Barefoot Taliban - give me your stories.

Miss Bean said:
thank you everyone some interesting views and stories there, and Oberon thank you very much for your message, I shall have a proper read of that tonight. Very interesting how many of you have TB's who lead a completely normal barefooted life especially eventing them when you hear of people banging in studs etc :cool:
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Oi, studs are a different issue :p you can clout me with a broom later. Hope you had a nice eve yest.
 
Not got a tb... But did get a laminitic appaloosa barefoot and working hard in less than 6 months over two years ago. He has feet like marble now and hardly ever needs anything taken off. Shoes are way behind me as the necessity I thought it was... It isn't! However, good diet is the foundation for good feet. Prepare to be amazed by the new feet that grow :)
 
My gelding kept pulling his shoes off in the muddy-ish field so I thought i'd give barefoot a go. He had them trimmed after his shoes came off - literally mm's off just to tidy them up. Since then -about 5 months ago, we havent looked back. He hasnt been lame, slightly sore footed on concrete/stones initially as expected but after about 2 months of mainly grass routes with small road hacks to harden them up he's been fine. Its only by chance that all my competitions have been in arenas so not sure how he would of been on harder ground as fields havent been bone dry yet!!

Some people need to feed supplements but luckily i havent needed to and don't intend to unless he needs something extra.

The only time when i considered putting shoes back on was when he trotted along the road and a 1cm chunk flew off his hoof :eek: but it didnt affect him luckily and i think this wouldnt of happened if they had been trimmed again - i was reluctant to trim too often at first but they were not long, just 'due' a trim. No chunks have flewn off since and he is trimmed every 12 weeks if needed with my usual farrier as my mare still has shoes.

Its not as scary as i thought it would be but i would always have shoes on him/any horse if i did alot more road work.

I compete at 1.20m showjumping and started ODE's. I think they have to have shoes on to affiliate event though.

Hope to keep him barefoot to team chasing and hunting but might need shoes for studs - only downside!!
 
Hoof boots are really useful btw. I stopped using mine after about a year as he just didn't need them but they are kept for any emergencies.

I have been out on M on a fun ride in the pouring rain, galloping around fields and running around the corners... I did have a an eek moment thinking he would slip but no such thing happened. We did a pairs class ht, my partners horse slipped on a turn we we both doing and I was amazed we didn't! I have heard stories of those who have slipped but you can slip wearing shoes too.

I do not know what it is about the bare hoof not slippingas much as I though it would. Could it be the traction the sole and frog provide, or is the horse better at proprioception now that he has more nerve endings in contact with earth so he can just manage his weight distribution better or maybe the foot, as it got into a better shape, was able to perform at its was intended?

I am just going off on my usual tangent here hypothesising mindlessly, but, a wild horse when pursued by its predator cannot afford to slip! Watch David Attenboroughs shows and you see zebras doing amazing turns and spins trying to outrun a hyena. How does it do it without studs???
 
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I think you can at lower levels, not 100% sure but will look into it at the time. Would be working my way up through the levels anyway.

Anyone know of any 'evidence/research' of horses gripping/performance, barefoot vs shoes?
 
Well thats the thing, they werent designed to have shoes - well nor were they to be ridden - but people see it as the done thing and people have asked 'whats wrong' with my horse because he doesnt have shoes! He doesnt have shoes because he doesnt need them!

If he needed them he'd have them, unlike his 100's of rugs he doesnt need - but has!! :D
 
I imagine a horse would have a lot more grip not being shod. Logically it just goes against the grain lol. My friend has bought hoof boots for his horse for me, jumping and cantering in them just seems petrifying. I'm not sure what the difference is though as there is no difference in the boots than there is with a bit of mental stuck to their feet.

