After 8 months I'm ready to give up the barefoot experience...

toooldtofalloff

toooldtofalloff

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Our Barefoot Journey 2025:
Reason’s for trying it:
*Better for the horse long-term if they can cope with the specific terrain and work-load required of them. *Great traction on all kinds of surfaces, if the horse is comfortable.
*It’s a more holistic approach to horse-keeping since everything has to come together to make it work. *And if you can get boots to fit really well, then it’s a perfect compromise for those times when you need to protect the foot.

Pitfalls to consider:
*Sore or compromised feet when the ground conditions change ie: very wet, when the hoof growth doesn’t keep up with the work-load, or when the work-load includes a lot of rough ground and causes too much wear and tear.
*Combined with the transition and using hoof boots, it can be a high maintenance exercise. *Boots can be difficult to fit with a lot of feathering and then one week they might fit ok but the next they’re turning round or causing rubs…

My Conclusion for Goose:
Goose has always been barefoot on his hinds and no problem there, and so in June he had his front shoes removed. For 8 months through summer and into Autumn it went reasonably well… but now we’ve hit a wall. My gut feeling is his autumn/winter hoof growth isn’t keeping pace with the work load and combined with the rough ground he’s now sore.
I’m 75% certain that his front shoes are going to go back on next week. I’m just not prepared to have him suffer for the sake of being barefoot. I ride a lot, and much of it is on hard flinty or rocky tracks, and I feel I’ve already compromised much of our riding this year because I’ve been forever scrutinising the ground and worrying about it! I’ve had to remove the boots on occasions when we’ve been out and about and that’s been a bit of a faff.
I do like the principle of being barefoot and my conclusion for Goose is this: if we lived in a softer area and rode bridleways, fields, and schools, then we’d be totally fine. But we don’t. We live in a very mountainous, unforgiving landscape with a lot of uneven ground, and I’m missing our long rides!
#barefoothorse
 

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Have you tried glue ons? Just from the perspective of lesser concussion and joint health if you're riding over uneven terrain for long periods.
Otherwise if you've really tried everything (different boots, optimum diet) I don't think there's any shame in saying it doesn't work for us, nor in doggedly pursuing a philosophy to the detriment of your horse's well-being (ie he's consistently sore). Obviously you can do everything possible environmentally to make it work but you can't change the animal's conformation and how it influences hoof wear, nor its genetic propensity to grow (or not) a lot of foot.
 
FieldOrnaments said:
Have you tried glue ons? Just from the perspective of lesser concussion and joint health if you're riding over uneven terrain for long periods.
Otherwise if you've really tried everything (different boots, optimum diet) I don't think there's any shame in saying it doesn't work for us, nor in doggedly pursuing a philosophy to the detriment of your horse's well-being (ie he's consistently sore). Obviously you can do everything possible environmentally to make it work but you can't change the animal's conformation and how it influences hoof wear, nor its genetic propensity to grow (or not) a lot of foot.
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No, not come across glue-ons, not sure if my farrier is familiar with them.
I think I'm done mentally with it all as well... I just feel as if I'm constantly over-thinking everything and at the end of the day my pony isn't happy. Thanks for the response; totally agree that there's no point is pursuing something to the detriment of the horse.
 
Mine gets too much wear without some protection especially in winter. I use Hoof Armour on him which gives him enough protection for most of what we do and I have found really good. If we are going on longer or more rocky rides than normal I use scoot boots and mud straps quite successfully.
Fortunately I've not needed to resort to shoes.
 
Gloi said:
Mine gets too much wear without some protection especially in winter. I use Hoof Armour on him which gives him enough protection for most of what we do and I have found really good. If we are going on longer or more rocky rides than normal I use scoot boots and mud straps quite successfully.
Fortunately I've not needed to resort to shoes.
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Yes I've got all the hoof hardener products, I expect I'll continue to use them. Scoots just didn't fit Goose.
 
pistolpete said:
They are all individuals like us. If you told me I have to start wearing high heels I’d literally have a melt down! Friends wear them no bother at all.
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haha me too! Nothing worse than sore feet... I'm only used to wellies, walking boots and riding boots these days. I'm hopeless if i have to wear normal shoes let alone heels
 
Definitely best to go with what suits the horse. I've asked my farrier about glue ons before, but he thinks they'd be a no go for us as we have fairly clay-ey grazing, so they'd be difficult to keep on (and very expensive if they're having to be replaced on the reg!). If you've got sandy grazing it might be worth looking into though.
I did have pads put under the old boys hind shoes, which helped with concussion- the physio noted a difference after he'd had them on for a couple of cycles. I wouldn't bother in a horse that didn't need it though (he is arthritic), as the cost is fairly hefty.
 
SpeedyPony said:
Definitely best to go with what suits the horse. I've asked my farrier about glue ons before, but he thinks they'd be a no go for us as we have fairly clay-ey grazing, so they'd be difficult to keep on (and very expensive if they're having to be replaced on the reg!). If you've got sandy grazing it might be worth looking into though.
I did have pads put under the old boys hind shoes, which helped with concussion- the physio noted a difference after he'd had them on for a couple of cycles. I wouldn't bother in a horse that didn't need it though (he is arthritic), as the cost is fairly hefty.
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Thank you, yes my farrier is due next week. We're in the Welsh hills so its steep ground and we can get cloying mud in some areas; I'm not sure about the glue-ons as he's quite heavy on his feet and likes to gallop up and down the big hill and do sliding stops... he's lost shoes like this but at least they can get nailed back on for no charge!
 
