Are you a barefoot or shod horseowner?

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shadowboy

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Just asking as I cant seem to find a farrier who hot shoes- and I dont like horses being cold shot- infact soooo many people here are starting to go barefoot, but im not convinced- not for the driving horses anywhay who work on tarmac most of the time, although for dressage I could see it being a reasonable change. But I am open to convincing if people really feel it works.....
 
4 of ours are shod and one doesn't have shoes because he's only 4 and doesn't need them yet. If I ever think he would benefit from shoes then he would have them but I don't see the point of paying for them when he's perfectly fine as he is. He's only ridden once or twice a week but if he goes for a hack then he wears old macs g2s which are fantastic boots.
 
We have about 35 horses altogether here, and about 20-odd belong to me - they are all barefoot (regardless of owner) - always have been as none of them need shoes.
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My gelding is very difficult bordering on dangerous to shoe without heavy sedation. So he is barefoot, and Dil is too, she is a welsh cob and has never had shoes on
 
Didn't do the poll as don't fit in with te choices! The two retired ladies are barefoot as both have hard feet and don't need shoes, the big girl has to be sedated for trimming, I think both me and the farrier would need sedating if we had to shoe her, the other one has front shoes (hot shod) was barefot but began wearing her front feet down oddly when her neck and back needed treatment.
 
my horse has always been hot shod, but he's retired now so i've taken his shoes off as he doesn't need them anymore - he's only trimmed by the farrier though - i'm not paying a fortune for an EP when a farrier does longer training!
 
My TB had shocking feet and was forever pulling his shoes off, took the decision last year to remove his shoes and thanks to a good farrier now, touch wood he hasn't needed shoes since. Granted he doesn't do a lot of roadwork, but his feet have improved 100% on what they were.
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My thoroughbred went barefoot on the advice of my farrier 10 months ago because her feet were so bad and she couldn't keep shoes on. She didn't ever come sound until last week when I had her shod again. My connemara hasn't had shoes on for years but he doesn't do much anymore. My hunter wears her shoes out in 7-10 days in the winter so wouldn't dare try her barefoot.
 
My boy was barefoot for 12 years, never had them on ever, but he had to have them put on in front as he was lame and it seemed to help and he kept slipping, and was getting a bit hair raising!
 
Mine is hot shod as all our hacking is on roads and I do endurance events on stoney tracks and sometimes rough ground. I get through shoes until they are paper thin every 4 weeks so no shoes would not be an option for me.
 
Ellie is barefoot at the back and has been for about 2yrs. She has not had a day of lameness on either of her back feet. But has been lame on two occasions on the front shod feet
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She is IDxTB (1/2 n 1/2) and has thoroughbred legs and feet so I was worried about her going barefoot and the farrier expected her to be lame during a breaking in process. But she was horrid to shoe at the back and we thought we would give it a go to see if it would save us all a lot of agro.

She took to it like a duck to water and I would never shoe her at the back again, unless of course there was a very good reason for it. I am seriously considering trying her barefoot at the front too. We do a fair bit of road work and work on forest tracks which can be quite stoney.
 
Mine is shod, he always has been so I think would take awhile to adapt without shoes. Also I do a lot of roadwork with him, quite often his shoes are paper-thin after 4-6 weeks o no shoes wouldn't be an option. I do like the idea of going barefoot and can see the benefits, it just wouldn't be practical for me and my horse.
 
Bramble and Teazle were barefoot for 14 years and only trimmed once a year as their feet are that good. But now I drive them along the road everyday they have to be hot shod, but this is only when they are working everyday. Dollar has always been barfoot as his feet are fab, Lottie is hot shod when she is in work, if she isn't then she goes barefoot and Flo is cold shod all the time as shes in work all of the time (NOT my choice
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Both my current girls are hot shod very frequently as we do a tonne of roadwork (school and jumps are an hours hack away). I wouldn't attempt to go barefoot with them no. Especially not with Be as we can wear out extra thick shoes in a fortnight
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I have however, in the past had a TB who I did a quite a lot of work with (incl. roadwork) without shoes, and none of my ponies were ever shod.
 
