Please tell me why the obsession with barefoot?

Perhaps the current raft of threads about barefoot/unshod can be explained easily.

It's been an appallingly wet year, we none of us can deny that... wet conditions wreck horses feet as I'm sure most of us can relate to... lots of wrecked feet/lost shoes/lame horses causes lots of concerned owners looking for a way to help their horses... if the horses feet won't hold shoes, there's not much option other than taking them off... hence lots of 'new to this' barefoot questions from caring horse owners trying to do the right thing for their horses.... just a thought based on my own experience... ;)
 
Charley657 said:
But I do personally think its a fashion thing at the moment, that and shoes are expensive and people want to save money.
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Damn my motives for barefoot have been rumbled:o

Although I don't see what's wrong with having fashionable hooves,not everyone can pull off the naked look you know,it does take a certain amount of style;)

You're way off with the saving money though,I wish!!

Decent trimmers are not cheap,neither are supplements,or the feed to hide them in and then there's the hoof boots,I could go on lol
 
Over here in north America it is uncommon to see shod horses. If anyone in my area turned up to view a horse that was shod they would ask what is wrong with it! And they would be absolutely serious! None of my horses are shod. Some of mine compete and the rest are either pleasure riding horses and/or broodmares (all are sound I hasten to add). Most people in my area have no use for shoes on their horses so no obsession here ... it's just normal :)
 
Spring Feather said:
Over here in north America it is uncommon to see shod horses. If anyone in my area turned up to view a horse that was shod they would ask what is wrong with it! And they would be absolutely serious! None of my horses are shod. Some of mine compete and the rest are either pleasure riding horses and/or broodmares (all are sound I hasten to add). Most people in my area have no use for shoes on their horses so no obsession here ... it's just normal :)
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This is what always surprises me when people make threads like this.They seem to think it's so unusual,when in actual fact in more countries than not being barefoot is perfectly normal.

I don't care what anyone does with their horses feet but I do find it an uneducated and blinkered view to assume that barefoot is some sort of unusual practice and those of us who do it have some sort of obsessive fashion fad thing going on:rolleyes:
 
In not sure what you mean either people who have barefoot horses are obsessed with it or the amount if people who do it.

For what it's worth I don't know a single person at my yard who has a unshod horse, and at my last yard which had 70 horses again not horse , well competition type horse had bare feet. So round my way there is no obsession so to speak
 
I've never had a barefoot horse. My cobs were/are both unshod, old dear is unshod and tb has no shoes behind but i've never had barefoot with all the trimmers and diet that goes with it.
 
Sorry, but I think Jasper IS a troll. 1 post since he/she started it and absolutely no interactions with anybody. Very typical troll behaviour... someone who is not a lurker, but a regular user who is bored with current discussions on bits, hunting and french trainers.

Don't rise to it.

What you do with your horse is no one's business. If you need help shod or unshod there are people (trimmers and farriers) around to help and give advice. Don't fall out over it people. We've (I have) all fallen for this too many times.
 
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Thanks for your replies :)

I'm sorry I used the word obsession, I should have re-phrased it better, apologies. I also wasn't trying to start a fight, honestly, my apologies again. Lastly I'm not a troll, my apologies if I came across as one.

Thank you.
 
Spring Feather said:
Over here in north America it is uncommon to see shod horses. If anyone in my area turned up to view a horse that was shod they would ask what is wrong with it! And they would be absolutely serious! None of my horses are shod. Some of mine compete and the rest are either pleasure riding horses and/or broodmares (all are sound I hasten to add). Most people in my area have no use for shoes on their horses so no obsession here ... it's just normal :)
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Cracking post this, I'm sure it will be the same here eventually.

Whats wrong with it? I love that!
 
Jasper99 said:
Thanks for your replies :)

I'm sorry I used the word obsession, I should have re-phrased it better, apologies. I also wasn't trying to start a fight, honestly, my apologies again. Lastly I'm not a troll, my apologies if I came across as one.

