![Picture](/uploads/2/3/7/0/23705686/1416338898.png)
Barefoot racing is not a commonly practiced form of hoof care. In Massachusetts, Brian and Sara Minsk have been credited as the pioneers of barefoot racing, starting their breeding and training practices in 2003 ("Barefoot Performance,” 2007). Their belief has begun to include other small farm trainers, including Simone Earle. Why race barefoot? According to the two pioneers: “horses are running better without shoes, their tendons are under much less pressure, they are healthier, and recovering faster from both work and racing. Everything any trainer could want. While we have no intention of saying anything in the press to raise the stakes in this matter, to our friends and supporters we would say the question should actually be ‘why shoes?’” ("Barefoot Performance,” 2007). While interest is still growing in the Thoroughbred industry, NMF Benraz Halim is an Arabian racer that has had a great amount of success racing barefoot. Thoroughbred trainers are more comfortable training their horses barefoot, but are still leery of actually racing them without shoes. Brother Derek, 2006 Winner of the Santa Anita Derby and Fourth place finisher in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, “trains without shoes and he’s worn glue-on shoes since Del Mar to allow his feet to air out and expand naturally” describes his trainer ("Barefoot Performance,” 2007). The Association of Racing Commissioners International established a Model Rule to allow horses to race barefoot, but allowing each racing district the ability to enforce their own standards (Jurga, 2006). “The CHRB [California Horse Racing Board] found that 13 states and/or tracks allowed horses to race barefoot, with restrictions and stipulations varying between the states. Twelve states or tracks required that horses be shod” (Jurga, 2006). Barefoot racing is best described as a work-in-progress, but every change in racing takes years to gain footing, and with a practice as drastic as barefoot racing, only time will tell if this idea will grow.
Brother Derek - 2006 Santa Anita Derby. Dir. Vintage North American Horse Racing. 25 Feb. 2007. YouTube.com. Web. 4 Nov. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLofHor6Wl8>.