I think fundamentally you have to do what's best for the horse and yourself in the circumstances you're in. Sure, barefoot is more natural, but we're not keeping horses in their 'natural habitat' in 2025, nor are we even keeping 'nature's horses'. We're keeping domesticated horses on very different grazing and very different activity and need to manage them accordingly. Personally I do think barefoot is best but if it doesn't work for you/your horse no point keeping him uncomfortable for the sake of maintaining face 'doing what's best' (& daft to think that what's best for one horse is best for every single other horse).
 
FieldOrnaments said:
I think fundamentally you have to do what's best for the horse and yourself in the circumstances you're in. Sure, barefoot is more natural, but we're not keeping horses in their 'natural habitat' in 2025, nor are we even keeping 'nature's horses'. We're keeping domesticated horses on very different grazing and very different activity and need to manage them accordingly. Personally I do think barefoot is best but if it doesn't work for you/your horse no point keeping him uncomfortable for the sake of maintaining face 'doing what's best' (& daft to think that what's best for one horse is best for every single other horse).
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Oh I agree; I really wanted it to work but I've no intention of carrying on if he's sore. He's miserable at the mo so that's uncomfortable for me, too. So true about the wild horse v domesticated horse conditions...
 
Shoes were invented for a reason; helping the hooves not get too worn during work. I'm very much about trying barefoot, but it doesn't always work and that's okay. I personally also don't want to use plastic shoes without further reason, I'd rather leave small pieces of metal in nature than plastic. Most sound horses do well with metal shoes.
 
Korg said:
Shoes were invented for a reason; helping the hooves not get too worn during work. I'm very much about trying barefoot, but it doesn't always work and that's okay. I personally also don't want to use plastic shoes without further reason, I'd rather leave small pieces of metal in nature than plastic. Most sound horses do well with metal shoes.
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Thanks, yes, I'm ready to go back to trad shoes now.
 
SEL said:
My littlest cob is rock crunching in summer but as soon as her frogs get softer when the weather changes she hates being barefoot.

You have to do what is right for you & your horse.
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Ah yes, common problem. We've had a very wet autumn here and that kind of signalled an end to it for us!
 
You've spent a lot of time investigating it,youv'e given your horse's front feet the benefit of the doubvt. Can't say fairer than that. Rocky, flinty ground is hard work esp in wetter weather when the hooves and frog will be softer and more prone to damage. Your horse has benefitted from a few months without front shoes which will have been beneficial for his overall hoof growth and frog shape, so his feet will be in good condition to take metal shoes too.
 
Suechoccy said:
You've spent a lot of time investigating it,youv'e given your horse's front feet the benefit of the doubvt. Can't say fairer than that. Rocky, flinty ground is hard work esp in wetter weather when the hooves and frog will be softer and more prone to damage. Your horse has benefitted from a few months without front shoes which will have been beneficial for his overall hoof growth and frog shape, so his feet will be in good condition to take metal shoes too.
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Thank you so much; its been quite a journey!
 
Mine has had a few years barefoot now, including loads of hacking, a little one day event, loads of hunt rides etc. He has been rock crunching but now it is wet, even he has worn boots a few times this month as he feels the odd stone and his feet wear quicker.

If you want to, you could try some boots for hacking as it will likely be a temporary problem and the feet will then enter next summer already conditioned.

Nothing wrong with shoeing up though.
 
Dex could easily be a barefoot horse if he was at a yard with soft bridleway/field/road hacking.. but as it is we also have very flinty ground on chalk and he just can't cope with it. It is a shame, I'd also like to save the £120 every 5 weeks if I could help it, but they can't all cope and there is nothing wrong with that. You did your best, no shame to feel!
 
Red-1 said:
Mine has had a few years barefoot now, including loads of hacking, a little one day event, loads of hunt rides etc. He has been rock crunching but now it is wet, even he has worn boots a few times this month as he feels the odd stone and his feet wear quicker.

If you want to, you could try some boots for hacking as it will likely be a temporary problem and the feet will then enter next summer already conditioned.

Nothing wrong with shoeing up though.
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Hi, yes we have boots and all sorts of different pads but they just don't fit well 😝 He has lots of feathering so I do think it makes the process more of a problem.
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
Dex could easily be a barefoot horse if he was at a yard with soft bridleway/field/road hacking.. but as it is we also have very flinty ground on chalk and he just can't cope with it. It is a shame, I'd also like to save the £120 every 5 weeks if I could help it, but they can't all cope and there is nothing wrong with that. You did your best, no shame to feel!
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Hi, thank you, yes exactly my own experience! I'm in North Wales and its lovely to have the mountains but the tracks are quite unforgiving and a nightmare for boots twisting on the uneven ground
 
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