The Natural Horse: Lessons From the Wild

By Jaime Jackson

THE WILD, FREE-ROAMING HORSE of the U.S. Great Basin has given us a new vision for a vibrant and healthy natural horse. That vision is embodied in this newly updated and classic work, The Natural Horse: Lessons From the Wild.

Paddock Paradise. Based on wild horse family band movements in their native ranges, Paddock Paradise is

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Jackson Publishing
• Release date: Jan 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781735535852

Jaime Jackson

For 38 years, author Jaime Jackson has been an outspoken advocate for natural horse care based on his studies of America's wild, free-roaming horse living in the Great Basin. Jackson has been a professional "hoof man" (farrier turned natural hoof care practitioner) since the 1970s.

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U.S. Great Basin, home to America’s wild, free-roaming horses, the subjects of my research.

PREFACE TO THE 2020 EDITION

THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO I stepped into wild horse country in search of a better model for professional hoof care. Nature, I was certain, would provide such a thing in the wild horse populations running freely in the U.S. Great Basin. I traveled among them in their home ranges and studied their hooves at arm’s length in government corrals only days after being captured by wranglers of the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This book tells that story — what I found, what I learned, and what I now do as a result of my research conducted over a four year period (1982-1986).

I was a farrier back then, a practice I took up in the 1970s, not from any pursuit of a career, but from necessity. First, to take care of my own horses' hooves, then friends with horses, then, as I got better at it, anyone with horses who wanted my services and was willing to pay.

At the time, I had never heard of America’s wild, free-roaming horses. But after five years or so of shoeing client horses, the U.S. government began to adopt them out around the country. It was at that time word about mustangs going for a cheap price began to trickle in among clients of mine. But none purchased any, so whatever they were all about, went in one ear and out the other.

One doesn’t have to shoe horses very long before you begin to experience problems with their hooves. I began to study up on what I thought I was looking at, question other farriers, and see what veterinarians had to say. I’ll make a long story short: no one agreed about anything. Euthanasia was a common way of dealing with problem feet, which I witnessed time and again at sale barns. Information on hoof pathology was scarce in those days, and when things got really bad, the final word on what to do usually came from the vet. At least when the horse’s owner was done with whatever their farrier recommended. It seemed that if the horse could no longer be ridden, then it was a liability and quietly trailered off to a killer barn where agents for pet food or tallow houses would pay for them.

In 1977, a client passed me a book called Horseshoeing Theory and Hoof Care, written by two farriers and an equine vet. Early in the book, the authors mentioned the wild horse as an important model for hoof care. But none of them had actually studied the hooves of wild horses; instead, they speculated and came up with a shoeing method that purportedly correlated shoulder and hip angles with front/hind hoof angles respectively. It sounded good, but, unfortunately, it failed because — so I learned later — it didn’t actually comport with what a wild horse hoof is all about. But the authors did plant a seed in my mind concerning the possible viability of the wild horse as a model. Still, at

In 1982, this changed. A client adopted a mare mustang and asked me to look at the hooves to see if they needed trimming. Only days from being removed from her home range, what I saw were the most extraordinary hooves a farrier with just half an open mind could ever imagine. The problem was, they didn’t resemble any hoof I had ever seen — or read about for that matter.

I returned home from shoeing that night very troubled. How could such a hoof be? I asked myself again and again. Were her hooves a strange anomaly? Or were they come to life the very wild horse model I had been contemplating and hoping for all along? There was only one thing to do, and what happened next is now history.

38 years later.

I left wild horse country for the last time in 1986. It was bout then that I began writing The Natural Horse. It was not easy. Nor was my research. The subject was unexplored territory, and there was no one who had come before me to provide insight and guidance, like the master musician teaching the novice. Further, I was a hoof man, not a skilled researcher or writer. But on both fronts — researcher and writer — I eventually found my way. Northland Publishing, now defunct, agreed to publish it. And in 1990, I entered the lengthy two year process of working with editors and the illustrator (Larry Lindahl) to put the book together.

For years, I vowed to never change a word of the original text. Eventually, however, I caved because I have grown so much in my understanding of the research and its many applications. A process, I’ve come to understand, that never ends. But 30 years have gone by since I submitted my manuscript to Northland and the time has come to bring it in some measure to standard. A task I quickly realized is impossible to do! There’s simply too much that has evolved to work into this book. Hence I have sought a compromise.

