Barefoot eventing?

CambridgeParamour

CambridgeParamour

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does anyone event their horses barefoot? How does it affect them?

K will be shod at some point, but I was hoping to keep him without shoes this year. He'll mostly be doing dressage in arenas competition wise, and lots of hacking, but I'm wanting to do 2-3 events on him this year, and a few rounds of SJ (hes 4).

Thanks! :)
 
A couple of my clients event barefoot - they are just very careful about the ground conditions and don't go fast on the XC.. although as yours is only four I shouln't think you'll be wanting to hammer him round :)

They mostly did the events where the SJ was on a surface and the ground was gnerally quite soft (like West Wilts, Stockland Lovell etc).
 
If your horse is comfortable on all surfaces I can't see it being a problem, nor do I think you'd have to be particularly careful at the lower levels. People seem to stud up for anything these days... can't see the point below novice level, myself. :)
 
A friend did until her mare slipped over, she then shod with studs

You should be fine but be very particular about ground (best to have a bit of cut) and going steady, especially around corners. It would be a shame to give a 4yo a fright early on
 
Thank you :)

The 4 yo doesnt have an optimum time, so I will take the XC nice and slow anyway. Also, the events I want to go to are tweseldown, which is mostly sand, and MK, where the ground is usually nice.

Sounds like its do-able, yay!
 
CambridgeParamour said:
Thank you :)

The 4 yo doesnt have an optimum time, so I will take the XC nice and slow anyway. Also, the events I want to go to are tweseldown, which is mostly sand, and MK, where the ground is usually nice.

Sounds like its do-able, yay!
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You'll be fine at Tweseldown, just watch the ground at MK (can be quite hard) but I'm sure you'll look after him :)
 
My horse is barefoot and we've done Mattingley, Tweseldown and Pulborough all with no problems. It absolutely poured with rain at tweseldown and the showjumping was carnage with horse after horse sliding into fences but mine didn't slip at all. My horse doesn't agree with whoever said you need to go slower xc barefoot as we had the fastest time of the day at Mattingley ;).

Ground conditions at Tweseldown!
rosannasphotos

rosannasphotos
 
Ali16 said:
Best of luck - let us know how he gets on! :)
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Thank you! I will do :)

RobinHood said:
My horse is barefoot and we've done Mattingley, Tweseldown and Pulborough all with no problems. It absolutely poured with rain at tweseldown and the showjumping was carnage with horse after horse sliding into fences but mine didn't slip at all. My horse doesn't agree with whoever said you need to go slower xc barefoot as we had the fastest time of the day at Mattingley ;).

Ground conditions at Tweseldown!
rosannasphotos

rosannasphotos
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RH, I think I remember talking to you on here the day after the soaking wet day at tweseldown! My other horse refused to showjump as it was so wet! e has puddle phobia, so no way would he have gone xc in that :eek:
 
I never evented my mare barefoot but she sjs shoeless now and is doing very well. She did a Yogi Breisner clinic beginning of last season over intermediate fences on very testing ground sucessfully and xc schools well unshod.

However, I jumped one show in a grass ring over the summer and the combination of ground type and recent rain meant she slipped all over the place- she never slips normally but this wasn just skiddy and she couldn't cope at all.
 
Another barefoot eventer here :) .... tho actually when the ground hardens, I end up shoeing mine with glue-ons that have a special in-built concussion relief (polyeurothene layer between foot and shoe), as otherwise he suffers in hard ground with his sidebone.


Interestingly, though, mine has really quite small feet so they are great at naturally digging into the ground thus negating the need for studs. I do wonder how much foot shape (and not just barefoot or not) impacts on whether a horse would slip or not without studs?
 
I have evented five horses affiliated barefoot, two of them at Novice on all types of ground. I never found it any different from eventing with shoes and studs, except on a very dry hard dressage arena where they slip on the corner unless you work to keep their balance. But then again I've had a shod horse do the same in those conditions.

I think you only have to look at hunters, who never have studs in, to see how little studs really help for jumping cross country at speed. (I hunt barefoot too).

I've got plenty of pics if you want to see them.
 
