Barefoot or unshod - what's the difference?

:D Can of worms here :D

As far as I am concerned my horses are barefoot in that they do not have shoes, never have, probably never will.

They are trimmed by a Certified Farrier who served an apprenticeship and has won prizes for his farriery in both Canada and the US, not some self styled barefoot trimmer who has watched a few videos, done a two week course and has a textbook open on the seat of his truck (no kidding, I've seen that!)

The difference in 'going barefoot' which is presumably the transition from shod to unshod, well, I'll leave that to others.
 
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Just different terms.

Most people who use barefoot don't like the term unshod as it appears as though something is wrong with not having shoes on.

Some people dislike the term barefoot as they find it threatening and culty.

In the beginnings of 'the barefoot movement' in the late 90s - unshod referred to paddock ornaments and barefoot referred to the newly discovered ability for a horse to perform and work hard without shoes and the trim and care that went with it.

It's all a bit old now though. Hopefully one day we will all get along ;)
 
Agree with the above really. My farrier does my two ponies (they are ponies - i.e. under 14'2", I'm not calling horses ponies here :)). One of them has always been unshod. The other came to me fully shod. I got the backs taken off because I didn't really feel the need for him to have them. Then last winter got the fronts taken off as well as they were packing with ice. He'd had lami previous to me owning him and I thought it was better taking the shoes off. Haven't looked back really, but also haven't changed anything in terms of management.
 
Not much. To most people it means the same thing. Some people would classify unshod as having no shoes on whilst out of work, and barefoot as actively working without shoes. The rest of people couldn't really care less what you call it;)
 
Kallibear said:
Not much. To most people it means the same thing. Some people would classify unshod as having no shoes on whilst out of work, and barefoot as actively working without shoes. The rest of people couldn't really care less what you call it;)
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OK . . . now this makes some sense to me. I (for no real reason) do refer to Kal as being "barefoot behind" b/c he has no shoes on his back feet/hooves (since last August/September) but is still in work . . . but . . . he is seen to by my farrier . . . who trims his backs and shoes his fronts (we did try leaving him unshod/barefoot in front but he got too footy and I probably wasn't patient enough to see it through).

I don't really get the whole barefoot/unshod bias either . . . I refer to KaliBear as barefoot behind . . . but don't particularly follow the whole Barefoot Taliban approach.

P
 
i use both terms to describe mine who are all 'shoeless':D to me there is no difference, either horse has shoes and is shod or it doesn't, i think people get hung up on the term barefoot because as Oberon says, they think it's a bit 'Culty' and you have to wear flowers in your hair and brightly coloured home knitted jumpers ;):D it's just a word used to describe the state of a horses foot, nothing cultish about it, just because mine don't wear shoes i don't have to pray to the god of hoof every 3 hours, but i do have to give a percentage of my wages to the farrier every couple of months;)
 
angelish said:
the way i see it is

unshod costs £10 - £15 a trim

barefoot costs £50 - £60 per trim and involves a lot of "i know better than the vet/farrier" and a different way of feeding etc :confused: ?
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I think that's rather unfair.

I don't begrudge £35 for the excellent service I get from my UKNHCP trimmer.

I stopped using a farrier when he allowed his apprentice to dig into my perfectly healthy horse's soles until he was standing in pools of blood - for NO reason.

And I still paid the £13 for the pleasure of it.

Not everything is black and white. There's good and bad in all.
 
To me barefoot describes an active choice far beynd simply taking shoes off. G has recently "gone barefoot" and I've looked at his whole life to make it work, not just taken his shoes off and then carried on as normal.
 
There is a difference, but if you want to research performance horses who work without shoes you are more likely to find stuff if you googled barefoot rather than unshod.

It's a universal term, used by farriers and trimmers that world over. We seem to get hung up on stuff like this in the uk like hats and boots and other stuff rather than just getting on with it. We all know what they both mean but still like to have a good moan about it.

And why not?
 
wellsat said:
To me barefoot describes an active choice far beynd simply taking shoes off. G has recently "gone barefoot" and I've looked at his whole life to make it work, not just taken his shoes off and then carried on as normal.
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But if your horses are healthy already, what changes did you need to make? Just interested here as mine have carried on as normal and adjusted quite happily.
 
nikicb said:
But if your horses are healthy already, what changes did you need to make? Just interested here as mine have carried on as normal and adjusted quite happily.
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Then you are lucky. Enjoy it :)

Some horses make it really hard and micro adjustments to feed and environment are needed.

