How much roadwork to warrant back shoes?

Cheshire Chestnut

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Sorry for yet another thread by me today but...

... How much roadwork do you think personally to warrant putting back shoes on a horse that's never had them on and has so far coped fine? He has fronts already due to hacking him more from last spring but now upping his roadwork with all the bridlepaths being pretty unrideable until the at least March/April.
 

lurcherlu

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If he's not foot sore then no matter how much you're doing he can be barefoot . My barefoot all 4 and rides out 4 times a week at mo and same problem bridleways all blocked etc , she does up to 15 miles at a time no problem . Keep on top of thrush etc etc
 

FfionWinnie

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I haven't got front shoes or back shoes on any of mine and we do 25km hacks on really stoney ground and tarmac every day, it won't be the road work in itself, look at his diet and management if he is struggling?
 

MileAMinute

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If you trust your farrier, ask him :) I kept M barefoot but routinely asked the farrier how his feet were, particularly when we were hunting and doing a lot of roadwork. He told me to keep going as I was and just to watch out for any footiness, and he kept an eye on them for me too.
 

thatsmygirl

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If he's not sore don't waste your money, horses can cope with as much road work as u wish to do as long as its built up correctly, they grow the foot accordingly
 

pennyturner

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I have never managed to do enough road work to wear down hooves on healthy barefoot horses. Just like your feet, their hooves harden to the work they do. Shoes will add percussive strain to the foot. He's better off without them.
 

Lucky788

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I think it depends on the horse, where you ride and what you do.
My cob only has only fronts, in winter he is ridden twice a week for 1-2hours
In summer he is ridden 6 days a week, hacked out 5days for approx 2hours and schooled 1 day.
We are lucky we don't have stoney or flinty tracks at his previous yard the hacking was mainly stoney tracks and I had to have back shoes on.
 
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Kat

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Mine has never had hind shoes on, once the farrier said that we wouldn't be able to keep up the level of road work with out shoes but at the time we were hacking 6-7 days a week for between 90 mins and 3 hours a time. At the time I knew the level of work would reduce when I went back to work so I wasn't bothered. She now normally copes with hunting and hacking barefoot being worked 5 or 6 days a week with more hacking in summer.
 

flaxen

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Before his fall my pony was doing 10 miles of roads/ lines up to 5/6 days a week in under a couple of hrs. I had to have shoes put on him as he physically couldnt grow enough hoof to replace what he was wearing down and became very footsore. Once he had shoes on he was fine but come 6/7 weeks he had completely worn them out due to the mileage we did. He never had lameness issues due to the work we did.
 

AmieeT

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I have had Red for 3 years now, and he's only ever been shod on front. This last summer, we did 6-10 miles almost daily and all of it was roadwork (absolutely NO bridlepaths where I am)- Every time the farrier came he would say 'Oh, you might have to have backs next time' and then he would end up just shaping them, and there was no new growth, but he wasn't sore.

Why don't you see how he goes and then re-evalute when the farrier comes next/if you notice him struggling? :)

Ax
 

criso

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I never managed enough roadwork with my tb to keep up with the wear.

I actually found stoney bridlepaths wore them down more than smooth roads in that if I didn't do enough his feet got long. Makes sense that an abrasive surface will wear down more than a smooth one.

Probably averaged about 20 - 25 miles a week.
 

Boulty

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As long as you increase the work gradually there should be no reason for needing them if you're able to keep the work at a consistent level as, given time and a helping hand with the correct diet and management and whoever's trimming them not going mad in how much they take off (all important factors that must be met for the following statement to be true) then hooves can and will adapt rate of growth to rate of wear. If your mileage varies a lot (eg 2 miles one week, 30 miles the next) or there is a sudden increase in roadwork (again going from next to nothing straight to larger distances or from mostly walking to trotting all the way around with no gradual build up) then yes your horse may reach a point at which they struggle but I would be guided by your horse on that and not by mileage as an absolute number.
 
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