Barefoot and working on a surface

[Ranyhyn]

We are beginning the transition from shod to barefoot, mare is going well nicely and trimmer is happy her feet have enough quality to be sound barefoot so off we go

A friend is riding her a few times a week and I lunge her for 10 mins inbetween.

I'm looking at about 8 weeks fitness wise - but how soon can she work on a surface (ie go to riding club etc?) is it basically as soon as she's physically fit enough? I am assuming that working on a surface is fine at any point during the transition?

Thanks

 

[Nocturnal]

Yep, as soon as she's fit enough . A school should be the least challenging surface for newly bare feet; if she's doing well so far you should have no problems.

 

[Oberon]

The general rule of thumb is to 'bed' a horse on the same surface you want to ride on.

So if a horse lives in mud/soft bedding and is ridden in a school - then she'd be fine on the type of surface.

However if you suddenly wanted to go for a 10 mile hack - her hooves may not be ready for that.

If she were living in rocky terrain (not likely in the UK) then she'd be up for any surface. They harder, dryer ground at the moment will help though.

We Brits manage by mixing the terrain they work on as much as possible so the hooves have been exposed to everything.

If it's not possible to do that, then popping boots on for a 'challenging' terrain is a sneaky way of getting around it.

However - each horse is an individual. She may be rock crunching from the start. Just do as much work as you can WITHIN her comfort levels and enjoy her.

She's been shod for a while, so she's going to be remodelling her hooves and internal structures. Might look odd and she may change her stance/add muscle and need a saddle refit. Be patient and let her get on with it