are you barefoot and what work are you doing with your horse

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inmyownlittleworld

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i have a five year old hes been barefoot nearly two years we are just plodding hacking at moment i do not trot him on gravelly tracks just walk he seems fine i moved yards before the winter and its amuses people hes barefoot ,they are nice just think he should be shod but they do faster hacks etc, his feet dont even get worn down to be honest no wear and tear or splits ,is your horse barefoot and what work are you in , and what will you be doing in the summer ?
 
We are barefoot and last year we did showing, working hunter, show jumping, hunter trials, jumpcross and a BE80T.

I limit the amount of work we do on roads and keep on verges where possible. He did suffer the odd chipped hoof and didn't like the hardcore type stuff they occasionally put down on bits of xc courses but fine otherwise. We competed on some very wet and greasy ground and he was fine as long as I rode properly!
 
Have a 5 year old has never had shoes on she does preliminary dressage, unaffiliated sj and about to start doing some xc she also hacks out on gravel / concrete roads with no problems :)
 
My boy ware unshod for 5 years (at the moment we are back in shoes for a while under veterinary care for other issues not related to feet)

Pinto did everything better unshod than with shoes on. Including trotting for miles on paved roads.

Once a year he did a 4 day randonnée, covering 60-80km per day without boots or anything, and although his feet came back a little chipped, he wasn't sore at all.

He also did internal jumping competitions, horseball, and last year went xc training for the first time in his 17 years

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We were really lucky in that he didn't take any time to transition and he was never footy as such. Once or twice he was a little more careful over our gravel paths, especially in Autumn when the apples were on the ground, but apart from that gravel/no gravel it didn't make any difference.
 
I really believe most leisure horses don't need shoes, and I am not one of the barefoot brigade who believes you have to drastically alter the horses lifestyle to maintain this.
My warmblood is barefoot and I school, hack, jump ect In the summer when the ground gets really hard I just take it slowly over stony ground then carry on the hack as normal I have never found roads to be a problem if anything he seems to have more grip.
Friends horses have trouble associated from pulling shoes off, or damaged feet or navicular ect and I haven't had any problems.
 
my pony has been barefoot 5 months, after being in shoes 15 yrs, hes so much better, although he wheres front boots for hacking.. takeing them shoes of is the best thing i have done for him... he has cushins and gets laminitis..he gets over laminitis sooner now than he did in shoes...
 
I always wear shoes. My feet are to soft and the stones hurt my poor feet :p ;) :D
Sorry I couldn't resist. Seriously though Herbs is unshod We do lots of hacking, Dressage and jumping and we hunt in the winter. He has realy good feet. I had them trimmed by my farrier last week who said he could have waited alittle longer his feet were very good and he realy didn't need doing. We both had to laugh when I pointed out he haddn't been done since July :o :)
I think it depends on the indervidule horse. Merryn my other pony has front shoes on. But when I first got him he was unshod and he kept getting foot abcesses and shoes were the only thing that stopped them.
I know lots of people who do endurance without shoes. :D
 
Both my girls are barefoot. Jas has never had shoes and Blaze has been bf for 3 years next month. We do lots of hacking on all surfaces (7+ hrs in summer) Blaze also show jumps and does XC. Jas will start jumping this year.
 
My rising pony is unshod and drives 5-10 miles three times per week. His feet do wear down still at the moment as we are building up his work and he is still young, so I use hoof boots half of the time.
 
What LW said, no I tend to wear boots! :p

BH is unshod (and I mean unshod, he is farrier trimmed and gets no special treatment). He is about to turn seven. He does everything a shod horse would do. Last weekend we went to dressage on the Saturday and out drag hunting on the Sunday. This coming weekend we are showjumping Saturday and Sunday we are going hunter trialling and if we finish in time we'll go and find the hunt as well. He hacks on whatever surface you like and jumps off the gravel in front of XC fences no problem.

No one has ever looked at me funny or seemed surprised that he is unshod. It isn't as unusual as all that to have a horse that doesn't need shoes.
 
I hunt with mine. (and all the work to keep him fit to hunt of course :) )



ps there's no difference between barefoot and unshod, OP, it's just two different words describing the same thing, like calling a human shoeless or barefoot. Don't get hung up on the word.
 
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Do endurance with mine (and don't need to use hoof boots either). Will happily do up to 80km (50 miles) in a day at an event, across all kinds of terrain. Both of my endurance horses have never been shod though, so were at a distinct advantage over those who have had to transition.
 
jesstickle said:
What LW said, no I tend to wear boots! :p

BH is unshod (and I mean unshod, he is farrier trimmed and gets no special treatment). He is about to turn seven. He does everything a shod horse would do. Last weekend we went to dressage on the Saturday and out drag hunting on the Sunday. This coming weekend we are showjumping Saturday and Sunday we are going hunter trialling and if we finish in time we'll go and find the hunt as well. He hacks on whatever surface you like and jumps off the gravel in front of XC fences no problem.

