Am i the only person in the world who doesnt shoe their horse?

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fallingstar

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Please tell me that i'm not, im starting to feel like a freak of nature.

Basically my NF gelding used to be shod until 4 years ago when he had a mild laminitis attack. Afterwards his feet were never quite the same and were getting very weak and crumbling. Farrier suggested taking his shoes off as he felt that my poor boy would soon have no hoof left to nail them onto.

So i did so and at first he used to stumble but gradually his feet started to look much better. At first he would stumble on stones etc but after a while he seemed to toughen up and he's never bothered now unless the ground is exceptionally stoney.

However at the new yard I've moved him to everyone (and i mean everyone) looks down at his feet and says 'Dont you shoe him?' When i say no i dont i get met (for the most part) by astonished looks and more then one question of 'why not?'

He gets ridden 3 - 4 times a week, mainly hacking and nearly all of it off road. He seems perfectly happy shoeless and his feet are fine.

If anyone else out there has a horse they ride and leave unshod i would love to hear from you. Let me know im not the only one in the world!
 
I'm glad to hear im not the only one. I kept him at a tiny yard until recently and never thought about it. Now I'm at this new place where he is literally the only horse not shod apart from the 8 month old foal that lives there.

Its really opened my eyes being on a big yard. I feel like I've been living in a bubble for the past 4 years. All the things people do cos they think its the 'in' thing to do is amazing. They are going to love me with my barefoot, normally unclipped, unrugged pony! I feel like I've come from another planet!
 
Herbies a forest bred forester. He has rock hard feet and I keep him unshod. :D We even have to hack down a stony track to get onto the forest and it doesn't bother him. :)
 
OP - Rest assured there are many hundred if not thousands of bares out there.

I can be confident in this - because there are now quite a few barefoot trimmers who do it full time. One I know of has over 200 on their list.

And no they are not all pasture ornaments - many - including the most successful of my clients work their horses fairly hard over all surfaces. It is one of the secrets to successful barefoot - keep them working :-)

You don't say where you are - but you might find there are other barefooters quite nearby.

I met someone recently who had similar thoughts as you, but I knew there were several other barefooters in the immediate vicinity - it is just they are not show boaters :-)
 
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My daughter got the same comments first time she took her welshie X to a Pony Club rally. Now they just accept it, even though we still get the occasional comment that she'll slip on the grass jumping (no more than any other horse). She also does X-country barefoot and bootless - no chance of damage if she clips herself with a barefoot (flew round an unaffilliated 85cm course last week). Other people were busy putting in their studs! Ignore the comments your ponies feet and legs will be much better for it.
 
my arab is barefoot, this is the first year his hooves have suffered, but purely because he had summer off and the old field was soooo dry. Looking good again now tho, rain and new fields = happy hooves!! Hacking out on roads is not a prob, nor are stones, he's quite tough like that, its everything else he's a wimp with!!
 
Lacey is the only horse I have shod all round.

Before that I have had 2 ponies barefoot all round, another ponies we did have barefoot all round and then in the last several years he had front on.
The a horse I used to compete (dressage, sj, event etc) only had front shoes on.

If Lacey was able to go without I probably would have her barefoot.
 
I'm unshod too...!

When i went unshod someone said that's fine but you cannot do roadwork! So don't worry, people are only curious or mis-informed. I am sure you will be a very good representitive for unshod horses!

Though I would get him clipped though.... ...........(only joking... lol)

x
 
i have my horses barefoot, my older one has worn shoes most of his life but turns out it crippled him so i took the shoes off and he's happy now. my other 2 have never worn shoes and i hope they will never have them put on.
i have a pony i loaned out and i did say no shoes on her as she's happy barefoot but they put shoes on her so i wasn't happy.

i used to have an ex racer on loan, she was barefoot as well, she raced for 7yrs barefoot with no incidents.
 
Both mine are unshod. I live in a desert environment, which is much better for horses feet than mud anyway. They have G2's for going out hacking at the moment as the tracks can be a bit rough, but their feet are coming on nicely. Ari has gone from being flat soled to getting a nice concavity going on :)

Roadwork is BRILLIANT for acclimatising unshod hooves - nice, hard, smooth tarmac - just the job and no harsh jarring up their legs from metal shoes that are stopping their feet expanding and acting as shock absorbers :)
 
Charlie is an exracer and he is barefoot all round and has been for over a year. The best thing I have done is taken off all of his shoes. Would never want to see shoes on him again.
 
I used to be the only barefooter. I did endurance and they considered my horse a lucky freak to manage barefoot. My trimmers were treated with amused suspicion.

Then another livery went barefoot.

Then another livery went barefoot.

Then the YO went barefoot.

Then another livery went barefoot.

Now another is thinking about it.

Now I am smug.......
 
You could get a copy of this months 'Horse and Rider' magazine and leave it lying around prominantly on the 'Any horse can go bare' article. My three TB x's are all barefoot.
 
fallingstar said:
Its really opened my eyes being on a big yard. I feel like I've been living in a bubble for the past 4 years. All the things people do cos they think its the 'in' thing to do is amazing. They are going to love me with my barefoot, normally unclipped, unrugged pony! I feel like I've come from another planet!
Click to expand...

I'm in my own little bubble too. I am lucky enough to have mine at home and when I go to yards occasionally it's a bit of a culture shock! lol
It just shows how influential the 'culture' of individual yards is especially for those that don't move much.

As an aside as I read this this morning so it's in my head. Here's Pete Ramey's (USA Farrier turned Trimmer) take on the future and hoof care, it's a message for Trimmers really but interesting all the same. USA is a bit ahead of us it seems.
http://www.hoofrehab.com/21stCenturyFarrier.html
 
Another one here. All 4 of mine are unshod and I compete 2 of them in Endurance (bootless too!).

Must admit, I rent my own land though, so don't have anyone to look down on me for doing what's not seen as the norm.
 
I'm all for barefoot - anything that is good for my mare's arthritis and is cheap gets my vote!

One question though, how do you stop slipping - my mare seems to slip around her paddock at the moment quite alarmingly.

I believe the opposite will happen though on roads and barefoot would be gripier than shod.

Fi
 
Harvey has absolutely huge feet and is shod fronts only. However, he is a dreadful tripper, so I have decided that I am going to try him bare to see if it helps.
 
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