I wouldn't purely as I always stud up to go XC and my horses' feet are pathetic if the ground isn't 100%! But if the ground is good and your horse is fairly surefooted then I don't see it being a massive problem as long as you don't push for the time.
 
i use to event one horse at intermediate level with no back shoes, wasn't by choice though he use to through tantrums and continually pull his back shoes off, cheeky chap managed the corners ok, fitness was a little difficult having to do interval training in the school all the time as dragged his toes down the road.:p
 
My little ConnieXTb evented up to Nov barefoot - he never made the time XC at Nov but it wasn't the no shoes I just didn't want to push his 14.3 legs round at that pace as I wasn't at my lightest at the time! :o
 
Strange I was just talking about this with my farrier this morn :p my mares currently shod as she came to me that way but am now considering going backs off and fronts still on and see how she goes from there. Had my lads back shoes pulled off this morn as hes just doing DR now and not ridden him yet but he wasnt footy over concrete or gravel :).

Im a little worried about leaving my mare plenty of time for her to adjust if she gets footy so it may have to wait until the end of this seasons eventing. Has anyone had back shoes taken off and evented? If so (i know each horse is different but as a rough guide) did you restart work straight away (on a soft surface) and how long after shoes off did you first compete again please? :) :)
 
TheMule said:
I never evented my mare barefoot but she sjs shoeless now and is doing very well. She did a Yogi Breisner clinic beginning of last season over intermediate fences on very testing ground sucessfully and xc schools well unshod.

However, I jumped one show in a grass ring over the summer and the combination of ground type and recent rain meant she slipped all over the place- she never slips normally but this wasn just skiddy and she couldn't cope at all.
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Had the same thing with the ground conditions & mare lost confidence, yet was fine going XC, probably the turns are not as tight.
 
I have evented mine barefoot and he's always been fine with it, we only go up to about 90cm-1metre though (because I am not brave enough to go much higher!) Cross country is always fine, he has also hunted barefoot through very deep going (again fine and no worries about loosing shoes!) The only time we have struggled have been at a couple of summer showjumping comps we did on grass where the arena was on a slight slope, one was when the ground was very hard after a lot of dry weather and it was on chalk soil and on the side of a hill, he didn't jump well here at all and I retired (but may have just been my bad riding on the day). The other time he slipped abit was on wet grass again at a showjumping show where the ring was on a slight slope and the ground was hard underneath (had only just rained). He did wear shoes previousloy but stilol slipped in these (admittedly I never tried him in studs). Will definately be keeping him barefoot now though due to the health benefits.
 
Friend at uni events her TB barefoot - up to novice level. I think they took the shoes off because he was having a few soundness issues, she was worried at first but now is a convert :)

Is the plan Osberton/Lycetts 4yr olds for Kaiser then? :D
 
i he aint broke no need to change?? just be aware of the ground you run him on - I'm in the middle of turning a horse from shod to barefoot - he had rather deformed feet. Good luck
 
BronsonNutter said:
Friend at uni events her TB barefoot - up to novice level. I think they took the shoes off because he was having a few soundness issues, she was worried at first but now is a convert :)

Is the plan Osberton/Lycetts 4yr olds for Kaiser then? :D
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It is indeed! Going to (hopefully!) do Q's for Lycetts and the Shearwater young dressage horse Q's :) More excited about the eventing, obviously! ;)
 
CambridgeParamour said:
Thanks for the photos magic and SP- not exactly small fences either, esp that last photo SP!
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spookypony said:
I always love seeing that megahedge pic...that's one insanely large megahedge. :o
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I love it too. I can clearly remember sitting there thinking "it's a long way down, when on earth is he going to connect a foot with the ground?". He's a fabulous hedge jumper, he just won't take no for an answer, and to be honest it's a piece of cake jumping any hedge when the horse isn't going to stop even if you tell it to! The only exception is if there is danger, like a fallen rider, and then he pulls up on a sixpence. We were out in September with rock hard dry ground, and on Boxing Day after the wettest December on record. I don't find ground conditions make much difference to a barefoot horse.

I am sure that on a bone dry, short grass xc course eventing you would have to slow up for one or two tight bends, but the alternative is studs, and a farrier has just completed a PhD on the stresses that are caused by not allowing the foot to slip to prevent overload of the joints, so I would prefer not to shoe or stud just to enable me to get the time.
 
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