No one has ever looked at me funny or seemed surprised that he is unshod. It isn't as unusual as all that to have a horse that doesn't need shoes.
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This, except that F's about to turn 6 and does everything in mini-me versions compared to BH :D He's more than happy to trot (or canter :cool:) on the roads or gravel track that runs off my yard too :)

J was shod for 13ish years, took them off at the end of last summer, he's been sound and happy without them, though he's really only hacked routinely since then (though not slowly :p). Also without any special treatment or fannying around. Take shoes off on spur of moment, ride out on gravel next day...
 
It makes me a bit sad to see so many ponies and horses with super feet, who don't need shoes, but they don't lose their shoes, so don't get shod often enough.
People always tell me when the farrier is coming to the yard, I don't know if they expect me to put shoes on when he is perfectly sound and hacking out an hour a day. It may be that they see the feet as looking "odd" in that they are a bit shorter than they would appear with shoes nailed on.
 
My horse has been barefoot since december but only in work for the last 5 weeks. He is a little footy on gravel but this will hopefully get better over time. I aim to compete at RC level in a bit of everything and maybe some SJI up to about 1m later in the year (but that will probs be indoors)
 
My arab has never had shoes in her life and she's 11 now - we do everything - she's like a little mountain goat :D Farrier really happy with her feet as we do just enough road work to keep them trimmed down ;)
 
My cobs been barefoot 2 yrs. I'm bringing him back into work after I had my daughter, so at the moment we're just doing a bit of hacking and schooling. He wears boots in front when he needs to, as our hacking is all gravel-covered roads.
 
I'm not no I have socks on currently :D

Pony is and I'm planning on getting him going eventing this year. He does every thing I could want him to do, hacks round a gravel pit, stoney tracks and stones in front of xc jumps without hesitation. He has no special treatment farrier at home was always happy with his feet but farrier at uni tried to fob me off that he needed shoes because he did road work every day. Not long after he did 20 miles on the saturday and then about 10 on the sunday with JFTD's guys and he didnt even think about it. Farrier from home told me not to worry that much about chips as long as pony wasnt and they wernt massive its just his feet doing what feet do.
 
LauraWheeler said:
I always wear shoes. My feet are to soft and the stones hurt my poor feet :p ;) :D
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I take mine off whenever I can and am currently working at my desk with my shoeless feet hidden under my desk. however I do wear boots to the yard as unlike my barefoot tb I don't like stepping in poo ;)

My horse is off at the moment but usually does a bit of everything and as much roadwork as possible. He does need all the special diet etc to keep him happy but that's tb's for you, if he can't cost me money in remedial farriery he'll find another way= to empty my bank account.
 
Cob isn't shod and does miles of road work and tracks each week. The more he works, the healthier he is and the better his feet are. Gets no special diet or management, other than exercise.

Hanoverian X TB 14 yrs was previously fully shod. She's been unshod for 6 weeks now and transitioned without problem. Now returning back to work after injury, she's comfortable over gravel and stones and walking out on roads daily. I'm quite surprised how easily she has adapted, again, she has no special diet or management or need of boots.

Both are trimmed by a farrier.

I do appreciate that we're very lucky, both have good feet, but basically, the more they exercise, the better they are.
 
My mare is unshod. Has been for 4 years now, has jumped upto 120cm BS happily, never had a problem. I don't get why people get hung up on this "barefoot" business. She had her feet rasped by the farrier every 6 weeks and he said she had fantastic hooves. He was very scpetical of all these "barefoot trimmers", cost me £20 for a trim. No supplements nothing. Oh and she is a warmblood, imported as a 5 year old.
 
JFTD said:
Maybe they're trying to tell you that you need a bigger horse?

high heels, anyone? :D
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Funnily enough they can't understand that I am quite happy to ride a 15.00 and have no desire to have a 16.2 KPNW or some other fabulous thing, I only hack, and prefer the walk to any other gait, no need for fancy breeding.
By the way, I can jump on my 15.00 but for some reason all the kids round here have to haul themselves on board, pulling on the cantle and twisting the back muscles, apparently this is the approved method.
 
I have a 17.2 KWPN.........for hacking.
I bought him as an unbacked 4 year old with the intention of never using shoes. He is 9 next month and we hack happily over all sorts of terrain. Today for intance we rode down a slippery tarmac lane(no probs) along a gravelly track through the woods(no probs except the red deer darting through the woods:rolleyes:) Continued along the greasy cobbly track(he does not like this bit because the stones are slippery and don't move,so he cannot 'dig in'.) Then up the 1 in 3 gradient of washed away road(steps,boulders,rubble and stones of all sizes) He wanted to trot up this. I wanted to walk,not to save his feet,but because the rest of him is not quite fit enough yet.
He eats grass,hay and Pure feeds. Currently no additions,but this would be my 1st move should he ever show footiness.
The more he does,the better his feet become.
I find riding without shoes much more comfortable because concussion is reduced and horses are more relaxed because they can feel their feet and have better grip on most surfaces.
 
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