How Many of you Hunt Horses Barefoot?

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JenHunt

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I know lots of ponies that hunt barefoot, mostly native types that are out for a couple of hours at most, but how many hunt Horses barefoot, and do reasonably long days on a regular basis?

just thinking about taking Ron's shoes off next summer as I'm sick of missing days hunting through lost shoes! :)
 
In the past all my ponies hunted barefoot and would do full days, never home before hounds. Never had a problem.
I will even be hunting my big lad barefoot too this season :)
 
that's reassuring! Was wondering if I'd lost the trail totally!

Ron's a big lad, and typical of so many ID's his short back and active hind leg means that he can remove shoes in the blink of an eye. He never seems to notice when he loses a shoe, and even after nearly two weeks (this time) until my farrier could come and put it back on he was still fine - though to be fair, aside from his normal turnout, I try only to walk up the road for a mile at most just to stretch his legs, so hardly a good test!
 
You mean like this one :) :

http://www.klickonfotos.co.uk/photo_galleries/161010cf/pages/161010cf 401.htm

Now in his second season and the third horse that I have hunted barefoot. I also evented four others, affiliated.

Jenhunt you need to get the diet right - high sugar feeds like the modern mixes and daytime summer grass can be bad news. Most of us find supplementing with brewer's yeast and magnesium oxide produces very strong feet and it's also cheaper than commercial supplements. I have to add copper because my land is high in manganese. Some horses do it very easily, and some need more diet tweaking than others.

Roadwork is really great for conditioning the feet. You'll be able to do as much roadwork as you like once you have built him up to it. He'll also trim his own feet to the shape he really needs them if you do plenty of work on abrasive surfaces.

Watch your farrier work on him, he should not remove any of the sole callous on a sound barefoot horse. Many farriers do a fine trim, but many also remove sole callous, particularly at the toe, and make the hrose footie for a few days. Or you could find yourself a barefoot trimmer with a good reputation and lots of sound performance horses on their books.
 
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i hunted my little chestnut barefoot but he is a pure Welsh Cob, albeit a fine type who stands 15.2hh. He did 2 seasons with never a foot problem.
 
I went out with the Exmoor Foxhounds yesterday on my 17hh warmblood.lol. He just doesn't get on with shoes, they make him lame! and we did plenty of road work and some flinty lanes. Go for it.x
 
cptrayes said:
You mean like this one :) :

http://www.klickonfotos.co.uk/photo_galleries/161010cf/pages/161010cf 401.htm

Now in his second season and the third horse that I have hunted barefoot. I also evented four others, affiliated.

Jenhunt you need to get the diet right - high sugar feeds like the modern mixes and daytime summer grass can be bad news. Most of us find supplementing with brewer's yeast and magnesium oxide produces very strong feet and it's also cheaper than commercial supplements. I have to add copper because my land is high in manganese. Some horses do it very easily, and some need more diet tweaking than others.

Roadwork is really great for conditioning the feet. You'll be able to do as much roadwork as you like once you have built him up to it. He'll also trim his own feet to the shape he really needs them if you do plenty of work on abrasive surfaces.

Watch your farrier work on him, he should not remove any of the sole callous on a sound barefoot horse. Many farriers do a fine trim, but many also remove sole callous, particularly at the toe, and make the hrose footie for a few days. Or you could find yourself a barefoot trimmer with a good reputation and lots of sound performance horses on their books.
Click to expand...

what a brilliant picture!

That's all really good to know! My farrier doesn't remove anything from his heels or sole now (except to tidy up rough edges) which I guess might be why Ron doesn't really notice if he loses one?

The diet shouldn't be a problem as he's only on fibre (but masses and masses of it!) as he's quite starch sensitive anyway - only gets a feed balancer in terms of "hard feed".

I was thinking that I'd get through this season, then take the shoes off and give him the summer to adjust to it... my only worry is that at 17 it might take him some time!
 
Jenhunt he sounds like my friend's 25 year old and that he will sail through it. Please watch for the grass if you do it in spring, it can cause symptoms indistinguishable from "not being able to cope", when all you need to do is bring them in during the day. His current diet sounds excellent. If you want to save some money swap your balancer for brewer's yeast 50g a day. I would add magnesium in spring (25g a day, many of us use it all the time) because the spring and autumn flush is low in magnesium and it jangles the nerves.

May be they are jealous of the fact that we aren't spending £800 a year on shoes :) ? Though I must confess that two of the biggest plusses are never losing a shoe and never having to wait around for a late farrier.

Glad you liked the photo - he can climb too - :)

http://www.facebook.com/gettingstarted.php?step=friend_requests#!/profile.php?id=100001713930805
 
I had an ex-navic mare out barefoot last season, she did just fine. There are a couple of ponies (ridden by adults) out barefoot and I know that the owner of one of them is constantly badgered by a farrier to shoe him.
 
Lovely to see a pic of Ron Jen, he's just so ace :)

I took shoes off my lad years ago, on farrier's advice(!) cos his feet are so good. If it helps, I wasn't hunting then obv but I was hacking for miles over lots of roads and stony ground, he never flinched. I only put them back on because he lost confidence going up or downhill on muddy hills (v hilly by us). I reckon try it! Ron will love it if he can manage it, no lost hunting time :) xx
 
I haven't hunted my cob this season as she has had to return to the day job of riding school horse, but last winter she hunted 2 days every week and was never shod, rock hard feet! Most people would catch my attention to let me know I had lost a shoe, then look in absolute suprise that there were no shoes on any feet!!! She never once threatened to slip or lose footing :-)
 
definitely sounds from all this that's its possible. Just need to convince my farrier that its a good idea - He is a good remedial farrier (initially for my sisters horse and his sidebone and club foot) who's made a fab job of rons feet since i got him, though it took a good 18 months to get there - he just doesn't quite see that it might suit some horses better to be barefoot. but i guess its my decision in the end!
 
Not hunting but we did various common rides barefoot this summer - lots and lots of road work at speed!

curriecommonrideaug2010022edit.jpg


curriecommonrideaug2010121edit.jpg


He is affected by the grass and can't deal well with very stoney ground if he's had too much - so I restrict his diet as much as possible and use hoof boots as needed. Over the winter he rock crunches no probs (on adlib haylege)
 
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