Opinions on Barefoot

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tashpritty

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hi, in a small discussion at the yard the issues of barefoot came up,(not shoeless, i mean barefoot)

jw what people had to say, any experience of it, good, bad?

anybody thoughts welcome
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I take it you mean horses and not humans??
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All three of my horses are now barefoot. Both the older boys had typical TB feet and how they are strong and healthy. I hack 4-5 times a week on the roads, school and compete riding club dressage and have no problems.

You do need good advise and support as it isn't an over night achievement and not everyone is supportive!
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My three are all barefoot. None of them had any issues coming out of shoes, although they all have boots for riding on hard/stony ground which we have to do a lot. Two of them have excellent feet, I'm working on the third to improve his (he is just a bit more sensitive and wears his boots more often) - changing parts of the field environment so they are walking on harder surfaces and supplementing his feed. I read 'Feet First' recently and it's very interesting. I've got to the point now that nailing something onto my pet would seem a really odd thing to do!
 
mine are barefoot
one KWPN WB
one ISH
one TBx WB.

i put shoes on if needed.
the 6 year old has very flat feet and when we competed on grass, she was slipping on turns. so i put shoes on with studs and she was fine. now we arent competing on grass over winter ive taken them off again.
 
Its not the easy option and can be hard work to manage correctly but In my opinion its worth the effort, I've had 2 which were crippled in shoes but came sound barefoot and currently have 2 barefoot TB's, one is high maintenance, the other isn't. As said above you do need good back up and support as the non-believers will make you question yourself.
 
both of mine are barefoot because it's best for them. the old one just goes on the odd hack and has a pair of boots for his front feet as he's got flat feet and doesn't like stony ground. his feet are so much stronger since going barefoot, no chips or cracks now. the young one hates the farrier and would need sedating to shoe, but he doesn't need them - he has feet as hard as nails - he does roadwork a plenty and competes and hunts barefoot.

i dont pay some barefoot trimmer 2-3 times as much as i need to though - my farrier trims them and i neaten them in between his visits.
 
Please define 'shoeless' and 'barefoot',
Only one of mine is shod, the other 7 are unshod. Apart from the foal, they all drive on the roads and rough tracks, with no problems. If they needed shoes, they would have them, on farriers advice .
 
I have 2 barefoot and one shod, the shod welsh cob has flat feet and cannot cope with roadwork without shoes, the cob had hers taken off in september and her feet are fantastic she can hack out over flinty tracks with no problems, but her feet are rock hard, as are the welsh C pony's feet - she has never been shod and is unlikely to ever need to be!! Over the years I have had many horse's and ponies and have alway's gone by what is right for the individual.
 
my 4yo tb in my sig is barefoot-hacks, competes etc fine. am intending to some some (tiny!) sj comps over winter, and he will do that bf too.
i think if you are eventing or sj a lot on grass you will need studs and hence shoes but for dressage horses especially, its not such a neccesity(as long as the horse is comfortable minus shoes of course!)
 
Barefoot tends to be used to describe horses that work without shoes and are trimmed and managed accordingly rather than something that has simply had its shoes removed for maybe field rest or because it is retires.

papafrita - if she'd had a lay off after being in foal the internal structures of her foot would have weakened so you would have had to work her to condition her feet until they became strong again.

Prince33Sp4kle - I know of a few people out eventing barefoot who have no problem with traction and no need for shoes and studs.
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We ended up barefoot by default last january, basically he'd always had a tendency to pull his fronts and on this particular day managed to take off both fronts and most of his hoof and was in a right mess. I decided to let his hooves recover and so far haven't gone back to shoes. His hooves look great. They have gone more upright, have got wider and his frogs look fantastic. We have surprised everyone with how well he has coped as he's a big lad (17h idx). He's a bit footy over stoney ground, but I think thats to be expected and I let him pick his way around. We've done a trec comp and a sponsored ride barefoot with no problems
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As for the barefoot/shoeless difference, I *think* this may be if you are 'barefoot' you must also therefore ride in a rope halter, treeless saddle, hug trees and not shave your armpits?!!! Shoeless peeps on the other hand are 'normal' in every other respect
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my Haflinger has never had shoes and has had few problems. I have some boa boots for if she ever does.

I think its much easier to be barefoot from the start than to transition, myIDxTB is 16 and always had shoes so we still have him shod. Its always suited his feet, they are v good, so Im not going to rock the boat at his age. When hw retires for good I might tho.

The Haffie just gets a £10 trim from the farrier when the big boy is shod.

We go up mountains, roadwork, rivers, tracks, all sorts!
 
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As for the barefoot/shoeless difference, I *think* this may be if you are 'barefoot' you must also therefore ride in a rope halter, treeless saddle, hug trees and not shave your armpits?!!! Shoeless peeps on the other hand are 'normal' in every other respect
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Define normal?????? IME when it comes to horse people there is no such thing!
Both my horses are barefoot, they both use the same treeless saddle so I don't have to buy 2 and one of them goes in a hackamore because its the only thing she settles in - I'm not sure I even want to know what 'label' you'd give to me!
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IME 'barefoot' are the people who take an active interest in their horses feet and work hard to keep them without shoes on. However it also covers the fanatics who won't put shoes on their horses even if it would be best for them
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'unshod' are those who have whipped the shoes off then generally complained that it doesn't work, or can't do anything with their horses because they're foot sore. We have a couple of them in the area
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To be honest it's just a word though.

My horses are barefoot. Like soloequestrian said, it seems alien to nail bits of metal to their feet. I only need to look at many of the horses at my new yard (hundreds of horses) to see why I don't want to put shoes on my horses!

One is a 16.3hh hunter. Not great feet - they're flat, squint and therefore flair and crack easily. It's just her conformation and nothing can change it. However she's 110% sound over everything and does hours of road work.

One is a 15.1 arabxwelshD. Lovely looking feet but finds stoney surfaces uncomfortable as he's spend 6years standing in a field doing nothing. Humming and harring about putting shoes on the fronts now he's doing much more work but he's so difficult with his feet I'll keep on with the boots a bit longer, esp as he's improving.

ones a 14.1 2yr old cob. Classically perfect feet. Comfortable on everything, feet grow like nothing on earth. Something will have to go very wrong for him to require shoes.

Ones a 15.2 HW cob. Ditto feet above. had one set of shoes on. Pulled them off on a fence a day later, never had a pair on since. Sound over everything, does miles of road work and still needs inches taken off every trim.

Barefoot can work for every horse whose got a normal work load. There are few horses who do enough road work to require shoes. But there are plenty of horses who's feet have been ruined by years of shoeing, or lack of conditioning, and would take too much time and effort for it to be worth all the hassel it'd involve for them to go barefoot. And there's plenty of owners who's horses are shod simply for convinience, ignorance or because 'that's what you do'.
 
One of mine is barefoot the other shod. I felt i had no choice but for my mare to go barefoot as her feet were rapidly getting worse shod. Farrier suggested time off and unshod to help foot recover.

I went "barefoot" a year ago through lack of other options and her feet are a lot stronger and structurally sounder. She'll never be 100% but as long as i can continue improving the quality of life for her and keeping her pain free i'm happy. We've struggled, it's been a long uphill trek but you have to stick by your decisions and trust your head. To be honest i think you need to keep an open mind but stick to your own principles. I've tried to keep it as plain and simple and as traditional for my own sanity. A few of the things suggested to me have been a bit too way out there or hippy and i've just merely declined them and said they're not my cup of tea.
 
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