Has anyone taken hind shoes off first ...

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... as a halfway measure to going barefoot? I'm thinking about taking my boy barefoot but wondered if it might be easier to take the backs off first for a few months and then once they are hard and transitioned take the fronts off? Has anyone done this and if so, were your horses fine with the backs off or footy? I don't hear many people having boots for back feet so presume horses cope ok?
 
I did with El and she coped absolutely fabulously
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She had arthritis in he hocks and it was getting ore and more difficult to knock nails into her feet without her getting really upset so I decided to try her barefoot. I was told she would probably go lame for a few weeks but she was never once lame on her back feet, only the fronts very occasionally.

I did try to take the fronts off too but our ground is very stony and she never managed so she stayed in fronts.

It was the best desicion I ever made for her taking the backs off.
 
My old boy has had his hind shoes off for about 8 years and neve had a problem he hunted happily with only fronts - even on roads and stony tracks. I tried to take his fronts off at the same time and he was never comfortable without. I have tried several times to remove the fronts but he just could not cope with any riddn work. He is now retired and I will probably over winter him out this year so will try once again to remove shoes and see how he gets on.
 
My horse happily copes with her back shoes off, but we only hack out a couple of times a week, the rest of the time she is worked on a surface. For me it is just a money saving excercise as it literally comes in half price to a full set of shoes which is a big saving. Others on my yard so the same & they all cope fine. My farrier even approves !
 
I've taken the shoes off 2 horses. The first one was in her early 20s & had always been shod, I took the back shoes off first & left them off for about 12 weeks, she was fine & didn't seem to notice. I then took the fronts off, that was a bit of an odjustment but was fine after a few weeks.
The next horse was 16 & had also always been shod, I took all 4 shoes pff straight away & she's also been fine.
 
I took FB's hinds off first, mainly because one fell off so we removed both. He never had a problem. We then took off his fronts, trimmed all his hooves over a period of time and rasped them up with a 'mustang roll' (
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I hate that term ). He now rides out over anything: stony tracks, tarmac, gravel, rocks etc. He has quite concave feet all round.
 
We have been completely barefoot as above with a mustang roll for over 2 years now and I have never looked back. She had back shoes on when she first came to me in 2001 but my farrier advised to take the back ones off as she didn't need them so we spent 6 years competing and hunting with just the 2 no probs but hen she stopped jumping due to heel pain and was being re shod ever 3 weeks to combat this....thats when we took the plunge to go au natural ! .Its a step in the right direction taking off the hind shoes and once you see the ridges and improved horn growth coming through as the blood supply returns to the foot you'll get the confidence that you are doing the right thing. It is normal for horses to pick their way slowly over stones so try not to worry if you notice this at first.
 
I have my mare barefoot behind now, she would be barefoot alround but her feet are a weird shape so is shod to keep feet right. She hacks out a lot and copes absolutely fine, I hope not to have any shoes on my youngsters when they are broken but will see how they go. good luck
 
I took my boy's hinds off december last year to see how he'd cope with a view to removing fronts a few months down the line, as he has always had a tendency to pull his fronts and was slowly ruining his feet.

To be honest I didn't notice a difference with the hinds off, even on stoney ground. Unfortunately 6 weeks down the line he pulled off BOTH fronts in the field (taking most of his hoof with them) and stood on the toe clip with his BF hind and rendered himself lame on 3 legs for about a month (he's very accident prone!)

Because no hoof was left on the fronts I decided to leave shoes off so we ended up going BF in the worst possible circumstances. He's done surprisingly well tho. His hooves have got much wider and a bit more upright since they've been allowed to grow naturally. He's still footy with the fronts over stoney ground but has completed a trec comp and sponsored rides without boots and been fine.
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Hi retired my boy last summer, the plan was to take of his backs give him a couple of months then remove the fronts, the backs are fine but he cant walk with the fronts off so after 10 weeks we put fronts back on.
 
QR Horses vary greatly in their ability to cope without shoes. We took our old boy's shoes off when we retired him - he had been shod continually for about 30 years. After a few days of being ouchy on the stones to and from the yard, he quickly adjusted.

My daughter's wee pony, however, really struggles without shoes. He had the shoes off for about 6 months when he was hardly working, but never adjusted. We then shod fronts only, but he is still ouchy. It is annoying (and expensive) to shoe him, as he does so little work - just slow hacking round the lanes 1-3 times a week. I have bought boots for his front feet, as I think it will be more economical than shoes, but I may have to boot his back feet as well. Despite being a wee native sort, he could never be 'barefoot'.

I once took my girl's shoes off for 3 months on farriers advice, to let the nail holes grow out. She was OK from the start - could easily manage light hacking without shoes, unlike my daughter's pony.

So just make sure you keep and open mind and listen to your horse.
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My daughter's wee pony, however, really struggles without shoes. He had the shoes off for about 6 months when he was hardly working, but never adjusted. We then shod fronts only, but he is still ouchy. It is annoying (and expensive) to shoe him, as he does so little work - just slow hacking round the lanes 1-3 times a week. I have bought boots for his front feet, as I think it will be more economical than shoes, but I may have to boot his back feet as well. Despite being a wee native sort, he could never be 'barefoot'.

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Out of interest, what's his diet and grazing like? The only ponies I know who can't cope with that level of work without shoes on are those with undetected LGL. My friends pony was exactly the same, until his management was changed - now he bounces over everything.

Rafael - try it and see. Most horses can manage fine without back shoes on because most of their wieght is carried on thier fronts. However there is the odd horse who's unsualy movement (twisting mostly) causes them to wear their feet too much.
 
He is not a porker, if that is what you are implying - he is on reasonably poor grazing and fed alpha oil and sugar beet with a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement and ad lib hay. His weight is spot on, but he is, if anything, a poor doer. Not all ponies are the same and you need to do what is best for their needs. In this ponies case, he requires shoes or boots all round to be comfortable on stony tracks - so that is what he gets
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Thanks for all your replies, I think its one of those things I'll just have to try it and see as horses are all different. Just thought if my ned was happy without back shoes, (whether or not I then go on to be completely barefoot), 2 shoes have got to be better than 4 and cheaper too but I will be guided by my horse on this
 
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