Difference between Barefoot and no shoes?

CrazyMare said:
Brave question....LOL

Mine are unshod - always used that term, always will....

They see a farrier when needed.

IME those that use the term 'barefoot' are more 'natural' inclined, dare I say it more...evangelical about these things? One way is the right way, and its their way?!
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Hee hee!! I am a barefooter but theres nothing "natural" about me... I'm no bunny hugger or a natural horsemanship addict if thats what you mean...

One way IS right... and thats for the horse. It's not about me. If the foot the horse was born with can do normal activities without shoes then why bother calling a farrier to put shoes on it. If it can't, call the farrier.

Its fairly simple.

I use barefoot because there is a lot more to barefoot than there is unshod. People who use the term unshod use a farrier and don't take much notice of the feet (hah, that should ruffle a few feathers:D:D) whereas I take an almost obsessive interest in them. I take it to proper GEEKY levels! I want to know every bleedin' nuance and whys and wherefores of the equine foot and am constantly trying to understand it's form and function! I'm am a complete lunatic when it comes to hooves. I doubt that people who have "unshod" horses take to quite this wacky level.

I should be sectioned under the mental health act for foot fetishism my OH says. Everytime he picks up his MAC there's a blinkin' foot cadaver photo on it... I still know very little about it but still, obsessed!
 
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FfionWinnie said:
I think Oberon put it in a nut shell for me as personally I'd found the "barefoot" terminology a bit nauseating until I read it.

Something like unshod is a horse without shoes and barefoot is a horse without shoes and a lifestyle (diet and exercise etc) which allows it to work without shoes. It made quite a lot of sense (and I am just saying it from memory, Oberon may have said something different or someone else may have said it:o)
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I don't remember saying all that :D - but I may have explained how the different terms came about.....:)

Unshod was always the term originally.

But (other than ponies), unshod horses were always considered to be paddock ornaments or very light use only.

There was a stigma that if you had no shoes - that the horse wasn't capable of working hard.

So the term barefoot came about in order to distinguish the performance horses from the paddock ornaments.

Barefoot was meant to say, "we don't need shoes but we still work hard."

I don't think there's need for such distinctions nowadays - most people accept most horses CAN work without shoes without their hooves dropping off.

I only use the term barefoot on the net as that is what is expected and I'm rather fond of it :o.

In real life I rarely say "barefoot" as people can find it a bit intimidating and off putting.

I usually use the term "shoo-luss" in my thick, Lancashire, accent :D.
 
I always said mine were unshod until i realised that they are capable with some tweaks of doing the same things as shod horses , now i tend to say barefoot which i would say it implies they are working unshod. I am the least club type person there is in fact im pretty anti club. Sounds like jealousy or something that someone suggests people say 'barefoot' to be part of a club. If i'm trying to join a club by saying barefoot i'll have to invent my own term for it then.
 
I quite like "Shoo-luss"... but would I lose my geeky stature? I'm rather fond of being a hoof geek....
 
I'm most definitely part of Team Barefoot :) in fact we are looking into starting Team Barefoot UK with affiliations with Team Barefoot (USA) and a new international group.

My horses are barefoot because they will never be shod so they cannot be referred to as unshod. :D
 
I am probably classed as evangelical as I believe barefoot is best if possible. :D
I don't like the term un shod because it implies shod is normal... I don't believe it is to horses. It may well be to many humans though. :cool:

Shoddies can be pretty passionate too. :p I wouldn't ever call those people evangelical, it's just what they believe. Who am I to say they are wrong? Having a discussion and explaining your position doesn't necessarily equal being evangelical. :confused: Evangelical seems to be used when peeps don't agree despite robust discussion...
 
My two mares are barefoot/unshod however you want to call it.
I am thinking of putting shoes back on the lami for a while as while he is growing good hoof the bottom of the middle if both his front hooves are splitting, going up wards. It's only been three months on a new hoof supplement so not enough time to grow down. Farrier and vet said he will prob need the double toe clips to help support his hoof wall. He has a very bad rotatition in both front feet so the lamiae is very weak. He is sound without shoes and with shoes but because of that weakness I am going to need to use shoes to support his tootsies.....at least until the split grows out.

