High Country for around 17 years. My partner Fiona and I run approximately 55 horses on rides ranging from 2 hours to multi days. I have always had a keen interest in the discipline of barefoot hoof care, so around three years ago under the guidance of Andrew Bowe, High Country Horses undertook the project of converting our herd to barefoot horses. It has been a learning process to say the least! The biggest challenge we faced was the fact that our horses do not live in the area that they work. That is to say, that whilst our horses live in the foothills at Merrijig their most demanding working area is in the rugged terrain of the mountains. In addition to this we live in climactic extremes with wet cold winters that have our horses trudging round in mud and slush doing very little work; to dry, arid summers where the horses rapidly go into a pretty heavy workload. When we started down the barefoot path it was a massive undertaking trying to convert the entire herd. As big a task as this was, we did have some success and by the end of our riding season we had successfully converted 90% of the herd to being bare on their hind feet as well as having a number of horses bare all round. Over the last couple of years we are seeing more and more horses make the transition across to being completely bare. Unfortunately we have a few that are slower than others for various reasons, mainly due to pre-existing and permanent damage in their feet. We are very happy with their progress and now, 3 years down the track; realize what an ambitious task we took on.
We now also appreciate the enormous benefits not only to our horses who are happy and healthier than ever before but also to our environment. We love the high country and understand what a privilege it is to be able to ride through its magnificent mountains, so we try to leave as small a footprint as possible so it gives us great satisfaction in the knowledge that now our horses also leave but the faintest of footprints.
