While some horses are genetically incapable of going barefoot, other horses do have the genes that produce suitable conformation and feet that stand up in the unshod state. "If, for example, you're buying a fox hunting horse that was born and bred out in the field, and his family five generations back fox hunted barefoot, then that's probably a practical candidate for going unshod," says Carre. He recalls a grade-type Quarter Horse endurance horse he once owned. "By the time he was 23, he'd gone on eight 100-mile rides, and over 3,000 miles in National Trail Ride Association competitions, and that horse practically lived barefoot. We trained him four to six months a year barefoot. He had thick walls and thick soles. It was through genetics and breeding."