Does barefoot ever just not work?

holeymoley

holeymoley

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 November 2012
Messages
4,804
Visit site
My horse has been barefoot since January 2024. I've owned him for 20 years, and he has always had front shoes on, sometimes backs if in heavy work but the majority of his life was in standard front shoes. He had very bad laminitis aged 16 and spent a long time recovering, in which time he spent 9 months in heartbars and then there on back to normal fronts. Rotation was all correct and his final x-rays showed no rotation. He had xrays 3 years ago and everything was still fine. I decided to take his shoes off and go barefoot as I wasn't overly happy with his heels, they looked like they were starting to contract and as he was getting older and in less work I thought why not. Over a year on his hooves look pretty good, there's no obvious imbalance or anything but I just don't think he is 100% comfortable. I have flexi boots for him when we ride on tarmac and he walks out much more than without, in fact I would even go to say he takes the odd lame stride without boots on. His walk to the field is quite a decent 5minute journey on smooth tarmac but even then he doesn't really walk out and favours walking on the grass. I know this sounds more like laminitic warning signs but his insulin is fine and he isn't carrying any excess weight or fat pads, in fact he could do with a bit more muscle. Unfortunately I can't put hoof boots on daily to walk to the field as I'm on assisted livery where turnout and bring in is done for me. I'm wondering if there's something more going on now that he's in his 20's, possibly navicular, or are there certain horses where having no shoes just doesn't work for them? He's just had his hocks medicated too so I'm at a bit of a loss, I think the reluctance is coming more from the front end.
 
I there is always an underlying reason why some horses don’t do well barefoot that sometimes cannot be solved, or not solved on a livery yard at least. where you are bound by the yard amenities and rules.

The one I had who couldn’t tolerate barefoot did have cushings. Once treated and fed a low sugar/ starch diet, her shoes came off (for other reasons) and she managed to transition much better! Though I had by this point retired her so if she’d needed to come back into ‘work’ I’d have put shoes back on her. Boots at the time weren’t a massive success due to tubing and slipping, though I think most have come on a long way since then.

I think with the oldies keeping them comfy and moving is so important so sometimes needs must. I say this with all three of mine barefoot, but some do have issues that do just make it hard to get them 100% out of shoes.
 
Barefoot doesn't always work. As a YO I've seen horses kept barefoot, but unsound, for years with owners determined to transition no matter what. It's been heart breaking as it's ended up causing other issues, due to the lameness. I'm not anti barefoot but do believe you have to look at each individual horse and also how you are able to keep them.
 
I have a friend who tried barefoot with her horse for over 5 years - she fed him the perfect low sugar and starch diet, he was strip grazed, haylage regularly tested for starch and sugar levels, his vitamins and minerals were balance in conjunction with her land (she owns her own place so this is far easier for her than if she were to be on a livery yard) - basically she was the textbook of how to transition your horse to barefoot and make sure that nothing in the diet/environment (as far as they can both be controlled!) is going to cause a problem and she still couldn't get him comfy enough without boots. He would merrily run around the field but when it came to anything apart from soft grass/soft ground, he would be clambering over the edge of the lane to avoid the pathway. She took him in for x-rays and a full workup which all came back fine and she came to the conclusion that sadly he wouldn't be comfy barefoot, so she now uses glue on shoes for him x
 
HufflyPuffly said:
I there is always an underlying reason why some horses don’t do well barefoot that sometimes cannot be solved, or not solved on a livery yard at least. where you are bound by the yard amenities and rules.

The one I had who couldn’t tolerate barefoot did have cushings. Once treated and fed a low sugar/ starch diet, her shoes came off (for other reasons) and she managed to transition much better! Though I had by this point retired her so if she’d needed to come back into ‘work’ I’d have put shoes back on her. Boots at the time weren’t a massive success due to tubing and slipping, though I think most have come on a long way since then.

I think with the oldies keeping them comfy and moving is so important so sometimes needs must. I say this with all three of mine barefoot, but some do have issues that do just make it hard to get them 100% out of shoes.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I think it may come to that, maybe just popping the fronts back on so that he can keep moving and not seize up. He is insulin resistant so all feeds are kept within the 10% combined sugar and starch range and I’m very scrupulous with what’s in the feed, he only gets fed Simple Systems feeds and Honeychop chaff.
 
