Barefoot

maxapple

maxapple

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Anyone have barefoot horses / ponies?

My pony went out on loan a month ago and they decided to take his shoes off. He came back today and actually his feet look very good. I'm going to ride tomorrow and see how he feels, but am very tempted to try him barefoot.

We do hardly any road work and won't be doing much jumping any more.

Just interested to know other people's views and if there is anything in particular I need to do to keep his feet healthy?
 
My mare is bare foot on the hinds and they are in great shape, its only down to her terrible underlying foot problems on the front that she is not completely bare foot.
I know many who have theirs barefoot, and funnily enough, most were shod previously and their feet have improved no end since being shoeless.

You can simply try it out and assess him, many horses cope very well without shoes, even top event horses, I cannot think of the lady's name which is annoying, read it years ago in horse and rider :)
 
mine are all barefoot, including a tbx who used to loose shoes every couple of weeks when i first got her, & they go on the roads, jump, etc.
The key to good feet is the diet, not so much putting hoof ointments onto the hoof wall. Having a well balanced diet that allows the horse to utilise the nutrients is very important as they work from the inside out!
Barefoot is definately worth a go, if it wasnt for one of mine being barefoot, I wouldnt have detected her laminitis as early & she wouldnt be making a rapid recovery. It has also helped my bank balance not having to pay for shoes, however I do have my farrier trim my horses feet every 6-8wks.
 
Actually - I should have said that both he and my TB only have front shoes on ordinarily anyway.

How often do they need to be trimmed - and is there anything I should put on them to keep them hard??
 
All our horses at the stud are barefoot do road work hacking jumoing dressage. Diet is key but if you get that right it can work really well!

Goodluck
 
Great - thanks. My pony lives out and this time of year just lives on grass. I can give him a small feed every day - so what should I add to it to help his feet?
 
maxapple said:
How often do they need to be trimmed ??
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Well I think the riding on rough(ish) surfaces keeps them fairly more worn down. Seren has her backs trimmed every other farrier visit, which is every 12 weeks in effect, as there is simply nothing to trim off.
I suppose you could try 8weeks, depending on growth and your horses foot health and go from there, you may need shorter or longer, its hard to say..
 
My 11yr tb is barefoot for vet reasons. He copes very well on tarmac over short disctances, wears hoof boots if going any further than a short distance. He jumps happily barefoot. He has now been barefoot for just under a year and his hooves are in the best condition that they have been in years. I would never want to see another set of shoes on him again.
 
Have a go! be prepared for maybe needing hoof boots for a while if you do end up doing roadwork, but prob not forever and youll have better grip on the roads!

I have one shod and one barefoot. Horses for courses. Lots of ponies especially dont need shoeing as they have decent hooves, less weight to carry and shorter stouter legs to do it with. Shoeing is an excellent idea if you need studs in shoes for the discipline you do, or the horse is on the roads day in day out etc. They did come about from necessity for horse welfare, but that was in the era where 99% of horses worked, really worked, all day every day, and they really needed those shoes.

Many leisure horses today simply dont do the amount of work that makes a shoe essential, providing they have good feet, a thoughtful farrier or trimmer, and an owner who is prepared to make compromises occasionally in their own plans to promote the best interests of their horse and its feet.
 
Moggyinmanolos said:
Well I think the riding on rough(ish) surfaces keeps them fairly more worn down. Seren has her backs trimmed every other farrier visit, which is every 12 weeks in effect, as there is simply nothing to trim off.
I suppose you could try 8weeks, depending on growth and your horses foot health and go from there, you may need shorter or longer, its hard to say..
Click to expand...

Less often in winter, more often in summer. We were snowed in for 3 months and the barefoot girl who was not ridden all that time, barely needed a trim after the 12 weeks! Rough tracks work now means 8 week intervals and theres still just neatening/evening up to do, no trimming as such. If you start by getting it done every 6-8 weeks, and lengthen if appropriate depending on the pattern of growth and work, that would be ideal.
 
My girl has been barefoot since 18 months old and is now 5 and is a cob x tb,her feet are fab and actually solid when it comes to roadwork.she also has no problems with jumping and other activities i would definetly give it a go.
 
