This is typically what I have seen for the Thermograph and Caption underneath
"The single most convincing thing for me was to see a thermograph of a horse's feet--three of which were without shoes and one which was shod. Note the shod foot has virtually no blood circulation. I will NEVER put shoes on my horse again."
After seeing this thermograph I started thinking. There is no way that a shoe applied to a hoof by itself could cause this. So I started my quest to disprove that a shoe applied to a hoof (by itself) could cause this.
I started by going to FLIR's online education website. I took every possible course they offered.
I then borrowed a FLIR I7 that a friend had and set out to one of the barns I trim at. I took pictures of shod hooves and did not see anything like the thermograph above. There pictures were taken a fairly chilly day and the results showed that heat was transferred all way down through the shoe onto the floor. Below are some samples of the thermographs that I took of shod and barefoot horses.
This is an ongoing investigation for me. My thoughts are that if shoeing a horse causes that amount of interference in peripheral circulation, there would be a significant reduction of blood supply to the hoof capsule and hence a shortage of oxygen and nutrients to the laminae. I would imagine if that was the case we would see a lot more issues in shod horses (Laminitis, Founder, and Lameness).
The information here is my opinion based on the facts that I have gathered. I'm sure as I continue research I'll have more conclusive findings, but as of right now I cannot see how a proper shoeing job by itself would cause a thermograph to look like the one above. I would love to here your thoughts and opinions, I can be reached at my email address or like my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/csmhoofcare
Shod Hooves
Barefoot Hooves