AppyLover1996 said:
I have a friend who tried barefoot with her horse for over 5 years - she fed him the perfect low sugar and starch diet, he was strip grazed, haylage regularly tested for starch and sugar levels, his vitamins and minerals were balance in conjunction with her land (she owns her own place so this is far easier for her than if she were to be on a livery yard) - basically she was the textbook of how to transition your horse to barefoot and make sure that nothing in the diet/environment (as far as they can both be controlled!) is going to cause a problem and she still couldn't get him comfy enough without boots. He would merrily run around the field but when it came to anything apart from soft grass/soft ground, he would be clambering over the edge of the lane to avoid the pathway. She took him in for x-rays and a full workup which all came back fine and she came to the conclusion that sadly he wouldn't be comfy barefoot, so she now uses glue on shoes for him x
Click to expand...
This is really interesting, we tried it years ago but realistically it wasn’t going to be successful. This time I’ve done everything to the letter. I think he’s been in them for so many years he will never be comfortable without. I was looking at videos of him walking out after his laminitis and he was jogging and really keen. Although that was in heartbars. I just feel he’s really declined in the last year. Maybe doesn’t help that the youngster could walk barefoot over the rocky mountains and not be bothered at all!
 
If shoes make him comfier and aren’t detrimental to his feet then I’d go with that.

I did wonder with my last oldie if an entire lifetime in shoes, she must have been shod in front for coming up 20 years before I took her shoes off at 23/24, meant her feet and sort of permanently changed. She did actually end up wearing a set of shoes before I lost her as she’d developed a crack in one foot.

If he has an underlying condition with his insulin resistance, then I guess it could just be making it a harder ask for him to be 100% bare.
 
Last edited:
Some horses need their feet kept dry. Some need them kept damp. Some need to be moving 24/7, some get away with it stabled full time. Some need a molecule perfect diet, some can eat any damned thing. Some need constant work with the same mileage week to week, some can be ridden once a month. Metabolic conditions are a nightmare for feet.

The majority, of course, are somewhere in the middle of all that lot but nobody should be persevering with a sore horse for the principle of it.
.
 
holeymoley said:
Thanks, I think it may come to that, maybe just popping the fronts back on so that he can keep moving and not seize up. He is insulin resistant so all feeds are kept within the 10% combined sugar and starch range and I’m very scrupulous with what’s in the feed, he only gets fed Simple Systems feeds and Honeychop chaff.
Click to expand...


The IR is likely your problem. There's no shame in shoes of he and you need them.
.
 
My mare has been unshod for 11 years, she’s been though the wringer with vets in the past two years (not hoof related) her weight is perfect and she has no superfluous body fat, yet I noticed earlier in the month that the grass has been growing, despite a bare paddock and restricted diet.

We are now trialing Invokana every other day to lower blood glucose (it’s a diabetes drug) and the change to her feet has been instant. Physio has know her for years and has never seen her whizz during the trot up!

Essentially when I spoke to the vet about medicating, it was either that or front shoes. We have hoof boots but I “feel” she doesn’t like wearing them.

Mine has never had laminitis but has had EMS for at least 6 years. Medication is just helping push her over the line, alongside other management techniques.
 
Love barefoot, over many years of improving my knowledge and lived experience we have kept 90% of our horses barefooot.

However, I really regret continuing the barefoot route with one of my horses. In hindsight, genetically she wasn’t well set up for it and looking back over the large volume of x-rays using AI to surface the development of changes, I believe I actively contributed to her pedal osteitis by insisting on the barefoot route for too long.

Luckily we had a good vet and farrier who helped us with composite shoes and you can see from that point on with the x-rays the changes slowed right down.

Caveat - this is my own data, market segment of one, data using AI as a test for an equine vet who is also a tech geek specialising in lameness. So not to be relied upon by others.
 
Thanks everyone. I don't feel as bad now, it's nice to hear from others that sometimes it just doesn't work. I'll look in to getting fresher x-rays to see if there's any changes and then I'll probably look at getting fronts put back on him. He's just not himself. I love the flexi boots as well. Maybe I can use them on the hinds or keep them for youngster.
 
I was discussing this with my very pro-barefoot farrier, yesterday. We were talking about digital cushions and how sometimes there is so much damage it's hard or impossible to rectify within the horse's working lifetime. He mentioned MoreAid glue on pads and there are also SoftRider glue ons from the US which might be good options for you, if hoof boots aren't and you don't want to nail on steel?
 
I took shoes off my TB 7 months ago after we decided to retire him. He had typical ex racer feet and I wanted to give his heels a chance to come up. We did everything by the book, he wore boots the majority of the time to start with and once he came sound (which took a while, and it was heartbreaking to watch) we started doing 50/50. Then built up walks on the road etc.

Unfortunately he started to go very lame in a spate of wet weather and even with the boots on he wasn't sound so we decided to put fronts back on. His soles are and always have been horribly soft, to the point you can see them move under your thumb.

When you think about the damage they do to other parts of their body when they're very sore and tight, it's not really worth it.
 
Yes sometimes barefoot is not the best option to maximise the horses soundness .
In fact I would go as far to say too much persisting with a horse that’s not thriving barefoot can lead to secondary issues just the same way poor shoeing can .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top