All my four are on a low sugar, low starch diet as its good for the whole of them not just the feet.
And I don't pay alot to keep then on it. A bag of fast fibre, a bag of pro balance plus and a bag of happy hoof as the lami won't eat his metformin without it is my six weekly feed run. They have hay and grass after that as that's all they need.

The exracer had fronts on and if my sister didn't want to start upping his work load more and start going out she would think of taking those off but she wants to go out and do things. He is still fed a low sugar low startch diet as its good for him.

Reading the bf posts have opened my eyes alot more to the nutrition side of horse owner ship. Most of the foods on the market aren't really suitable for horses but we don't think past looking what it says it will do on the bag.
 
Lippyx said:
For years at my yard, most of the horses didn't have shoes (no road work) and only the heavies/TB types had fronts. Now the shoeless ones had normal regular trims by a normal farrier and if they had a feed, it was a normal feed, nothing special or barefoot associated.
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I meant to ask why they didn't do any road work? Road work is generally good for bare hooves.
 
Hmm it is touchy subject on here, to me it is either shod or unshod. My horse is currently unshod as he is on a break from work until next year (voluntary, not because of injury etc) he went a bit footy in front as he had had heart bars on and acrylic in one foot but is fine a week later with no change in diet or routine apart from I don't turn him out if it is wet. I doubt he could go unshod for any length of time if in work as even my shoes wear out within 5 weeks with the amount of roadwork I do and also due to his health problems the vets have said that he really should be shod behind at all times when in work.
But enough of him, about 15-20 years ago when I was learning to ride in the old fashioned sort of riding schools were you were allowed help out in as a kid, we had 40+ horses in work doing 3-4 hours a day upto 5 days a weeks, hacking or school work. The majority of these were unshod and in hindsight fed a horrendously unbalanced diet of sugarbeet, bran and barley! Very rarely did we get a lame or sore one..........
 
Laafet said:
The majority of these were unshod and in hindsight fed a horrendously unbalanced diet of sugarbeet, bran and barley! Very rarely did we get a lame or sore one..........
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That long ago this was not an unbalanced diet, together with hay. The bran was full of flour because the milling was not so perfectly tuned to collect it, the flour is full of calcium and that balanced the phosphorous in the barn. Barley was a straight, not covered in molasses, and fed boiled as it usually was is a good food. Sugarbeet is a fine high fibre filler and I feed it now as do many, many people.

Those horses were also in hard work, so the diet was fine. So many problems are currently being caused by overfed horses.

The problem diets are today's modern muesli mixes and chaffs which are chock full of molasses, molglo (same thing!), and corn syrup, followed up with forage made from ryegrass alone and grazing on ryegrass pasture fertilised to death to make it produce in quantity, originally for dairy cows.
 
Laafet said:
The majority of these were unshod and in hindsight fed a horrendously unbalanced diet of sugarbeet, bran and barley! Very rarely did we get a lame or sore one..........
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Do you think them not being shod, possibly ever, had anything to do with it? Perhaps the footy ones were shod but a diet change might have enabled them to cope? Just a thought as many horses go barefoot on crappy diets no problems we just get to read more about the more sensitive ones on forums.
 
See I don't feed mixes, I hate having to feed them to the horses where I work when told to as to me it is just like feeding a McDonalds to a child. FWIW mine hunt/competes on just balancers and Alfa A.
With regards to the horses I mentioned, it was the full fat version of sugarbeet as that was all was available in those days and from my knowledge of nutrition feeding the amounts of bran that they had in that combination is not a good diet at all. Most of them lived out so that would have helped them, they only got fed once a day if they worked.
I do have a question on the trimming though, I asked Simon Curtis about keeping my last horse unshod and he was very keen that I tried to, he said that they do two trims, a field trim which is what I see the lads do to the broodmares and a balancing trim which takes longer and is done on the foals and on riding horses like mine when requested. Is this trim with a higher attention to detail what 'barefoot' trimmers are doing or is it pot luck on whether they can or not?
 
