Farriers coming today- debating back shoe removal. wwyd

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poiuytrewq

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Money's not an issue as my farrier does me a good deal so if they are best on then on they can stay!

Horse has been semi retired, he was only hacking anyway. Now he's a "light hack" at best.
He has been lame on and off (its arthritis type wear and tear) all summer and when he's sore I don't ride obviously he just chills in the field where he is perfectly comfy.
He also slips behind sometimes on the lane by our yard- He's ok on roads usually but does seem to struggle a little with this lane, I have a paddock just down it so even not in work he's often up and down the lane.
The last 2 weeks he's been sound and enjoys a little plod round the village or whatever so maybe this bout of lameness is starting to settle- In which case I may be able to slightly increase his work and will want him shod!

Pro's- I think he will be doing lots on the roads being winter, he dislikes soft ground so shoes will protect his feet.


Cons- The slipping and concussion might not be helping the arthritis?- I could get road studs but have tried before and didn't notice a lot of difference.

He has quite good feet in general but when I first had him I noticed purple bruising all round which was why I shod him- this may be totally wrong or irrelevant but I told myself he was getting bruised feet on the roads!

What do you think?-
 
Personally I would take them off, at worse it gives his feet some time off shoes, and many are better without shoes- my TB is better off with no shoes and I wouldn't have considered taking them off it was only as she was preggers and had to have backs off for foaling that I ended up taking them all off and not looked back!
 
I am in a similar boat to you in that my horse will hardly be ridden at all for the next 6 months so I would love to take off his hinds. I tried last winter, when I had only just bought him, and he was crippled lame. I am now thinking that he has grown a much better hoof in the last 12 months and the ground is soft, it was rock hard last January. So I am tempted to try - mainly to save money, I admit!
So that is no help but what I thought I would do was ask to have fronts only and just see how he goes, would your farrier come out in a week or sos time if he wasn't coping well? The trouble with that last year was all mine's hoof had crumbled away and there wasn't a lot to nail a shoe onto.
 
Mine had his off today - farrier nagged me into trying it! In the past he's been uncomfortable and his feet have worn down very quickly, but we're going to give it another go while we have soft ground and hacking is limited with the dark nights.
 
I'm in much the same situation. My older mare is now just hacking, once a week at the absolute most. The farrier is keen to take her backs off and is confident she'll cope. I'm worried because when we tried it many years ago, she ended up with abscesses and would barely come out of the stable.
I could do with saving some cash, so I think I need to trust my brilliant farrier and take the leap.
 
My horses shoes are removed every winter to let her feet rest, that's fronts as well. Still hack out around the lanes and only re shoe in spring so I can crack on with her work and not have to worry about her feet. All horses benifit from having time out of shoes and if your horse is crippled there is some real issues going on.
 
Sorry OP for hijack...my horse is a big 17.2 MW and when I got him he had feet like slippers, totally flat and no heel. Farrier said it wouldn't work but as he was going out with my precious youngster I said he would have to deal for a couple of weeks - it was not a success! He is now much less flat and has a heel which should help. My hunters always had their shoes off all summer and were sound as a pound so I was amazed how badly this boy did. Time to try again I think.
 
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