You have all definiately given me food for thought, I'm just so concerned about the hardcore as literally he has to walk across it to get to the field and to any off road hacking :(
 
Miss Bean said:
I imagine a horse would have a lot more grip not being shod. Logically it just goes against the grain lol. My friend has bought hoof boots for his horse for me, jumping and cantering in them just seems petrifying. I'm not sure what the difference is though as there is no difference in the boots than there is with a bit of mental stuck to their feet.

You have all definiately given me food for thought, I'm just so concerned about the hardcore as literally he has to walk across it to get to the field and to any off road hacking :(
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We have to ride down a downhill stoney track to get to our good hacking it's about a kilometre in length and about a half a kilometre from home.
I have solved this two ways sometimes I lead sometimes I put on his boots take them off a the field gate hide them ( we leave a hoof pick there too) and do our ride put the boots back on at the gate.
I am with you on finding boots concerning I know there's a lack of logic in this but I don't canter in them and have never jumped however they are IMO a vital thing to have they keep you going when you need to get moving and they are there in the tack room if ever you need them .
After a few times they are no more hassle to put on than a pair of cross country boots you get used to it.
I am pretty sure my horse will now be ready to go down this track BF but the wet means I have not been going as the farmer is a very good friend and let's me go where I want so I am careful never to make a mess.
 
My lad has to walk down 200 yards of gravel to his field and back twice a day.....did wonders for toughening him up! :D
 
Get a copy of Nic barkers book Feet First someone on the forum suggested that to me and it helped me a lot to get on overview .
With my first it did take time to get to get him to do what I want stage and he does get senestive when there's a lot of wet but it's manageable it's nine months on and he's trotting on roads for long distances jumping moving better than ever in the school ( he's mainly a dressage horse) he's much more settled I think because he is more in touch with himself now that sounds very new agey but he's a problem horse and it's been a real breakthrough for him.
In Febuary I was close to giving up because I was struggling to get from the transition ie working to the feets tolerances to just doing what I wanted then I discovered if I put his front boots on for his longer hacks that cracked it now we don't really need them at all except I have used them for the stoney down hill track to the good hacking but that's a serious test my shod horses feel that track and I am sure if the rain stopped he would do that now( except I doult we will be going because the horseflys will be the size of swallows ).
It's a steep learning curve and you challenge things you have accepted as a given but for my horse it's been a wholly good thing, two more in the pipeline now and one is not so easy .
 
Goldenstar said:
Get a copy of Nic barkers book Feet First someone on the forum suggested that to me and it helped me a lot to get on overview .
With my first it did take time to get to get him to do what I want stage and he does get senestive when there's a lot of wet but it's manageable it's nine months on and he's trotting on roads for long distances jumping moving better than ever in the school ( he's mainly a dressage horse) he's much more settled I think because he is more in touch with himself now that sounds very new agey but he's a problem horse and it's been a real breakthrough for him.
In Febuary I was close to giving up because I was struggling to get from the transition ie working to the feets tolerances to just doing what I wanted then I discovered if I put his front boots on for his longer hacks that cracked it now we don't really need them at all except I have used them for the stoney down hill track to the good hacking but that's a serious test my shod horses feel that track and I am sure if the rain stopped he would do that now( except I doult we will be going because the horseflys will be the size of swallows ).
It's a steep learning curve and you challenge things you have accepted as a given but for my horse it's been a wholly good thing, two more in the pipeline now and one is not so easy .
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do you suggest that now is probably not a good time to do it in all this wet? maybe wait for dryer weather?
 
Well perhaps some fully paid up members of the BT will comment on that I am just a probationary member .
But it's does seem with mine when it's wet they are worse they are in during the day out in the early evening but as long as you have a period when you don't need the horse for competions I would say just do it if you can get access to a surface and Tarmac you can get the horse moving and see how it goes . I opted for a trimmer rather than a farrier just because I wanted to learn from the trimmer I found the trimmer from a recommendation from someone I knew and he's conservative in his approach which I was comfortable with I could not see how the approach he was taking could harm my horse I would not have been happy with some of the more interventist trimming I have read about on the Internet .
I started leading mine five mins twice a day and felt my way from there .
 
lcharles said:
I think you can at lower levels, not 100% sure but will look into it at the time. Would be working my way up through the levels anyway.