Thank you.
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Hello Jasper99, welcome, some people are pretty obsessive about Trolls :D, see them everywhere.
 
I'd had trouble with my pony having week feet all his life and and only really went barefoot as a last resort as I didn't expect his to be able to do much work without shoes as he was always lame if he lost one. However, having put some work in over the past 18 months his feet have recovered from the damage the shoes had caused them and he can go for miles on the roads with no problems and I wish I could have done it years ago. I think a big reason more people are going barefoot now is the vast improvement in hoof boots. I'd tried some several years ago and they were useless and fell off all the time, but these days they are great although he only needs them occasionally.
 
Interesting :)

We tend to see things that we think are relevant to us :D

I watch HHO forum, and I see a lot of posts on "what bit should I use". I also see a lot of posts on "What rug should I use?" and "What should I feed my horse?". And I see a lot of posts on "How/when should I take my horse barefoot and what will happen?".

So I would say people are curious, and interested in finding out others' opinions on things like rugs, bits, feeds and barefoot.

Are they obsessed with rugs, bits, feed and barefoot? Maybe - some are, some aren't ;) In each thread you get posters saying "I am sick of people asking what rugs to put on their horse", "I am so bored with threads about what to feed", "People are obsessed with barefoot"... and yet, give it a few days and there will be another thread.

So it's something people are interested in. When they're interested in something, they want to find out more, and to do that, they ask questions. No problem there at all, IMO (I have learned a lot about rugs, bits, feed and barefoot through reading HHO threads :p).
 
Jasper99 said:
Hi everyone, I'm new *waves*

Now before you start, I'm not a troll, I have been lurking for a long time and I wanted to join purely to ask the question :

Why is there such an obsession with going barefoot?

Please don't kill me :o
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I am pretty obsessive about barefoot, the reason being is I used to have to keep all my horses (30) of them shod. It was a bloody nightmare, every six weeks the shoes would be worn out, and often we'd be shoeing through the same nail holes. Loseing shoes miles from home, horses going lame for no real reason and the hundreds of pounds wasted on something I found that I didn't need to be doing anyway. Horses self maintaining, or needing very little rasping, overall massive improvement in health generally and certainly stronger healthier feet and legs.
I don't have that many horses any more, but I still feel that the farriers that took the thousands of pounds off me over the years had it under false pretences. Not true, I know, it was my own fault for not getting into barefoot sooner. So yes I'm fairly obsessive about it. :)
 
I think its just that people these days are more informed about the harm shoeing can cause. Nailing a bit of metal onto a living creature has always struck me as odd, and, when you think about it, can't really be good for said creature.
IMO shoes are damaging and should only be used if very necessary, and with long breaks during the year to allow the hooves to recover.
In the past I have had my horse shod for a few months at a time when we were doing a lot of roadwork, and I was always shocked at how badly his feet deteriorated in just a few months.
I now keep him barefoot all the time and use boots if necessary. :)
 
I got into barefoot sort of accidently. My boy wasn't being ridden due to an injury to me and it seemed sensible to take his shoes off. My farrier was all for it and said it would improve his hooves to have a break from shoes.

Then I started seeing posts on here about barefoot so started feeding for his feet. I led him out on the road at first gradually doing more and more and never put shoes back on. My farrier is pleased with the way my boy's feet have improved.
 
I don't think it's generally an obsession

I suppose you could call those who are barefoot geeks obsessed in that they really learn about nutrition and the inner and outer condition of the hoof, how it's trimmed and balanced etc

But then when you see the sheer number of people on here that turn to them for help you realise that the 'obsessives' are bl**dy useful and helpful people!
 
No, no, no guido, we agreed I get the angle grinder & the chainsaw, you get an angle grinder & pneumatic drill. Stop trying to hog the grinder.
 
