Barefoot or not?

M

moneypit1

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 January 2007
Messages
2,246
Location
North Devon
Visit site
My 2 to Friesian x has very hard feet, lovely blue horn. My farrier says to try him without shoes when the time comes and see how he does. I just wondered does anyone have a horse barefoot that does an hour of roadwork a day 5 days a week as this is eventually what he will need to do. Just wondered if it was possible as I doubt it? Surely he would have not foot left!!
 
Hi

A couple of our youngsters have never had shoes on, and do up 2 1 hour a day road work and have fantastic hard feet. These are Section C's and D's, I think it all depends on the confirmation of feet, some have good feet.

I would give it a go, you can always put shoes if you think you he needs them (before they wear away too much).

Our farrier is always commenting on how good the ponies feet are.

Give it a go trust your farrier after all he is the expert!!
 
Well, you'd have to build him up. My sisters TBxCob has never had shoes on - he does 3-4 rides a week of 1-2 hours and still needs regular trims! It takes time and patience to build up but its better if they've never had shoes on. My tb mare is barefoot on her back feet only and its taking a while to build up the strength and get over the foot sore.
 
My IDxTB type mare went barefoot in November - we've built up road work gradually, and she can now cheerfully do 3 x 2 hours of road work per week
grin.gif

She has a major laugh at my mates horses in their shoes going down the steep tarmaced lane too
cool.gif
 
Yep all of my horses dont wear shoes...one has never worn shoes ever and has really strong feet.
My youngest was finding it a problem walking across stones and due to this I bought him old macs hoof boots for his front feet which are brill...
might be worth investing in some as they are great and alot cheaper then shoeing...
 
Walking on the tarmac surfaces actually helps to stimulate more foot growth, so hopefully the horse will have no problem with the amount of riding you are proposing. It is usually stoney tracks which cause problems, but as others have said you could always use boots if you needed too.
 
We have three ponies and two horses, none of which are shod and havent been for years. Mine is a highland 15.1Hh and my daughter has a retired racer who isnt shod. He goes over very rough ground and his feet have improved greatly. I think its down to the frog doing its job when they are barefoot. It improves the blood supply to the foot and encourages healthy horn growth.
 
I agree, I would always try barefoot first before jumping headlong into having shoes fitted. On my farm there are no horses in shoes right now - we have 24 horses here. One of my old horses wears front shoes part of the year and I did have another oldie who wore front shoes all year round but she is in a new home now.

None of our riding, however, is on tar roads BUT we do have very hard and rocky ground to contend with and my guys all have lovely feet. Just make sure that you keep an eye on his feet - my lot need to be trimmed religiously every 6 weeks in the summer otherwise they all chip because it is so hot and dry here.
 
just wanted to say ive logged on and been most thrilled with this post and everyones views on this as my boy had never been shot (7 years old) til last month, i nervously took the back ones off and convinced myself he didnt like it! the farrier said he has great feet and im about to brave removing the front ones - theyre only on cos im convinced they should be but he keeps stamping and cutting himself - so after reading these replies i am going to get the front ones removed and relax more. he is ridden every other day and about 40/60 roadwork to soft ground.
 
Yes it is possible. I know people who do endurance riding (at competitive level over like 5 days etc.!) barefoot. But the horses are trimmed by an actual barefoot trimmer rather than your average farrier. We'd always had ours done by the farrier until now, and I have noticed a big difference with the barefoot way of trimming.

I kept one of mine going for 3 years without shoeing, and that was competing most weekends etc. his hooves were perfectly fine doing so. Only reason he's now shod is due to slipping issues jumping on grass!

If I were you Id leave him unshod and see how he does. You can wack shoes on in no time if you really need to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top