Anyone know of any 'evidence/research' of horses gripping/performance, barefoot vs shoes?
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There was the recent PhD thesis http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/310041.html

At the moment for eventing and higher levels of competition there are two options - barefoot or shoes.

If it's the best thing for the horse, there is absolutely no shame at all in shoeing for competitions and then allowing a break in between.
 
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Faracat that's some set of photos I have my TB eight weeks without shoes not got as much work to do as you had though that's amazing .
 
GS is of that certain age that leaves you Er challenged with technology the penalties for kidnapping a twelve year old to help are severe !!!
You must tell by my typing that we wrote with fountain pens at school !
 
You sound just like my nephew he's twelve but unfortunatly at the other end of the country.
It's on my to do list work out the photo thing , then I bore you all with photos.
 
Faracat - OMG! What a difference. I bet you want to shoot the farrier.

OP, I took Arnies shoes off in november when I knew I wouldnt be riding for about 6 weeks. When I started riding again at the start of january he was great - then not so great. This continued on and off for a while (in hindsight, I think I was doing too much too soon). I then got boots for all round and for months I used them for anything other than the arena (he never needed boots for the arena).

I then started leaving the back boots off occasionally and he now never needs them despite me living half a mile up a really rough track. He still needs front boots for the track but sometimes I leave them off and just get off and lead him to the road. He's fine on tarmac.

It was a bit of a rollercoaster but there is nothing I've wanted to do with him that I havent been able to do with him (small SJ, small XC, pleasure rides, general hacking, lessons) either booted or unbooted.

The boots are a faff but I've got it down to a fine art now so no bother there :D

He is moving better than he ever has, he pings over jumps and his whole temperament has improved. Its clearly suiting him and the shoes are staying off :D

He went onto a suitable bf diet a few months before the shoes came off. In hindsight, the only thing I would have done differently is I would have taken the backs off, got them sorted and then done the fronts.
 
Miss Bean said:
do you suggest that now is probably not a good time to do it in all this wet? maybe wait for dryer weather?
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Hooves adapt.

In dry weather they are hard - in nature they would have to be in order to resist wear against the dry and hard surfaces.

In wet weather they become softer - in nature they would need to be more easily able to self trim in the softer conditions...so the wall becomes 'weaker' for that purpose.

You can see this transformation with the Hampson/Pollitt Brumby study they did recently.

They swapped 'hard terrain' horses with 'soft terrain' horses and back again...and they documented the way the hooves changed and adapted.

Some may consider the 'soft terrain' hooves were poor or weaker....but they were just as functional and sound - so the change must have been for a reason rather than a failure of some type.

So where does this leave us?

As the hooves adapt to the conditions they are exposed to, it makes sense for the horse to live on the same terrain he is supposed to work on.
So living in a soft field is fine for working on a soft arena surface. But if you suddenly wish to go for a 10 mile hack on hard ground - the horse may not be up to that immediately.

You have the option of simply popping a set of boots on.

Or, if like me, you want to hack out regularly and have hooves that can go anywhere without boots (as none would fit my Tank :D) - it's a case of getting the workload to a level where the hooves are strong and robust enough to cope with anything.

This is philosophical however - each horse is different and it's no where near as complicated as it all sounds :D

The ground conditions are a very small part of it all. The sugar levels in the grass are currently our biggest issue to comfort.
 
these stories are great, and I feel a lot more confident than I did. It interests me that some of you reckon your horses move better!
 
Miss Bean said:
these stories are great, and I feel a lot more confident than I did. It interests me that some of you reckon your horses move better!
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My horse is a spectacular mover he's a American standard bred by breeding but bred in holland so he's what they call a Dutch harness horse used for their spectacular trots.
There Is definatly a
 
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