Eventing with no shoes (horse that is!) Discuss...

wizoz

wizoz

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I have a friend or rather an aquaintence who bought a horse a couple of months ago, this horse was shod but she has decided, to save costs, to have it's shoes taken off. She also intends on competing it without shoes on.

We went xc schooling together recently and she had to be so careful how she turned after a fence, she nearly went belly up several times
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Plus, the poor horse is feeling it a bit, ok it does have a bit of Connemara in it but it does still get a bit sore.
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My mum said she noticed at Stockland Lovell that someone was competing a horse with no shoes on, I know it can be done but I for one wouldn't go on a xc course without studs in
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Does anyone else think that this is a complete hairbrained idea or do you think that the "natural" way is best?
 
Probably would be ok if the ground was absolutely "perfect" but that is quite rare! I wouldnt want to and couldnt! I have a sensitive TB he cant put his foot to the floor when he looses a shoe!
 
Going barefoot to save money is a BAD plan. I'm pro barefoot, but it has to be done for the right reasons, and with the right attention paid to the feet, and money alone isn't enough of a reason.

Some horses will do fine eventing barefoot, some will not. It isn't automatically a bad idea, however if her horse is struggling, then it probably is a bad idea for her.

I've had horses/ponies of mine go XC (and SJ on grass) without shoes, and they've done brilliantly - both in hot hard ground conditions, and in wet slippey conditions - probably gone better than shod horses actually. But that doesn't automatically mean that all horse will do so. Every case has to be judged on individual merit.
 
I had a fantastic little rc mare with incredible feet which I never shod. I would SJ & xc her regularly & also hack her out on roads and we are in Cotswold stone country here so even bridle paths are fairly rocky. Her feet stood up to the wear & tear fine, the only down side was if we were on certain types of grass, she did seem to slip more than my other horses with studs in would. I think it depends very much on the quality of the horses foot, how well balanced it is and the type of competition work you are planning on doing. Jumping up to 3 foot ish barefoot is fine but I'm not sure I would want to be riding into a big, tricky fence on grass barefoot!
 
I keep Boo barefoot currently as I am rehabbing her feet (very contracted heels, tendency to have long toes etc) as I felt I was just asking for navicular or other nasties if we carried on with shoes.
Prior to her latest (successful
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)attempt at Malingering she was being aimed at unaff ODE's with the hope of doing a couple of BE events at the end of the season.
If the going was good-soft then I would have happily competed her barefoot, as she has plenty of traction with her bare hoof. If the ground was hard then I wouldn't run her anyway... and for any other conditions I would probably have her shoes put back on for those events.
But - I've never been one for studding up anyway
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I took my horses shoes off in September last year as we were having problems with his feet and his form just decreased. Changed his diet as that would be the main influence on his feet hardening up and his feet improved so much over the winter with being barefoot, he was qutie sensitive at first but gradually got better and better.
We knew that he wouldnt cope going eventing barefoot, mainly because of man made take offs/landings on the XC so we just put front shoes on.
To sum it up we have been placed 3 out of 4 events, and I retired on the other one because the ground was so bad. He moves so much better without shoes resulting in our dressage scores improving by a large margin. All with no studs, has only slipped once and that was in a dressage arena. Studs have caused us too many problems in the past.
Oh and btw, he is a full TB, flat footed and a complete wuss so it proves it can be done
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Unfortunately, just as we were about to move back up to Novice hes had a really bad abscess from standing on a nail we think so wouldnt have been prevented with having shoes on.
It'll suit some horses better than others but for mine its been great, just had a bit of bad luck now!
 
well, i wouldn't unless the ground was absolutely perfect (and how often does that happen?)
the risk of slipping round a corner, or into a fence, is too high. i tried eventing without studs for a few events once (on a very sure-footed horse) on someone's advice, and even that was a bit hairy. i could even tell the difference in the security underfoot in the dressage.
as for going xc barefoot/studless - well, i value my neck too much, personally. i think she's mad economising like this. the horse could well lose its confidence, too.
i have barefoot horses, but just for hacking around. if they get promoted to competing, they get shod!
 
Not a great idea imho, although my chiropractor did v well out of it!
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I ending up wearing the first fence at M Morrell last year and the horse's confidence suffered as a result. Long story that I won't bore you with and no, it's not one of my horses.
 
