Barefoot?

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RichardRider

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Several months ago I sought advice regarding my tripping "Selle Francais," and many of you suggested going without shoes...Will be suddenly taking on a few extra horses and thought it would be a good time(since there will be mares and geldings,) to do it...

One of the persons arriving with horses is our new cottage renter. Her three horses are all barefoot and she swears by it, says it takes a brief period of adjustment, but would never go back to shoes...

My farrier also says it's good for the hooves once in a while to do this, even if I intend to shoe him again later...

Any further input?

Thanks...rr
 
mine are all barefoot.
ISH-schooled to GP, just about to start competing agian at elem after long lay off shows, hacks etc.

TB (ex racer to boot!!!)-schooling adv med, about to go out at medium. also hacks and SJ.

companion shetland, who has feet like iron!

for me, it was always a case of ,if it works-great, and if it didnt, i wasnt going to spend months watching them hobble round in pain.i gave them a month max to adjust and if they hadnt would have been calling the farrier. fortunately mine all took to it fine and didnt miss a days work.

does make life much easier, esp in the snow and ice!
 
Go for it!
Def check out the management and diet info. Don't worry though, it isn't massive involved stuff, just your basic common sense good practise wether the horse is shod or not. Unshod/barefoot horses just show the effects of a poor diet very much more quickly! Basically fibre + fibre + fibre (and oil if needed for a poor doer) is your friend, sugar is not, and making sure your horses recieve the required vits and minerals. Your forage might be well balanced in which case you are on for an easy run, if not then it is easy to 1)get your forage analysed and 2) top up any minerals that are needed. Bob's your uncle, happy barefoot horse and owner! Plenty of work on tarmac is really great for hooves too!
You do need a barefoot friendly farrier though to offer support and trim, if such a person isn't available then I would consider a trimmer (just check their training and insurance etc as they aren't all made equal!).
 
All my five are barefoot and was so impressed and amazed by the changes in them - not just their feet but their overall health - that I trained to be a trimmer myself. I would never put shoes on a horse again - knowing what I know, having seen what I've seen. Metal shoes have no place on a horse. Btw I don't know any self respecting trimmer who would advocate watching a horse 'hobble round in pain for months' - if a horse is hobbling without shoes then there is something seriously wrong, way beyond just removing the shoes. I've taken shoes off laminitics who didn't hobble round once barefoot! In fact they were significantly sounder once the shoes were removed!
 
Thank you everyone. Diet I thought about as well, but will pay special attention. Rather excited really. This is a horse that has had tripping(reception over jumps, me injured, etc,) problems and WOULD LOVE TO FEEL HIM IN A DIFFERENT STATE...

I'm excited like Xmas...Dumb, huh?

Thanks again...richard(will let you know how things go...)
 
Out of our 3 horses, only one of them has a front set.

I didn't set out to be a ''bare-footer'', it just happens that my most excellent farrier advised me that my horses hooves are fab and for where the horses live and the work they do...shoes are not necessary. One of them has never had shoes, one has had them all off and the other was unshod when we got him, but footy over the really pebbly lanes near where we used to be stabled.

He's going to have his front shoes taken off soon too.

I feed a high-fibre diet anyway, always have.:)
 
I was warned NOT to have my horse go barefoot by my farrier. My horse used to drag his hinds really badly and square the toes off his shoes, my farrier said without shoes my horse would severely damage his feet down to the white line and beyond. Well I took the chance, 7 years ago. From day 1 my horse has carefully lifted his hinds and never drags them. He's got lovely feet all round. Also...I noticed how much being barefoot has freed up his shoulders, he now has a lovely swinging stride in front. Go for it Richard!!
 
I'll add to Gala's post. My horse is also barefoot, and his hind hoof dragging has improved considerably as a result of me finding the right trimmer. So if you try one trimmer/farrier and it doesn't "work" it doesn't always mean your horse can't be barefoot.
 
gala said:
I was warned NOT to have my horse go barefoot by my farrier. My horse used to drag his hinds really badly and square the toes off his shoes, my farrier said without shoes my horse would severely damage his feet down to the white line and beyond. Well I took the chance, 7 years ago. From day 1 my horse has carefully lifted his hinds and never drags them. He's got lovely feet all round. Also...I noticed how much being barefoot has freed up his shoulders, he now has a lovely swinging stride in front. Go for it Richard!!
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Great story! Of course he would completely wear his feet away to bloody stumps without shoes... pmsl...
 
Go for it.

Get the diet right (forage based - minimal sugar works well, plenty of vitamins and minerals)

Get rid of any lurking infections to the sole or central sulcus.

Stimulate the sole with various surfaces and movement.

Don't let farrier trim the sole or let the toes get too long - still 6-8 weeks at first!

Then sit back and marvel at how very clever the hoof really is and how it can communicate with you about how the horse is as a whole.

Then start raving about barefoot and try to tell other people about it.

Then be accused of being a member of some cult and get called names by farriers (bau/barefoot taliban etc:))

Don't feel embarrased about being so excited. I have seen it lots of times. The owner finally has that epiphany and then want to get it all in action NOW:)
 
mrdarcy said:
Great story! Of course he would completely wear his feet away to bloody stumps without shoes... pmsl...
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Would be funny if stories like that weren't true!!! My (ex) farrier said that working horses must have shoes otherwise their hooves will wear too much. Even my back lady thinks horses need shoes to help guide their hoof growth, which is a shame as she is a fountain of knowledge and very well informed about anything else!
Fortunatly I couldn't really get their theories on that and read far too much good advice on here, so shoes off, more roadwork than ever = brilliant feet/more forwards horse/improving muscle tone/longer freer stride/foot sure over all going - what's not to love!
The most exciting thing ever though is that oh has agreed that his mare can have her shoes off on mon (he is out of the dark ages bless him so it has taken a long time to talk him round). Me, excited much!!!! More exciting than christmas for a 6 year old!
 
