Eventing a barefoot horse? Feeding? Incl. a sneaky pic!

Molly'sMama said:
I'm not an eventer :) but if you feel like it's not working, you could try shoeing the front feet only? That's what my dressage horse has but don't want to be shot down if it'd be a terrible idea XC :)
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Molly's Mama I'd be interested in what the views are with regards to shoeing in front for eventing. I'm taking on a horse who is only shod in front to event for the rest of the season. I tried him on a grass field & he was absolutely fine so I intended to keep him like this for as long as he was happy & managing.
 
It's my experience you have to work BF horses out of the school and off the roads most of the time .
I have a super schooling field so they are lunged jumped and ridden on the flat on grass all summer except when we have had too much rain.
 
I don' t see why they need to be kept off roads, just the opposite in my opinion, walking on roads is traditional way of hardening ligaments, and building muscles, it also rasps the hooves so they self trim.
The main thing in my opinion is to increase and decrease exercise steadily, this is standard fittening regime.
 
MrsD123 said:
I don' t see why they need to be kept off roads, just the opposite in my opinion, walking on roads is traditional way of hardening ligaments, and building muscles, it also rasps the hooves so they self trim.
The main thing in my opinion is to increase and decrease exercise steadily, this is standard fittening regime.
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Did I say I did not do road work ? What I said was if you are going to expect a horse to complete jumping or dressage on grass you going to have to the majority of the horses work on grass so that balancing is second nature to them .
Spending most of time in the school or on the road won't do it they have to work on grass most days .
I lunge mine BF on the grass on a slope , cantering in a circle on a slope with no shoes on is an eye opener for horses and trainers .
 
My back lady who is pro bf reckons if worked enough on grass they can develop almost hooks at the back of the hoof to help with grip. I have evented up to be100 in the past with shoes and studs, but I pretty much always wore the same short pointy ones and only had one in each hind hoof. I've ridden some filthy ground over meaty courses and he went brilliantly, so I'm hopeful he will manage fine with other stuff. He also manage to stick a hole in his coronet band with the stud in the opposite hoof while standing still, so bf is probably safer for us all around! :D

I'm super happy today as my boy was sound on the road with no boots and much less footy on our gravel track. He's only sound in trot uphill, but getting better on the flat. I would love to compete this summer, some low level SJ or a WH would be perfect. I hope he spends enough time messing around on our large hilly field to develop some self awareness!
 
She is only four! she looks like a natural, keen forward going and lovely shape over a fence, aren't you lucky! competing wise try it and see, that's what I have done with the bf thing, had to shoe in the end as he is sore (cushings!) but he is 17, good luck
 
My mare isn't shod at the moment. Several reasons, mainly to do with hoof quality (always pulling shoes off and ended up with literally no hoof to nail to), random mystery lameness that needed up with egg bars and wedges, which made the problem above worse, and when she was she was shod she needed sedating to do her hinds and i could rarely get the hind studs in at events.
I do low level eventing (BE90, rider old, overweight and unfit) and SJ
in general no issues, she has won 6/9 sj comps on a surface this year and has not had a xc jumping fault since her shoes came off a few years ago.
However i am fussier about going, i withdrew from askham bryam last autumn as it was hard underneath with a slippery coating of long wet grass on top and i wouldn't risk it. Local ht i didn't run as approach to water was hard and stoney, that sort of thing.
Dressage oddly can be the worst for this, though i am crap at dressage so it could be me, and she seems much better this year when i have made a concerted effort to work on her balance in canter over the winter.
in general though, no issues xc with no shoes, we don't slip anymore often than an unshod horse does. Studs at low level are a fairly recent thing, i evented up to OI 20 odd years ago, and at that point most BE novice competitors would not have studs in.
 
I am in a similar situation to you OP. I have a just turned 5 year old who i will try and get to an ODE this season, but she has never been shod. I don't plan on shoeing her unless i have to. My other two ridden horses are both shod, so i am firmly on the fence in the shoes V BF debate, but my young one has great feet, has showed no signs of lameness and hacks on all surfaces (we have everything from grass to roads, sand tracks to stony tracks here) quite happily. I feed her exactly the same as my other horses and it seems to work so far! If i start taking her xc schooling/competing and she starts to struggle, i will rethink, but she hasn't shown any signs yet!
 
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