Does anyone sj barefoot?

catembi

catembi

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Just musing really... Trev had KS surgery at the beginning of June. At the next farrier visit, we weren't sure if he'd be comfy holding his feet up long enough to shoe, so he went barefoot. Farrier is due on Tuesday and I am tempted to stay barefoot for now as he seems to be perfectly happy mooching about in the field and we will only be starting in-hand stuff shortly.

So now I'm wondering if we could stay b/f? I know people compete at a high level dr but what about sj? If he makes a successful comeback, we'll want to BS.

T x
 
J was perfectly happy jumping on a surface BF .
However for XC he was much much happier when I shod and studded him.
He now does the year half shod half BF .
I train SJ at home on grass up to a metre with no issues .
 
We don't shoe ours and went XC the other week on grass. As long as the hoof is established, and the take-offs and landings aren't gravel, you'll be fine. I can understand the SJ worry as the going needs to be perfect, with just enough cut in the turf or slipping is a worry. Surfaces are fine, again as long as the route to and from isn't a nasty, chipping-strewn car-park.

On the plus side, you never go to the field and have to cance an outing due to a lost shoe!
 
I event and haven't had any issues in varying conditions. The one to watch is damp grass on a hard surface but if your horse is good in his feet anyway you should be fine.
 
Great - thank you! That's encouraging!

I've just started another thread in Vets & Hoof Care with *loads* of photos - shod, 4 weeks ago (shoes off 2 weeks) & today (shoes off nearly 6 weeks). If anyone has the time & inclination, would you possibly be able to have a peek & see if, judging by photos, it's going to be feasible to give BF a proper go?

Thankies!

T x
 
catembi said:
Great - thank you! That's encouraging!

I've just started another thread in Vets & Hoof Care with *loads* of photos - shod, 4 weeks ago (shoes off 2 weeks) & today (shoes off nearly 6 weeks). If anyone has the time & inclination, would you possibly be able to have a peek & see if, judging by photos, it's going to be feasible to give BF a proper go?

Thankies!

T x
Click to expand...

Will go and have a look.

I took Jay's shoes off in November. Until recently he was dressaging and sj on a surface. I was upping his fitness and was surprised how sure footed he was on grass too, for canter work.

At a comp if it were gravel car parking I would boot to get him to the warm up.
 
I event without shoes on my pony.

This weekend there were heaps of people complaining about how slippery the course was in both SJ and XC... Honestly, pony barely noticed. There was only one bit in SJ when he was flogging around being a complete muppet that he had a little slip. But I found the going generally good.
An unshod horse will always have better grip then a shod horse, unless the shod horse has studs in. :)
 
If you have a clever trimmer, you can use the edge of a file to put notches in the wall. They grip really well - like catching a broken finger nail.
 
I do mine goes all winter without being shod so does everything even xc schooling in prep for the season in jan / feb time. Oh & I only have paddocks to school & jump in at home, no school

She's only shod for the season because I tried without but ehe slipped a few times & I didn't want her loosing her confidence.
 
Thank you for all the help & advice!

We start our rehab today - the beginning of lungeing work, yippee! I will only be aiming for 5 mins on each rein, & am excited & scared to see how he looks, from a KS pov as well as a barefoot one! He looks okay to me trundling round the field, but 'proper' work might be different.

T x
 
Hi I had a showjumper that went Grade A without shoes, he was impossible and dangerous to shoe so we had no option. I found that you had to keep the same rythmn throughout the course, could not take a pull which improves your riding loads. yes it could be slippery with wet grass on hard ground but only if it was so hard you shouldn't be jumping on it anyway! His feet got like rock so car parks etc made no difference. He also evented and team chased and never slipped. He started without shoes early in his career so never really jumped much without them. Boots , however, slipped like mad even with studs in them.
 
Good luck with it and don't be surprised if after an initial good start things get difficult it took J nine months to really get going .
Others I have have been much easier .
 
I jump barefoot - but only do up to 1.05m courses as inhalers stop us affiliating. We've only slipped once (touch wood) this season on grass and it was nothing major, but even a couple of horses with studs in managed to slip. And quite a few shows have a surface now anyway so it doesn't matter if you have shoes or not!
 
Well, we've just had our first 10 min lunge...and he's sound! Well & truly overtracking, active behind, reaching into a contact & moving as if he's got shoes on! A good start!

T x
 
Our boy has never been shod, and he does everything barefoot - hacking, dressage, SJ, XC..... ok to walk across a carpark, gravel, etc... you just need to be sensible if been really raining re:slips, but to be honest he did a small XC in the rain and had no problems. Down to the individual horse I guess, if he's happy with barefoot, give it a go
 
Having just been paddling around Prestwold yes you certainly can jump barefoot. It's all to do with balance, if you wing round a corner on the forehand you will slip (as you would even with studs), if you keep the engine engaged, don't get over cautious and keep control of the shoulder you will not slip. Even if you do slip I find barefoot horses far quicker to correct themselves. I fell into the trap of riding cautiously, the horses are more aware of their feet and will often back off bad patches, just rebalance and tell them to get on with it!
Hard and dewy is the worst.
 
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