I have three - my TB is hot shod, is sound with shoes, but can't walk a step without them. The other two are youngsters so haven't been in work yet...the older one has very good hard feet so probably won't get shoes on unless she gets footy in work. The younger one's feet are better than my TB, but not as good as the other so she may need shod. I'll just play it by ear. I'd like to find an alternative to shoes, but don't know whether the old macs etc really would work.
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Chancer is barefoot and I hope to keep him that way - he is only 3 and starting to do little hacks.

Cairo is now barefoot and has been for about 3 years. In summer he did have fronts and occasionally a full set as his feet broke up in dry weather and/or he went pottery on front.

This year his feet have been fine - due to a I think the black sunflower seeds he has had for the past year - Chancer's feet too are greatly improved - not a chip out of them this year. Also we think the low ring bone has finally fused, hence not needing shoes on hard ground.

I have noticed Cairo's feet are 100% improved in terms of thrush and hemorraging which he used to have constantly and now has not for three years and I now just pick them out and put a little stockholm tar on them occasionally rather than scrubbing and using various potions every week.
 
I tried over the winter to go barefoot with my tb x but couldnt get the hoof boots quite right. Will try again this winter with different boots until we find ones to suit then will go barefoot full time.
 
Shod, always.

Have seen too many people go barefoot then end up with horses constantly lame, always have abcesses. Currently know of one that's dog lame - owner tells everyone it's laminitis but it's because she thinks that after a 2 day course she's perfectly qualified to trim her horse herself. Absolute cruelty IMHO.

It's one thing keeping a horse "barefoot" that's never been shod, but another thing entirely to whip the shoes off a horse who's always had them on.

I had my welshy unshod for about 2.5 months last spring because I worked away so gave him an extended holiday. He just stayed in the field and was fine unshod. Rode him once without shoes and my pony who's never had a lame day was nearly hopping within a couple of minutes. Fronts went back on, then backs about 6 months later when I started doing more road work. I think the difference here though is that my pony was UNSHOD rather than "barefoot". I still had my farrier out and wouldn't even consider using a trimmer or, God forbid, attempting it myself.
 
Front shoes only on Bert.

He was barefoot when I got him but couldn't cope with the increased road work so put fronts on. The more road work resulted in backs going on and since moving yards they have come back off.

He has good feet though
 
The 2 I compete (eventing & BSJA) are hot shod.

My 2 retired ponies are barefoot. Although TBH Im not all that convinced I did the right thing. They went properly "barefoot" (one had never been shod before but was trimmed by farrier so not proper "barefoot" trim) about 3 months ago. Both are lame...

However I did compete one of my horses for 2 years unshod! But he was trimmed by my farrier as if he was going to put on a shoe (so not the "barefoot" type of trim). He had great hooves so it was no problem. However he began to slip badly on grass when jumping and began to lose confidence so I decided he had to have shoes to have studs! By choice Id love to keep all mine unshod however it IS difficult if you jump.
 
mine aqre bare.
one 18month who i will try to keep shoeless.
a 17yo retired mare who has been bare for the last 6years.i took them off when she had a sesaon off and her feet looked so good i left them off!we did road work etc for an hour a day.she is ish.
my oldie had no shoes on either as her feet were great.she was a connyx and we did jumping off grass and school surfaces and pc.
 
My sisters Welsh mare is barefoot and always has been as she has great feet. Our gelding has fronts only and my guy has been unshod for about 6 weeks as he has very poor feet and couldn't hold shoes on. He used to be shod all round and will definitely be having fronts back on (and backs if necessary) when his hooves have improved. My guy is usually cold shod as he's not great with the farrier and this makes things easier!
 
shadowmunkey: if you do the right conditioning work and treat all infection etc then your horse's feet will be stronger than metal shoes and you'll be able to drive all day long if you want to. Without shoes the frogs will be able to touch the floor and that then stimulates the frog to pump blood around the foot which makes them grow. I'm not saying that once you whip the shoes off you'll be able to go for 3 hours on the roads. Its hard work and you have to be dedicated to do it properly. Also my horse is shod, I'm not 100% taken with the barefoot thing and the only way to find out for myself if it is right is to take my mare barefoot. You could always put the shoes back on if it goes wrong!
 
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