Our NF has never been shod, we will if we get to the point of him needing them as currently he does little road work, but our farrier says he's got lovely feet. Ditto our arabx pony, he's got nice feet too, used to be shod but prev owner took them off when he wasn't ridden as much (outgrown). Farier comes every 12 weeks.
 
My pony is barefoot, as are some others on our yard. I do everything with him that I would with a shod horse, and I find that he has very good grip on different surfaces. I do ride him on roads: it's actually supposed to be good (within reason), stimulating growth. He is trimmed about ever 4 weeks in the summer, every 5--6 weeks in the winter. I'm told that ointments etc. do nothing: diet and exercise are paramount.

In particular, I need to watch his sugar intake, keeping a close eye on that spring grass. Unshod horses may show symptoms of laminitis much sooner than shod horses, since the shoes are thought to mask the symptoms to a degree. This is good, in that you can intervene quicker, and scary, in that you become much more aware of the detrimental effects of too-good grazing.
 
I have an ex racer,competing novice BD and schooling medium who does all his work barefoot.he hacks and jumps as well with no problems.

mums horse is irish and hacks and does a bit of schooling barefoot.he is schooled to GP and did all that work barefoot!
 
My TB went barefoot on fronts 4 months ago and on backs 3weeks ago, has really bad feet, front moreso. But since having them off, soles have hardened up, new hoof growth is at perfect angle not the horrible splayed "dinner plates" they have been. You have to train their feet to cope with the hard ground, which means lots of little and often hacks on different surfaces. Being turned out helps cos the ground is so dam hard. We do wear hoof boots for long hacks but they are fab. I get Flash's feet trimmed every six weeks. I tried a really expensive formula from vet but didn't bother with it after month ran out. He didn;t get any other supp, although have just introduced Equimins Biotin to encourage healthy strong growth. Hope it works out for you, but sounds like your half way there anyway.
 
"We do hardly any road work and won't be doing much jumping"

What a shame!

Roadwork is brilliant for barefoot feet, it's a really good conditioning surface and saves having to trim too, the horse does it for itself.

I have affiliated evented on six different barefooters, jumping is no problem at all. My hunter is barefoot. He's kept fit on roads and hunts on hardcore tracks with no problems.

Keep the shoes off and see what happens. If it's not perfect, people above have told you about diet. Good luck!
 
I was very wary, because I tend to thinK that man has refined horses to have shoes on, BUT.... I have a cob that I bought 2 months ago and have had him barefoot because that fits in best with my YO. His feet are brilliant which helps, I keep his sugar intake as low as I can, and have a good barefoot trimmer which is only £35 every 6 weeks - much cheaper and better than any farrier. PM me if you are in East Anglia and want the name of my brilliant trimmer
from a very miuch reformed traditionalist xx
 
Ben has been barefoot for 4 months now; Was trimmed by my farrier until Thursday when I had a barefoot trimmer out; The difference is quite amazing. All the flare is gone on he is actually striding out better on the roads :)

He still has hoof boots on for pleasure rides, but I'm doing more road work now and they do self trim! Still a bit ouchy on sharp stones but getting better every week.

He is fed Fast Fibre, and is out 24/7 on a track system with restricted grazing
 
My 4y/o ISH is barefoot, came with shoes, but we took them off because she has good strong feet (and its cheaper!), but when its slippy I do miss my studs! :)
 
mine was barefoot until she was 8 and in that time if the farrier came he'd spend about 2 minutes on her and then send her on her way as her hooves were in such good condition. we did jumping, hacking, sponsored rides.. everything. she only got shoes so she could have studs for when we started jumping on grass and jumping bigger more often as i didn't want her to slip :)
 
Did you find out whether she slipped first, or shoe her just in case? None of mine slipped any more without shoes than with shoes and studs. I jumped up to around 4ft eventing and out hunting I jump up to not far short of 6ft.
 
i shod her cos she was slipping around corners on grass when it got to about 1.10 and so it was getting to the point where i couldn't go for it in the jump off as she would have slipped turning tightly, but then when she had studs in she was fine. just shoes though she would have slipped more than when she was barefoot
 
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