The language of natural horse care (NHC*) based on my research has manifestly changed since I wrote the original text. What I’ve now settled on, in part, is leaving as much of what I wrote in tact, changing words here and there that better fit what I was trying to say at the time, but knowing what I know now. However, some things had to change considerably or go all together. Chapter 4 on the description of the wild hoof was changed quite a bit because we know so much more about the hooves today. I replaced everything in Chapter 6 about natural hoof care (NHC) with a reasonable sketch of what I now do stepwise, with references to new books I’ve written on the subject. Chapter 7 (A Natural Way to Ride) has been completely removed, because it really deserves a book of its own, not an 8 page chapter. In its place I’ve included a photo journal about Paddock Paradise, one of the most important breakthroughs in natural equine management based directly on my observations of wild horses in their home ranges. Chapter 8 is an entirely new addition to the book. This concerns a widespread disease that NHC science defines as Whole Horse Inflammatory Disease, and that symptomatically expresses itself as laminitis, among other metabolic disorders, in horses. NHC provides an important healing and prevention pathway for laminitic horses based on the wild horse model, thus the chapter’s inclusion in this book.

*NHC is an anachronism that is used interchangeably with natural hoof care and natural horse care, although technically that latter encompasses the former. this point in time I personally had only heard about them — nothing direct.

PART I

LEARNING FROM THE WILD HORSE

INTRODUCTION

THE WILD HORSE AND THEIR HISTORY

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE WILD HORSE

BEHAVIOR AND MOVEMENT OF THE WILD HORSE

THE WILD HORSE AND THEIR HOOVES

Introduction

MY WORK AS A FARRIER (horseshoer) began some 45 years ago — first shoeing my own horses and later those of my friends. In time, this work, not at all by design, culminated in a rather substantial, full-time business in Arkansas, and later in northern California. Over the years, I came to realize that there are as many ways to trim and shoe a horse as there are to ride one. Indeed, in the horse world, shoeing methods are usually linked to the working requirements of the horse; for example, we find racing Thoroughbreds shod one way and draft horses another. But always troubling me was the uncertainty as to what really constituted a naturally shaped hoof and the natural locomotion of the horse. That’s because early on I became aware that nailing shoes to the horse’s foot actually damaged it, and even affected the way they moved. It became clear to me that I was contributing to the harm of another living being and that was unacceptable to me. I began to ask myself: What had nature, through selection of the equine species, intended for the horse's hooves and locomotion? While a few horse care professionals I met or read about speculated on this subject, I was not able to find a clear description anywhere of natural hoof shape and natural equine locomotion based on tangible evidence.

Years ago, I heard stories about large numbers of wild horses roaming at liberty in Nevada and elsewhere within the surrounding Great Basin area of the western United States (Figure i-I). Like most people in the horse world, I knew very little about these animals, except what I had heard in the form of rumors, seen on television, or read about in newspapers and Old West stories. Still, the idea came to me one day that perhaps the hooves and locomotive behavior of the wild horse might exemplify what nature had intended for the modern horse. As a horseman and farrier, I felt especially qualified to examine their hooves, observe their locomotive behavior, and report my findings. In the early 1980s, I found myself miles off the nearest maintained road, deep within the high desert rangelands of western Nevada. I had entered America’s wild horse country.

My first stay among the wild horses of Nevada lasted less than a week. I learned quickly — from a distance — that these animals, which always seemed to travel about in small groups of four to twelve, were often flighty and not easily approached, at least not close enough to look at their hooves. In most instances, the monarchs as I thought of them — breeding stallions — were extremely protective and moved quickly to drive their harems beyond my reach. From what I did see, I was impressed by the apparent good health of these animals, including what appeared to be an absence of lameness. In this respect, my observations tended to conflict with the many tall tales I had heard about lame, malnourished, and stunted wild horses with crooked legs, tattered hides, and chipped and disfigured hooves. Peering hour after hour into my binoculars revealed the opposite. The monarchs, for example, were often quite large (in excess of 1,100 pounds) and robust, very well muscled, and sound. The mares, while normally somewhat smaller (700 to 1,100 pounds), were also healthy, sound, muscular, and otherwise well-developed.

FIGURE i-1

Wild horse and burro areas in the west.