Trends come and go within the horse world.... at the moment you're hard-pressed to find a brand new bridle that doesn't have a flash strap on it :rolleyes:

However, I don't think "barefoot" is a trend, I think it is more to do with an evolving knowledge by us owners. The more we know, the more we can make a balanced decision on what is best for our horses. Years ago, one saddle fitted all, back checks never happened, you had a jute rug for indoors and a New Zealand rug for outdoors. And we all feared laminitis and strangles as they surely meant the end for your horse, which would be lucky to live to the age of 20! However, as our knowledge has improved, so has our care. Horses' life spans have increased and their care has improved. We've learned that grass is actually the enemy for some horses, that laminitis is more likely due to hormonal changes than just "too much suger". We now realise that they don't always HAVE to wear shoes. Some do, some don't and there will always be arguments about what is right and what is wrong. You have to choose what is the best and right path for YOUR horse.... and not give a hoot about your neighbour! :p
 
Littlelegs said:
No, no, no guido, we agreed I get the angle grinder & the chainsaw, you get an angle grinder & pneumatic drill. Stop trying to hog the grinder.
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Well, fine. But as long as you don't get the cordless, diamond lined, go faster, cordless or not, smooth to the foot, bespoke grinder that you fine well know I use and advertise as "the best a horse can get"
 
I'm not sure I want to class it as 'fashion'. My horse was shod when I got him so I carried on, but reading barefoot posts on here made something click and think it could help protect his old legs and improve his way of going if I did give it a go. Six weeks in and it's going well so far. The way I see it is the more people who try it and the anecdotal evidence and literature there is, the more people will try it, the more threads there will be.
 
Its cheap. My horse is part tb but has solid hooves so goes well barefoot. Also, she lives in a field that is +30acres and all the horses in the field tend to have a mad half hour every day and you wouldnt believe how many shoes come flying off.
Also a kick from my mare hurts far less that when my friends horse kicked me (she had shoes on and broke 3 of my ribs!!)
 
No obsession just don't see the need to hammer pieces of metal to their feet with nails going trough them as they are very happy without and can do anything anybody else with shoes can ;)
 
Sometimes I think I must have clicked on a barefoot forum instead of HHO with numerous posts discussing the minutiae of naked hooves or multiple photos of hooves asking does my horse look good in this.

However, the posts although more frequent, are generally less extreme and the more aggressive style has become, largely more chilled.

Everything has a time, people got bored with parelli bashing and moved on to barefoot and farriers as anti- Christs.
Now the latest hot topic is RSPCA bashing.

However, the barefoot advice is usually knowledgeable and useful and if it makes people think twice about whether their horse does actually need shoes, then its not so bad.
 
Charley657 said:
I don't think its necessary if horses are not in work or in light work with no roads. But I do personally think its a fashion thing at the moment, that and shoes are expensive and people want to save money.
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*snort*
I suppose that depends whether you consider it light work with no roads to be 2-3 hour hacks, 4-5 times a week, schooling for an hour the other days mostly flatwork but some jumping, working on all terrain (roads, flinty bridleways, etc). I have successfully had horses at this level of work barefoot with absolutely no issues at all.

I don't use an expensive trimmer, I don't feed expensive supplements routinely, I don't spend hours doing things to my equines feet. They are trimmed sensibly & regularly, I am aware & careful of what I feed and what is in it. They don't wear boots.

I didn't start because I wanted to save money, I originally started as I bought my first youngster, and as she grew up and we started her in work, she just never needed shoes. I also had a pony who didn't need shoes. Then I decided to take my OHs big mare barefoot (HW cob, shod all her life), which went brilliantly. And I've never shod anything since. All mine now stride out happily, sound like shod horses, and cope with whatever is asked of them. I've taken a number of horses/ponies from shod to barefoot successfully, even when surrounded by those telling me it would never work, so I'm pretty confident in it.

Hardly a fashion either for me - I began well over 10 years ago now.
 
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