Barefoot competition horses

I still use my farrier. He's probably only tidied Roo's feet two or three times in the last 9 months? Rest of the time he says leave well alone - he's self trimming. I use hoof boots to hack as we have to do minimum 90 minutes hacking from us, as it takes 20 mins to get anywhere worth going! But for everything else he is fine.
 
Took the shoes off my TB in July because he kept pulling them off every other week and losing hoof and he's only been sore once. I love going to the field and not having to think "I wonder if he's still got his shoes on"
Had our first competition on grass today and he did slip a few times in canter, I think it'll just be judging the ground conditions before competing :)
 
JLav said:
My dressage horse is barefoot. Had shoes on when he arrived but took them off after a couple of shoeings.

He hasn't had to transition, wear hoofboots, change farriers or diet.

From day one he was, and still is, sound as a pound on any surface no matter how rough, hard or stoney. Been barefoot 4 years now and is competing at Advanced level.
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My experience is very similar, i havent ever changed diet, farrier, used hoof boots etc, i have an 11yr old, a 6yr old and a 5yr old all unshod, trimmed every 6 weeks, all absolutely fine, competing, hacking (although, not much on tarmac due to my scary local roads), and another 11yr old who is only shod in front. They are dressage horses, so work on surfaces, and have comepted Premier Leagues etc without shoes at all levels from Inter 1 to Young Horse classes. I havent had any trouble with any of their feet, they walk daily over hard core, gravel etc without a sore step, its very easy!
 
My psg horse had worn shoes over ten years. Took them off and he had the fronts on for part of the next summer,boots on for going across stones. Now tho he happily stomps over anything.
Previously he couldn't tolerate even tiny stones.
 
Similar vein to NMT...CS arrived shod and sound as a 4yo out of racing, shoes came off immediately and he has never been sore.
He is now working GP and competing PSG barefoot :)

I must say I would question the logic of re-shoeing a horse that was lame shod and sound barefoot only to achieve the riders goals....what about the horse?
 
daffy44 said:
I havent had any trouble with any of their feet, they walk daily over hard core, gravel etc without a sore step, its very easy!
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I'm pleased that it's easy for you, but it does depend on the horse and the place it's kept.

I would not find it as easy as you do if I had not discovered the bad effects of high iron and manganese levels in my grazing. And friends of mine could not get their horses happy on all surfaces until they found out that they had otherwise symptom- free metabolic diseases. I also have one who is terribly sensitive to grass sugars, which is also extremely common.
 
I removed my mare's front shoes in April when she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in a knee joint. Because I'd been reworking her diet over the previous 6 months to account for forage imbalances there was little that needed to change other than to boot her up with pads and do more road work. I haven't used boots on her for more than 2 months now. She's a reiner so does have to wear slide plates behind for competition but she's moving better all around than she was a year ago and just won a national championship class so I'm pretty happy! She's comfortable walking and jogging on hard surfaces and I just need to keep an eye out for thrush, which was a bit of a problem initially.
 
Thank you for all your replies - it seems there are lots of people out there with barefoot competition horses. However, I am now in a real dilemma as i have spoken to my vet who is really concerned that going barefoot will be detrimental to my mare's flat foot. She says she is normally open minded to barefoot, however her only experience with someone taking a horse barefoot with a similar foot to my mare's is that it ended up doing a lot of damage to the DDFT, when it didn't have damage before (it was MRI'd before and after). She also says that no barefoot trimmer has yet convinced her how they will support a flat hoof.......she wants me to take her to their remedial farrier. Its really difficult as i don't want to do anything that my vet isn't happy with!
 
Supanova said:
Thank you for all your replies - it seems there are lots of people out there with barefoot competition horses. However, I am now in a real dilemma as i have spoken to my vet who is really concerned that going barefoot will be detrimental to my mare's flat foot. She says she is normally open minded to barefoot, however her only experience with someone taking a horse barefoot with a similar foot to my mare's is that it ended up doing a lot of damage to the DDFT, when it didn't have damage before (it was MRI'd before and after). She also says that no barefoot trimmer has yet convinced her how they will support a flat hoof.......she wants me to take her to their remedial farrier. Its really difficult as i don't want to do anything that my vet isn't happy with!
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It has been shown by Bowker that barefoot and shod horses will damage the DDFT inside the foot if worked too hard with a toe first landing. The damage was likely to be because of a toe first landing, not barefoot. Plus, why was the horse MRI'd if it did not have a problem in the first place, and is it not possible that early ddft damage was missed on the first MRI, it can be difficult to interpret them. A major vet hospital missed it in my friend's horse and it was found on a second opinion.

Your vet needs to understand that flat feet are not genetic and can be corrected with a change of diet and sometimes by treating metaboic disease.
She also needs to consider that horses with soft tissue damage inside the foot are only about 20% likely to come sound with a remedial shoeing treatment regime, and currently appear to be more than four times more likley to come sound with a barefoot rehab.
 
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My horse had pancake flat feet with under run heels when he had his shoes off last November. The damage he had on X-ray has improved in less than a year and he is moving better than ever :) His feet are getting more and more concave as time goes on and he's not looked back. I've got comparison photos on my blog if you are interested.