The natural state for horse is not to wear shoes. However in the natural state they also do not wear tack, carry riders, turn sharply from an angled fence to an arrowhead or perform medium trot in a 20x40 arena. Shoes and studs for me!
 
I see many dressage horses without shoes but I suppose they never go out on the road and compete at places with surfaces but eventing is another game altogether and I wouldn't want to try without shoes
 
It depends on whether the horse is used to it or not. I worked in New Zealand a couple of years ago and no one seemed to bother about shoeing there. I groomed for one girl who was jumping grand prix and none of her horses were shod. Also worked for Sally Clarke who won silver at the 1996 olympics and she didn't bother with shoes either - although she may have done for the Olympics, sadly I didn't ask her!
 
I PC evented up to PC Open and never used studs or hind shoes (on francis whittingtons advise as he had owned horse before me) - BE I do... Perhaps because the horses I BE now are less pony-like than the horse I had at PC if that make sense?
Ive p2p horses with no hind shoes and several of my Mums that she trained she never ran in hind shoes esp if they were clumsy! Alan King does it for a fair few of his.
But NH racing is very different to Eventing.. In New Zealand when I was out there not all our polo ponies wore shoes - not all of them needed them, though I have to say just for comfort factor I would rather Event with shoes and studs (albeit even if their very small ones!)
 
A friend of mine has recently had huge problems with her horses feet. He evented to Novice before she got him, but since then has had a multitude of problems. he has been to a rehab clinic for three months, and they have managed to save him, and he will event to low levels, bare foot.
The clinic is very experienced and has no problems with him eventing bare foot, although they have yet to compete, so I dont know what the outcome would be.
Personally I wouldnt event without shoes/studs, but in her case, barefoot is giving her horse another chance
As train_robber says, some NH horses run barefoot, Ashleybrook does , top 2mile chaser, as his owner worries about overeach injuries, so doesnt allow them to wear back shoes. If 2mile chasers are ok without shoes, running at 30mph plus, then maybe our eventers would be, although racehorses i accpet dont have to do medium trot or trun sharply to skinnies
 
P&C - Off the subject - there was the worry of over reaching - but Mum even insisted her best hurdler (who is still in quiet work aged 24!) raced with tendon boots on his hind legs as he was struck into once! - A million dollar wound and he was very lucky no to have severed it!
 
Well, as above some horses do. Rider has to be aware though and ride the horse in balance.

My horse has been without shoes and I have schooled in the rain on grass and he didn't slip at all. They have to get used to it.
It isn't a good idea just to take the shoes off to save money! There is a lot more to it than that.

There are also several people who hunt barefoot horses and thinking about it, I used to hunt my pony without shoes, although perhaps ponies are different.

Having said that, and having my horse barefoot for quite a time, I don't think I would like to event barefoot, but I know it is done.
 
Both my horses are barefoot, one for 4 years and one for 3. The one I event is always very surefooted, it is me that frets that he wont be. However, I have withdrawn from a couple of events because I thought it *might* be slippy. Although I've never tested the slippy theory out!

I have hunted him barefoot too and he coped with it fine, come to think of it, he very rarely slips at all.

Barefoot is not necessarily a cheap option, I recently paid 90 pound to have both my horses trimmed by a natural balance trained farrier. Also you have to be sure that whomever you use has a good understanding of what kind of trim they are doing. IMHO a barefoot competitive trim is very different from a trim preparing for a shoe etc.

Perhaps your friend is taking things a bit too quickly given the shoes have only been off a couple of months.
 
I agree that it very much depends on the ground. I kept one of mine barefoot (2 of mine currently are however they are retired) for his first year of ridden work. He competed at RC level SJ and ODE's etc. but I found he began to loose confidence jumping on grass purely because he would slip on wet grass etc. Basically the ground conditions are rarely good enough IMO and its fine hunting or whatever you do because that doesnt involve tight turns which eventing and SJ do. Im sure you can do a certain level barefoot, but I had mine shod in the end even though I love the idea. Both my competition horses are therefore shod and studded.
 
Seems a little hypocritical - saving money on shoes and spending it on unnecessary competition? Surely the welfare of the horse should come before competitive aspirations, and if it isn't going well barefoot then it certainly needs shoeing.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen people compete barefoot and it can be a good choice for some horses, but if it's clearly not working then it's a bit reckless.
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I know of a horse who goes BE with no shoes on and he hasn't had a problem.

Saying that, he has never been shod so his feet never had to adjust to being without shoes.
 
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