Does anyone horse have front shoes on only? and why? comments/advice please

[YasandCrystal]

We have 2 barefoot and 2 with just fronts on. You will find that most horses can go without hinds, it's the fronts that take more strain and are more sensitive BF. The only equine I had a problem with is the most unlikely - my 10hh falabella x driving pony - he got very sore bf behind as he wore his feet down to the sensitive. He does have pretty poor conformation though and wears the outside of his hinds.

It's worth trying - you can always go back to shoes if you need to. You can paint something like NAF Rock Hard or Keratex Hoof Hardener on the soles daily for a week and then once a week (mind not to paint on the frog though) to help with the transition.

 

[xxMozlarxx]

Thunder was the best!!! He was such a character and so personable. He loved all the animals on the farm. Before he came to me, I'm told his best friend was a shetland. He was my late old mare's devoted companion. He tried to befriend my donkeys, but they wouldn't have any of it, which is so ironic seeing as Thunder was terrified of them when he first met them. He adored my pet sheep and even groomed my tamest one. He taught my unhorsey OH to trust very big horses (he was 18h). My favourite photo of him is in the photo gallery (I think or maybe it's Photobucket - I don't know how to get photos on here). He's greeting my vet's tiny toddler son. The photo is Thunder in a nutshell. I miss him terribly.

That is the sweetest pic I have seen..gorgeous, it needs to be in a magazine !,

 

[RutlandH2O]

That is the sweetest pic I have seen..gorgeous, it needs to be in a magazine !,

Thank you so much. He was something else! You choose the magazine and I'll forward the photo to them!!??!!

 

[kerrieberry2]

my horse had a full set of shoes for the first 8-9 yrs of owning her and always before she came to me as well! I moved to a yard with all off road hacking and had her back shoes taken off, I was really worried to start with but she was 100% fine with it! she never had any problems or anything until we moved house and still mostly off road hacking, however, the tracks are really stoney and she really struggled without back shoes so I have had to have them put back on again!

 

[dancebaben]

Our mare only has fronts. Reason being - she has great little feet but we do a lot of road work and she went foot sore on her fronts so we stuck shoes and road nails on.
She doesn't have backs for 2 reasons. First, she's never foot sore so why bother and second she has had a couple of falls on the roads which were saved or made less bad due to having her own feet to grip the road with. I think if she was shod all round she'd really have gone down and would have done herself more injury than she did.

 

[AFH]

My old one was only ever shod in the front and never the back. We only did light hacking and light work and his back hooves didn't need the shoes. The front needed the shoes to pretty much keep them together, they were terrible despite being well looked after!! It's significantly cheaper too.