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Laafet said:
With regards to the horses I mentioned, it was the full fat version of sugarbeet as that was all was available in those days
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I feed it now.

I asked Simon Curtis about keeping my last horse unshod and he was very keen that I tried to, he said that they do two trims, a field trim which is what I see the lads do to the broodmares and a balancing trim which takes longer and is done on the foals and on riding horses like mine when requested. Is this trim with a higher attention to detail what 'barefoot' trimmers are doing or is it pot luck on whether they can or not?
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I think most of us would never advocate less than the full fat trim, even for a horse who is never going to work. Why would anyone want their horse less comfortable than it can be? For me, there is only one trim, the right one for that foot on that horse.
 
If someone said that their horse was barefoot I would presume they use a barefoot trimmer, unshod to me would imply that a farrier does the trims.

Barefoot appears to popular with people who have had problems with their horses hooves, where shoeing has not worked and follow a program to get to being barefoot. Unshod seems to more about saving money by not wearing shoes where they are not needed eg natives with tough hooves or retired horses and they do not follow a program.

My pony is unshod behind and I admit is totally to save money and he does seem to need shoes behind. Farrier trims him. His fronts have been off now for 5 months due to an kick injury (not related at all to being shod in the front) as he has been on box rest and has just come back into work and having some turnout. I am going to try and keep the fronts off as well now to save money. Farrier will still trim him.

For some reasons I think of ponies more likely to be unshod and horses barefoot!
 
cptrayes said:
One of the good reasons for shoeing, as I listed in something I wrote a couple of years back, is that some horses just don't cope with a variable workload. If I wanted to hunt my guy three times in 14 days,.
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I meant 3 times in 8 days. 3 times in 15 days is his normal routine!
 
To me, barefoot and unshod is the same thing. Mine don't have shoes purely because their feet are fine without. I treat my horses' feet the same as all their care, ie simple as possible, everything starts out basic and only ever gets changed if it doesn't work to the benefit of me or my boys.
So they have simple tack, snaffle bits etc, if we start having problems, appropriate changes will be made until I find something that suits them better.
Same with feed, they are on simple basic feeds which only ever change if i think it is necessary for their well being.
Same with their feet, they don't wear shoes, but if it ever gets to the stage where either of them would benefit from being shod well then that's what I will do.

I call it unshod because I'm old school, and they get trimmed by a farrier because that's what farriers have done for years (i do just about manage to use the word farrier when i'm talking out loud, even though in my head the word I still use is blacksmith, guess I must be really old, huh???)
 
amandap said:
I am probably classed as evangelical as I believe barefoot is best if possible. :D
I don't like the term un shod because it implies shod is normal... I don't believe it is to horses. It may well be to many humans though. :cool:

Shoddies can be pretty passionate too. :p I wouldn't ever call those people evangelical, it's just what they believe. Who am I to say they are wrong? Having a discussion and explaining your position doesn't necessarily equal being evangelical. :confused: Evangelical seems to be used when peeps don't agree despite robust discussion...
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Excellent post!! I completely agree!!
 
cptrayes said:
That long ago this was not an unbalanced diet, together with hay. The bran was full of flour because the milling was not so perfectly tuned to collect it, the flour is full of calcium and that balanced the phosphorous in the barn. Barley was a straight, not covered in molasses, and fed boiled as it usually was is a good food. Sugarbeet is a fine high fibre filler and I feed it now as do many, many people.

Those horses were also in hard work, so the diet was fine. So many problems are currently being caused by overfed horses.

The problem diets are today's modern muesli mixes and chaffs which are chock full of molasses, molglo (same thing!), and corn syrup, followed up with forage made from ryegrass alone and grazing on ryegrass pasture fertilised to death to make it produce in quantity, originally for dairy cows.
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In those days my ponies/hacks were worked "off grass" they didn't have hard feed until we were much older and they were working extra hard. Then it was oats.......!!!! We didn't know any better, ponies were shod through the holidays and barefoot in termtime!!! Trace clipped in winter and turned out without rugs!!!
 