Oberon said:
Then sit back and marvel at how very clever the hoof really is and how it can communicate with you about how the horse is as a whole.

Then start raving about barefoot and try to tell other people about it.

Then be accused of being a member of some cult and get called names by farriers (bau/barefoot taliban etc:))

Don't feel embarrased about being so excited. I have seen it lots of times. The owner finally has that epiphany and then want to get it all in action NOW:)
Click to expand...
LOL!

Yes don't feel embarrassed I remember well how that excitement feels! Soon they'll be a huge sigh of relief.:D
 
FestiveNeighs said:
Would be funny if stories like that weren't true!!! My (ex) farrier said that working horses must have shoes otherwise their hooves will wear too much. Even my back lady thinks horses need shoes to help guide their hoof growth, which is a shame as she is a fountain of knowledge and very well informed about anything else!
Fortunatly I couldn't really get their theories on that and read far too much good advice on here, so shoes off, more roadwork than ever = brilliant feet/more forwards horse/improving muscle tone/longer freer stride/foot sure over all going - what's not to love!
The most exciting thing ever though is that oh has agreed that his mare can have her shoes off on mon (he is out of the dark ages bless him so it has taken a long time to talk him round). Me, excited much!!!! More exciting than christmas for a 6 year old!
Click to expand...

I heard a great quote the other day,

"You'll wear your backside out before the hoof."
 
I also have 4 barefooters, and like gala we were told it was a mistake to have shoes off because of how FH squared off his toes and since he has had them off he has never even hinted on dragging the toe
 
FestiveNeighs said:
Would be funny if stories like that weren't true!!! My (ex) farrier said that working horses must have shoes otherwise their hooves will wear too much. Even my back lady thinks horses need shoes to help guide their hoof growth, which is a shame as she is a fountain of knowledge and very well informed about anything else!
Fortunatly I couldn't really get their theories on that and read far too much good advice on here, so shoes off, more roadwork than ever = brilliant feet/more forwards horse/improving muscle tone/longer freer stride/foot sure over all going - what's not to love!
The most exciting thing ever though is that oh has agreed that his mare can have her shoes off on mon (he is out of the dark ages bless him so it has taken a long time to talk him round). Me, excited much!!!! More exciting than christmas for a 6 year old!
Click to expand...

I'd be extremely giddy about that too! Your powers of persuasion must be excellent and of course the evidence is right under his nose. You really can't argue with it once you've had first hand experience (provided you do everything else right of course).
 
Go for it, and if it dont work you can go back to shoes, my mare was shod in the UK, and often had lameness problems, resulting in her going to one of the large equine hospitals, and being told that she would be forever lame..

fast forward 8 years.... Freckles has been barefoot 5 years now, but only due to not being able to get a decent farrier here...and I was forced to take her shoes off and go barefoot... my land is very stoney, very uneven, with terraces that they gallop up an down, and now I have a horse that has only been lame once in that time, due to standing on a stone, and she is so surefooted..

shoes.... nah, ill never go back to them,
 
go for it my pony has never had shoes and can do any work. My farrier said he can do most things specialised shoes will in a trim
 
RichardRider said:
Several months ago I sought advice regarding my tripping "Selle Francais," and many of you suggested going without shoes...Will be suddenly taking on a few extra horses and thought it would be a good time(since there will be mares and geldings,) to do it...

One of the persons arriving with horses is our new cottage renter. Her three horses are all barefoot and she swears by it, says it takes a brief period of adjustment, but would never go back to shoes...

My farrier also says it's good for the hooves once in a while to do this, even if I intend to shoe him again later...

Any further input?

Thanks...rr
Click to expand...

My selle francais trips loads too, v. annoying! hehe x
 
I second and third Gala's post about dragging hind toe. Mine has always done it but have noticed since back shoes came off a few weeks ago he went a bit stiff at first but is now fine and seems to move much better behind ;-)

I had the same worry about doing it but as my farrier said they can always go back on if he isn't coping!
 
Another convert here. Had horses shod for years. In the olden days we always had all 4 feet done, more recently its been the fashion to just have the fronts. Finance and a second young horse led me to have my old NF ponys shoes removed, my new farrier took them off and commented on how restrictive they had been for him, like wearing stilletos. He had upright pasterns, deep frogs, always had thrush, had a suspensory tweak jumping grids whilst shod. Since removing the shoes he is more sloping in his pasterns, the thrush is gone his way of going is improving all the time. After being gopping foot sore for the first few weeks and very footy on stones he now hacks for miles, still bit footy on stones but improving all the time. He did a whole camp week jumping all manner of things with no suspensory problem at all!
Since my young horse had his fronts removed for his KS op he too seems more comfy and I am going to keep them off, his feet are fab, rock hard and he is prancing around over all manner of ground. I have been reading all I can about barefoot now and it just makes sense. I love it!!!:D
 
tallyhohoho said:
Is there a big difference in success rates between dry climates vs damp ones?
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None at all. The hoof is very clever and adapts to the condition. The horse having access to a correct diet is what allows the hoof to do this.

There is some anecdotal notes that different types of terrain produce different levels of sole concavity. But the functionality remains the same.
 
I've had shod and unshod ponies. At the moment my competition prospect is barefoot but struggles on the hard ground due to a lot of bruising by being hammered on the road in his previous home :(
If I ever had a pony, now that I buy not loan, I'd have shoes taken off as a first priority. Just because any horse CAN live without shoes when treated correctly.

I'm not anti-shoes, but they just aren't for me or my horses :D
 
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