It's often much easier to put the shoes back on - but for some horses it isn't an option, so the owner has to fine tune everything.
 
nikicb said:
But if your horses are healthy already, what changes did you need to make? Just interested here as mine have carried on as normal and adjusted quite happily.
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What makes a healthy horse? I am really pleased to hear you are happily working without shoeing your horses. My horse wasn't ok, he was actually quite poorly. Lots of horses are.

By saying that there is nothing to it may suggest to some people who have less than ideal diets and environments, that it is an easy choice to make. It isn't for many people.

You could say that it was my fault for him getting lame, lami and navi. If so, then it was wrong of me to trust my vet, farrier and friends and I should have asked you how to do it. Clearly you have been keeping secrets from us :D
 
i have some that have shoes, and some with excellent feet that dont. they all work, they all do road work.they all hunt/sj/d/fun rides etc none of them have dietery requirements, and none of them have issues like navi/DDFT. each to their own and whatever suits the HORSE best to enable him to lead an active and happy life.
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
i have some that have shoes, and some with excellent feet that dont. they all work, they all do road work.they all hunt/sj/d/fun rides etc none of them have dietery requirements, and none of them have issues like navi/DDFT. each to their own and whatever suits the HORSE best to enable him to lead an active and happy life.
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I agree with this. Wish I had been wise enough to know many years ago...
 
Oberon said:
Then you are lucky. Enjoy it :)

Some horses make it really hard and micro adjustments to feed and environment are needed.

It's often much easier to put the shoes back on - but for some horses it isn't an option, so the owner has to fine tune everything.
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Thank Oberon. Part of the question I admit is a little toungue in cheek. But it does interest me. Maybe I've been very lucky, but I have owned 5 horses/ponies and loaned a fair few and I've never had any that have had either hoof or lameness problems. I don't work them hard, and look after them in a fairly traditional manner, but they are not field ornaments. I certainly haven't had to spend hours and hours reading up on various supplements. My oldest horse is currently 35 and has probably spent less than a week in her life unsound (I've had her 30 years). My youngest is currently 19. They do all the fairly normal things - PC/RC/ shows/hacking/schooling etc. I see a lot of posts on here asking for help and it interests me as to whether these horses would have problems whether they are unshod/barefoot or not, and also whether people are going unshod/barefoot because they have problems.
 
Lots of people (like me) fall into the trap of marketeers and feed companies desperate for profit. When you are desperately trying to heal your poorly horse, you take advice from sources you trust. I trusted that vet from TLC. I had a laminitic and who better trust than him! I bought his supplements, my farrier endorsed it, my vet said he was getting better. All the while I was slowly killing him with hidden sugars and an overload of toxic minerals.

If it wasn't for me googling barefoot, he would probably be glue. So, if you don't mind, some of us find it useful to know the difference and mock as you may, it makes a difference to some horses too.
 
tallyho! said:
Lots of people (like me) fall into the trap of marketeers and feed companies desperate for profit. When you are desperately trying to heal your poorly horse, you take advice from sources you trust. I trusted that vet from TLC. I had a laminitic and who better trust than him! I bought his supplements, my farrier endorsed it, my vet said he was getting better. All the while I was slowly killing him with hidden sugars and an overload of toxic minerals.

If it wasn't for me googling barefoot, he would probably be glue. So, if you don't mind, some of us find it useful to know the difference and mock as you may, it makes a difference to some horses too.
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Tallyho - please, I am not mocking - it was a question that has puzzled me for a while. I admit I am lucky (see posts above), but was interested in finding out more. It may be that in the future I have a horse that I will not be so lucky with. :(
 
Does a 'barefoot' diet usually equate to a more natural diet. By natural I mean more like grazing and browsing over large areas.
 
nikicb said:
I'm all for horses/ponies having whatever suits them. My 35 yr old mare is shod and that will not change. I guess I should really add something that bugs me though. Horses don't have feet. They have hooves. So shouldn't it be bare hooved? :confused:
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True, but then there's the old term we all know of: "No Foot, No Horse"
 
nikicb said:
I admit I am lucky (see posts above), but was interested in finding out more. It may be that in the future I have a horse that I will not be so lucky with. :(
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Yes it's not until you have problems that feeding etc. starts to become a bit of an obsession.
I've mentioned this on another thread recently but I've discovered a problem here with drinking water that is fluoridated. It was a bit by chance but am now collecting rain water for drinking and am planning on investing in storage tanks. :D
 
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