barefoot...

[alicep]

so i was talking to a lady at my yard who is alos a very close friend and we got onto the subject of having horses barefoot. has any one tried going from shoes to none completely? i know its the latest craze in racing, eventing etc but my friend said it can take any where from 3 months to a year for their feet to harden. she also said that in the beginning they need up to 3 hours walking in hand on the road!! she is quite keen to try it and if you get it right you may never even need a trim from the farrier! o how much could we all save!!!!! any way any opinions/stories from you guys would be fab.

 

[dianchi]

One horse at our yard has gone barefoot, not sure they thought it through properly. Horse was "trimmed" by a barefoot specialist and lo and behold its gone lame and now also has laminitus-which the vet hasnt been called too incase they say to put shoes on!!!!
Its a TB with shocking feet anyway!
Could work for more hardy footed types but there you go!

 

[xxcharlottexx]

My friend has her Irish cob barefoot.
Shes never had shoes on and both vet and farrier say her feet are as hard as iron.

She is a little foot sore at the min, shes not sure if her soles are bruised or if its the beginnigs or lammi, so if shes still footy next she will get the vet up.

Depending on how good a confirmation your horse has will also depend on how often it needs trimming. Friends horse keeps the actual length down quite well, but does tend to walk inwards, so wears the inside of her hoof down quicker then the outside so needs a trim to balance her up.

Lots of roadwork is supposed to strengthen the hoof.

My TB just has fronts on, and his back feet are in pretty good condtion and are quite tough *runs to touch wood to hope they stay that way*

It depends on the condition of the ground aswell. where i am, it is very rocky so i wouldnt want to have my TB without fronts on. But the welshies on my yard manage fine, but they have never had shoes on.

 

[abb123]

I've just gone barefoot with my arab mare after years of shoes. I discussed it with my farrier who thought she would be fine. One month in with no problems at all but she does have very hard feet. I wouldn't dream of it with my wbxTb as she doesn't have great feet.

 

[kibob]

Both of mine are barefoot. I took their shoes off last summer as they were to be turned away for the winter due to me being pregnant. So, they had the whole winter in the field with no shoes first - probably was about 7-8 months all told. They are now ridden out about 3-4 times a week for 1-2 hours a time, always the majority of the ride is on the roads and they are both fine with it. I have them trimmed by my "normal" farrier every 7-8weeks. They never have much taken off, infact one mare wears her feet down nice and evenly, the other mare gets a slight flare on the inside of her fronts and this is trimmed off.

Their breeding is ISH and ISHxSF, they have very strong little feet

.

 

[FAYEFUDGE]

I tried barefoot with my boy for about 18mts. I've had to shoe him again as he was constantly going lame due to foot bruising etc. Saying that there are several horses on my yard who are happy barefoot and are out eventing etc with no problems. Just depends on the horse!

 

[Happytohack]

I have had many discussions about barefoot with my farrier as there are a number of endurance horses who are barefoot (you have to realise that a lot local endurance horses do not do much roadwork as we have excellent going in local forests). Basically, it suits some horses but not others. Horses hooves need time to adjust and access to hardstanding in order to harden the feet. There are probably some good barefoot trimmers out there, but your farrier is the best person to advise - my own farrier has some customers' horses who are barefoot and he trims them accordingly - this trim is not the same as just having the shoes removed and a quick trim. There is no way that a barefoot horse can go without seeing a farrier at regular intervals and initially, you will need more frequent visits.

 

[Elitemareslol]

I have recently been forced to take the back shoes off my tb mare, who has very thin hoof walls and grows virtually no hoof. The blacksmith thought that the nail holes would take 3 months to grow out. Then he can reshoe. I have no idea whether my farrier trimmed her feet in a special "barefoot" way. He has recommended regular trimming while the broken hoof grows through.

The blacksmith pointed out that it is putting shoes on with nails that weakens the hoof and that the only reason we have shoes on is so that we can ride on roads and other hard surfaces.

My tb is a hypochondriac anyway and for the first few days hobbled around like she was on hot sharp gravel whenever I brought her in on the concrete. On one occassion she refused to move and was mournfully looking at her feet

Yes I felt like a bad owner.

However, those that know me will know that perseverance is my middle name, so I have been using Keratex for two weeks and yesterday I took her for her first ride out with Cavello boots on. She is perfectly sound and seems to be quite happy although she took a little time to rebalance under saddle.

I have not done this because it is trendy, I have done this under instruction from the blacksmith. I did this with my pony several years ago and her feet came back fabulously. She was very hobbly on the hard ground and Cavello boots didn't exist, but she survived and very rarely throws a shoe these days.

Obviously each individual animal will have different requirements and management, so this may not work for some.

 

[Michelle73]

I was taking my two barefoot every year from end Oct through to end March and they were both ridden out fine - mostly tarmac surfaces. This year I decided to keep them both barefoot and they're both going really well. My boy has more work than the mare but he can cope with up to 12 miles work - would be more if I could get us both fit enough to go further. The only time he gets sore is when he's going across stoney ground which will take up to 2 years for him to cope with stoney ground (some horses never cope with it). The mare has white hooves and sometimes needs some Keretex Hoof Hardner - never needed to use it for more than a month. The lines on the outside of the hoof walls tell the tales of when they were shod. All the new hoof growth since they've been barefoot is smooth without any ridges. A friend who has been barefoot for a year now is really impressed as she uses a barefoot specialist and I use a normal farrier. My understanding is that the more roadwork you do the quicker their feet harden. When the mare's feet were sore we only did 10-20mins tarmac work a day. Their movement is more fluid and free too. I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

[ISHmad]

[ QUOTE ]
One horse at our yard has gone barefoot, not sure they thought it through properly. Horse was "trimmed" by a barefoot specialist and lo and behold its gone lame and now also has laminitus-which the vet hasnt been called too incase they say to put shoes on!!!!


[/ QUOTE ]

Better the vet arriving than the RSPCA or the ILPH - or worse the knackerman. That poor poor horse. Stupid people like that don't deserve to have a horse. Do they not realise that laminitis can and does kill horses?

Our horses are barefoot and it is not a route for the faint hearted. You have to do lots of conditioning work, often in hand with boots and pads on their feet and have to spend a lot of time washing/scrubbing/disinfecting feet especially in the early days. Problem is a lot of people jump on the bandwagon and think it will be easy, when it isn't. In our case it has been a very worthwhile road to take, but I know lots of people who haven't bothered with all the work it needs and lo and behold have horses with feet problems...

 

[JoBo]

My horse (the one in my sig) is barefoot. Never had shoes on in his life and his feet are as tough as anything, so much that the farrier actually struggles to trim them sometimes. I hack on roads, ride around fields, do a little jumping in the school and he has no problems at all. And the best thing is it costs me £20 for a trim as oppose to £60 for a pair of shoes every 7 weeks.