In terms of competing, we dressage and show jump and I'm hoping to event next season. He's not given me any concerns whilst jumping on grass but I've not been stupid.
 
my previous mare had horrendous flat feet, was written off at 5yo by vets with navicular *syndrome*.

took her barefoot, and within a week the heels were growing and the angles had changed. she was 100% sound within 4 weeks and never lame again in her life (PTS aged 10 for un related issue).
 
CPtrayes - thanks for sharing the info on the research, thats really good to know.

PS - Also really good to know that your mare's foot changed without its shoes on.

I think i need to speak to the AEP again and perhaps get her to speak to my vet to see if i can get her on board. In some ways, if the MRI was showing a lot more damage (it is just showing inflammation in the coffin joint of the left fore which is the flat foot - everything else is absolutely fine) it would be an easier decision to take the shoes off because there wouldn't be a lot else we could do..........whereas my vet really thinks we can sort the issue with better shoeing and IRAP. Aaagh decisions, decisions....
 
Hi CPTrayes, I'm sorry if i implied it was all easy. I have to admit it always has been very easy for me and my horses, and i havent had to change anything with regards to feeding, turn out etc. But i do understand that if the horse has another other health/metabolic issues it may not be such a simple process.
 
Mine has no shoes, never has and is fine over every surface. I am very lucky in that his diet doesn't seem to affect his feet and they require no special care, just picking out daily. He is sure footed and very aware of where his feet are, works mainly on grass with no problems with slipping.
 
MM, my horses go between BF and shod as it suits me one was shod yesterday he worked today so I don't understand what someone's being telling you at all
 
daffy44 said:
Hi CPTrayes, I'm sorry if i implied it was all easy. I have to admit it always has been very easy for me and my horses, and i havent had to change anything with regards to feeding, turn out etc. But i do understand that if the horse has another other health/metabolic issues it may not be such a simple process.
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I just wanted to stop other people feeling guilty that they couldn't do it. No probs :)
 
Supanova said:
CPtrayes - thanks for sharing the info on the research, thats really good to know.

PS - Also really good to know that your mare's foot changed without its shoes on.

I think i need to speak to the AEP again and perhaps get her to speak to my vet to see if i can get her on board. In some ways, if the MRI was showing a lot more damage (it is just showing inflammation in the coffin joint of the left fore which is the flat foot - everything else is absolutely fine) it would be an easier decision to take the shoes off because there wouldn't be a lot else we could do..........whereas my vet really thinks we can sort the issue with better shoeing and IRAP. Aaagh decisions, decisions....
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The 20% figure is published research, the 80 % success, or higher, is all the Rockley rehabs and many more done by people like PS above. Evidence, but not published research. Try and get your vet to talk to Nic Barker at Rockley, or at least to look at rockleyfarm.blogspot.com
 
Re. the old "farrier vs. trimmer" question: get yourself someone with a proven record of barefoot rehabilitation and/or managing barefoot performance horses (up here, that would happen to be a barefoot trimming specialist). In the end, the letters behind the name are less important than the result. FWIW, AEP trimmers aren't the only qualified ones out there; there's the UKNHCP ones, and ones trained by organisations that aren't based on this little island at all. I'd look at reputation and results before all...and any hoof care practitioner that claims they have the answer to everything would raise huge red flags for me.

Re. barefoot competition horses, my endurance pony came to me with problematic feet...he's competed up to 60km, and wears Renegades (in front only) for longer distances or if I anticipate really stony terrain. Given the availability of modern hoof boots, I think we actually have advantages over conventionally-shod horses: less slipping, less worry over shoe loss (we can always continue bare if needed, and a Renegade takes seconds to put on, assuming someone can hold the bouncing equine for a moment!), complete sole protection, and far kinder on the joints. I don't think a horse competing on a surface needs shoes, and my new mare's fronts will be coming off as soon as there is enough hoof to do so without compromising hoof wall integrity. I'll report back on how that goes!

I think it's only a matter of time before boot technology is trustworthy enough, and is seen to be trustworthy enough, that the jumping disciplines will start allowing boots.
 
My TB does everything BF he had horrible feet when I got him and the improvements have been huge.

He Hunts, SJ, Dressages and is currently doing 20kms Endurance rides all BF loads of road riding and no issues. I wouldn't take him on big gravel without boots but I wouldn't take a shod horse on that sort of gravel either. Would be great if I could condition to it but not currently possiable.

He was 11 when I start transitioning him and had loads of issues to correct, he initially had traction issues due to bad feet as the concavity came he is now excellent in hard or heavy going, haven't had him slip once. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n8-o_qOPn0 this is a video of him in very wet ground of a small jump course.

My partners Standardbred is also BF and hunts and Endurance rides as well.
 
Ps my welsh cob had very flat feet when I bought her just over a year ago. She has never been shod, but also not worked much and was a brood mare so probably on rich grazing. Her feet have really changed in that time and are no longer flat.
 
One of mine is barefoot all the time, but I wont use anyone other than my farrier, def not a barefoot trimmer, as they just don't have the training. Have heard that using anyone other than a qualified farrier would affect my insurance too, but not sure if this is true. This horse has great feet and is happier without shoes. My others all have their hinds off when I don't need the stud holes.
 
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