Barefoot and roadwork

[casinosolo]

Hi,

I recently rode at a stables which is not my usual one as I was staying at my mum's house. I went on a 2 hour hack which involved about an hour of road work and an hour on a local bridleway. The horses were barefoot and the ride involved a lot of trotting on the roads. They also cantered on the bridleway which had a fairly hard ground and I actually saw signs that said 'no cantering.' The horse I was on was really seeking the softer ground and trying to go on the grass and I was told to keep her on the path. I felt a bit uncomfortable with all this and actually said I didn't want to canter on the bridleway. Was I being too fussy or not? Can barefoot horses handle as much as those that are shod? I've heard one school of thought that barefoot is actually better so just wondered!

 

[ThePony]

A barefoot horse can easily handle all of that, but not if he isn't accustomed to it though. Given time and different surfaces to build up the foot strength then it would be fine.

Either way though barefoot isn't a magic solution to concussion from hard ground so I would still avoid hammering along on hard surfaces. Is each persons decision though, as with every other horsey question!

If you don't want to canter, then those you are with ought to listen though and not plough on ahead, would make me v mad!

 

[Hanzybaby01]

I ride a horse that has no shoes, he hasnt for years and he is much better now without. We do some roadwork, but not hours of it. Literally just to get us to the nearest bridleway and back, then its all fairly soft under foot. His feet are fine and i keep a very close eye on them. Tend to keep in a walk on road surfaces unless a trot is needed to get past something.

Believe it or not but there are many people on here who do not have shoes on theirs. But at the end of the day it all comes down to the individual horse and how they cope and what their needs are.

 

[casinosolo]

Thanks for the info! Just been reading around the subject! http://www.kristineoakhurst.com/2008/06/24/the-natural-barefoot-horse-movement/ - reading this at the moment; will try and read something from the other side too!

 

[ThePony]

Thanks for the info! Just been reading around the subject! http://www.kristineoakhurst.com/2008/06/24/the-natural-barefoot-horse-movement/ - reading this at the moment; will try and read something from the other side too!

Lol, that's a fairly scary read!! Ours are barefoot (whisper it) but I'm not a crazed loon or a 'strong woman' (???!), just suits our mares and they are wonderfully sound and happy. I also have a farrier and he is super!

 

[Brightbay]

All my hacking - bar a few short canter strips - is on tarmac. I love it! It means his hooves trim themselves We do about 20 miles on tarmac every week, and I'm quite happy (as is the horse) to trot for reasonable distances, since there's less concussion when an unshod hoof hits the ground than when a shod hoof lands.

But I did spend a long time gradually building up the distances on tarmac, I didn't just whip him out of his nice soft squishy field and start hammering down the road

I would imagine the riding school horses probably get even more road miles than my boy, so their hooves will probably be even better

Agree,though, that if there are big signs saying "Don't canter here", it's best to heed them - they're probably not so much for the horse's hoof health, but because the track gets all churned up and becomes impassable.

Oh, and my boy likes to walk and trot on the grass verges too - because that way he's closer to the tasty hedgerows for sneaky snacks

 

[casinosolo]

Thanks for the info! i think it's one of them where it's different strokes for different folks, or horses in this case!

However, I have just spoken to someone who rides at another stables just down the road from the one where I went and they said they never canter on the path as it is deemed too hard and that the stables where I rode does not have a good rep so probably won't be going there again :/

 

[Waffles]

My horse doesn't have shoes and never has (he's 7 but only started hacking out last september). He's fine with all terrain, except when there are stones about half the size of a fist - he goes on the edge of the path to avoid them, and I just let him pick his own way. Small gravel and roads are fine - though I don't trot much on roads because I don't want him to get concussed.

 

[tallyho!]

When I had my barefoot horse we did a lot of roadwork. I live in a city and even though off road is fairly close, it gets boring so I go out around Viccy Park and the outskirts of town. I canter up hills for fitness training.

This is after a long time barefoot and he was very comfortable. I didn't see a problem with it. I would never have trotted and cantered like that on a shod horse.

Concussion isn't so much of a problem when unshod in my opinion.

Do hope you find more balanced reads than a Dr. Strasser one. Those are particularly hair-raising!!!

 

[JFTDWS]

With regard to shoes, none of mine now have shoes on. My old lad was shod for 12 years and now, without shoes is sound on all surfaces (we're encountered obviously, including the gravel byway) and he will happily do that sort of work without shoes. My younger horses have never been shod, and again are sound for that sort of work without issue.

I did once get into an argument at a treking centre over a pony I took out which I was not convinced was sound. They were very defensive when I mentioned that I was concerned about it. I felt that if they actually cared about its welfare, they would have at least wished to check it out

 

[Oberon]

Hooves that are fed well and appropriately for the horse's needs, get enough work on hard ground and have no metabolic challenges - cope just fine on roads.

Barefoot endurance horses are testament to this.

A truly healthy hoof thrives on work and becomes stronger and stronger with each mile it does.

My Tank's hooves never looked better than when he did 280 miles in his first endurance season.

Problems come when a horse is on the wrong diet for them or don't get enough work or have metabolic challenges or stand in a surface softer than their main work surface.....

Those horses can benefit from boots on the roads.

If a barefoot horse is sore - then there is a reason for it. It's not acceptable to allow it to continue without trying to make the horse more comfortable.

If it isn't possible to do that - then shoes are the best answer.

 

[spookypony]

You shouldn't take a pony out of a squelchy field and start blasting it up and down roads, but if you build up the road-work gradually while listening to the horse (which is really common sense), then I think barefoot horses can generally cope with road-work better than shod horses: the concussion is distributed more benignly, and there is generally less risk of slipping. I will happily trot and canter on roads, within reason.

As to avoiding certain surfaces: I see footiness over gravel as a warning sign of problems with my pony; however, when he's simply got two surfaces to choose from, then I think it's just a matter of the pony deciding which he prefers at that particular point, for that gait. It doesn't mean that the other surface is hurting him, just that given the choice, he finds one preferable (generally, in his case, whichever surface happens to be on the left. He has a thing about going left.). In the same way, you or I might choose to walk on a rubber running track rather than tarmac, or on tarmac rather than mud.