Constantly on the move, either running at play (or from me) or peacefully meandering along as they grazed, these animals penetrated nearly every gorge and ridge of the vast high desert landscape, including the steep, rocky mountain slopes where I literally had to watch my every step. From what I could see, their heavily worn hooves appeared to reflect the abrasiveness of the terrain through which they moved. From a hoofman's perspective, this meant that they bore little or no excess growth anywhere. I also noticed two basic hoof shapes cast everywhere upon the earth, which I suspected then to be front and hind.

Finally, it became clear that I must take the necessary steps to look more closely — and safely — at the hooves of these creatures. Before long, I made arrangements with officials of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct a thorough examination of the hooves of 250 wild, free-roaming horses. At the time, I didn’t realize the formidable and lengthy task that lay ahead. It would take years of observing wild horses in their natural habitat to begin to understand the complexities born of the naturally shaped hoof.

ENTER THE BLM

For many years, the wild horse has been at the center of much controversy, a matter that is probably best understood in an historical context (discussed briefly in Chapter 1). Important to this discussion is the BLM's task of removing systematically thousands of wild horses from public lands — a management practice instituted in 1971 that has pleased some and outraged others. Despite the varying feelings toward this practice, I was able to use it as a way to safely carry out my examinations. As newly captured horses were removed from the open range, I was there to examine them. All of these animals came from the Great Basin area, with most coming from Nevada and northern California, where my range observations were to center for the next four years. The actual task of capturing the horses was somewhat complicated and required the strict cooperation of numerous personnel. Following is a short description of the procedure.

To start, an airborne wrangler in a helicopter carefully drove the animals toward a pre-designated site. Here, a temporary corral and chute were constructed to receive the horses. Wranglers, hidden from view, waited patiently and silently nearby on horseback. Next, specially trained horses, called traitors (Judas) by the wranglers, were released just ahead and in the path of the approaching wild horses. Generally, the traitors would lure the wild horses into the corral where the wranglers, taking up the rear, promptly sealed off the entrance. Last, the horses were driven by the wranglers through loading chutes and into large vans and trailers suitable for transporting livestock. Never to roam in the wild again, the animals were shipped from the rangelands to several of the BLM's permanent, wild horse processing and holding facilities. Unfortunately, some of these facilities are now greatly overcrowded, and the fate of many detained wild horses remains in limbo; too few are adopted into private ownership.

*Young stallion with pinto markings pursued by wranglers. Headers and heelers secure horse with ropes, stretched out on the ground. 1 was able to measure, examine, and photograph over 1000 wild horse hooves just removed from several HMAs.

The facility where I measured most of the hooves of captured horses is known as the Litchfield Corrals, located twenty miles east of Susanville, California. Wild horses and burros captured by officials and wranglers of the BLM are processed here for sale to the public under the government's Adopt-A-horse Program.¹ The neatly maintained facility consists of several large pasture turnouts, which surround an impressive labyrinth of passageways, chutes, and holding pens. At the heart of this complex network is the central roping pen, where teams of wranglers work together to isolate and restrain individual horses for identification and veterinary care. This is where I examined the animals' hooves.

The manner of processing horses at the Litchfield Corrals has actually changed since the year of my hoof surveys (1983-84). Currently, most horses are driven into a narrow chute, where their movements are restricted just enough to enable the BLM staff to carry out their tasks. This method is thought to be less stressful for the animals. But because the animals are still able to stand on all four legs, they are not sufficiently immobilized to permit a close and safe examination of hooves. Previously, horses were restrained by roping, a technique that made my work feasible — but still very dangerous.*

First, wranglers worked to separate small groups of horses from the main herds in the outer pastures. Driven to the central corral, individual horses were then isolated and pursued by two or three mounted ropers. Coordinating their skills, the wranglers managed to secure each animal's front and hind legs in pairs. This left the horse stretched out upon the ground between the two roping horses in a relatively immobile state. At this time, the horse was aged by dental examination, treated for parasites whether they had some or not, branded, gelded if a stallion over a certain age, and otherwise checked for good health by a veterinarian.²The weight of the horse was also estimated at this time. Because of the horse's sensitive nature and their predisposition to shock while restrained, the above procedures had to be completed within five to ten minutes, which is exactly how long I had to examine the hooves of each horse. On the average, BLM wranglers were able to process twenty five to thirty horses