B1 is unshod due to feet like steel and no need for shoes. She has no special diet and blacksmith tends her. Barefoot to me is horses which can't cope unshod having shoes off and special diet and months and months (often) of laneness and discomfort untill they 'adapt'. Either it copes without shoes or it doesn't ffs.
 
I don't know why people get hung up on the special diet. And I also think its unfair to assume people let their horses suffer for months to be natural. I put shoes back on 2. And most likely I will keep them on my ex broodmare. She spent her whole life bare until an injury 2 years ago. A hoof injury. Since then she's not happy without them.

Ok special diet. I guess special is not feeding crap out of a bag feed companies say your horses need. For me I haven't feed a complete feed in 4 years. Reason being because I have horses that are soya intolerant. And a couple severely so. It mimickes all the same problems as sugar. Fat pads, sore feet, ect. Except when I made the diet change I had 2 in a woodchip pen on soaked hay with 1 coffee mug of miracle balance. One was 2 yo so I couldn't work the snot out of her. Soya went and in 2 weeks symptoms disappeared. They could actually resume careful grazing. And have done for 4 years. So I do night turnout and dry lot during the day in critical periods. No big deal where I'm concerned.

But I was doing all this with shoes and so bare intrigued me from the diet end. It's when I quit being nasty and started researching. I could do better and think I have. Basically it was tweaking what I was already doing. So for me special diet is no biggie. And I continue to learn.

I think the bare diet is good for more than bare. Anyway I must go but don't paint people with the crazy brush without trying to understand.

Terri
 
Spotsrock said:
B1 is unshod due to feet like steel and no need for shoes. She has no special diet and blacksmith tends her. Barefoot to me is horses which can't cope unshod having shoes off and special diet and months and months (often) of laneness and discomfort untill they 'adapt'. Either it copes without shoes or it doesn't ffs.
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Rude much? No need to swear!

Goodness me, where have you been over the years? I would go back under your rock, much safer for you I think.

If it doesn't cope without shoes, wouldn't you want to know why? To me it would be your duty TO find out as the guardian of that animal.
 
Unshod to me is a horse who is capable of all work without shoes.

Barefoot horses have special trims, special diets, months, years or lifetimes of discomfort or wearing boots to cope with being unshod.

It's lovely that people don't feel the need to have shoes put on if their horses don't need them but not great to see horses struggling because their owners believe barefoot is best.
 
I personally do not know of anyone who would consider that to be the definition of barefoot tabithatkat.
 
tabithakat64 said:
Unshod to me is a horse who is capable of all work without shoes.
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So what do you call a horse which has no shoes on which is not capable of any work at all?


Barefoot horses have special trims, special diets, months, years or lifetimes of discomfort or wearing boots to cope with being unshod.
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Mine don't. No special trim, just a good one. No special diet, just a good one. I even feed own brand pony cubes and full fat sugar beet. I don't use boots. None of the horses I have done, even the full-on rehabs, has had months of discomfort.

It's lovely that people don't feel the need to have shoes put on if their horses don't need them but not great to see horses struggling because their owners believe barefoot is best.
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I don't know any of these, either. Except perhaps right at the very start with a horse with poor feet, where I feel that a small amount of short term discomfort is perfectly acceptable in order to achieve the life-enhancing changes that barefoot usually makes to poor feet.

tallyhohoho! said:
I personally do not know of anyone who would consider that to be the definition of barefoot tabithatkat.
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Me neither :)
 
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Spotsrock said:
Barefoot to me is horses which can't cope unshod having shoes off and special diet and months and months (often) of laneness and discomfort untill they 'adapt'. Either it copes without shoes or it doesn't ffs.
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Well there's nothing to beat a bit of sensible discussion, is there :D?
 
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