showley1
Well-Known Member
Help, was lead to believe barefoot was perfectly acceptable, if farrier agreed pony had strong enough feet, tonight i have been told this is not the case? help people pls
Recent returner to horse ownership- is barefoot ok?
- Thread starter showley1
- Start date
LD&S
Well-Known Member
I have three and my friend who shares with me also has three, all barefoot. There are
1 arab, always been barefoot as far as I know
I pb arab always been barefoot as far as I know
1 pb arab had natural balance fronts until last year, did endurance
1 ish had fronts until 2yrs ago, previous owner had fronts as she was fed up with people asking why her horse didn't have shoes, not because horse needed them
1 cob had shoes till 4yrs ago, shoes taken off and horse was sound from day 1
1 tb never had shoes and has feet like granite
Generally the vast majority of horses are capable of doing well barefoot though sometimes diet has to be given greater consideration, also some farriers are much better than others at trimming a barefoot horse.
1 arab, always been barefoot as far as I know
I pb arab always been barefoot as far as I know
1 pb arab had natural balance fronts until last year, did endurance
1 ish had fronts until 2yrs ago, previous owner had fronts as she was fed up with people asking why her horse didn't have shoes, not because horse needed them
1 cob had shoes till 4yrs ago, shoes taken off and horse was sound from day 1
1 tb never had shoes and has feet like granite
Generally the vast majority of horses are capable of doing well barefoot though sometimes diet has to be given greater consideration, also some farriers are much better than others at trimming a barefoot horse.
FfionWinnie
Well-Known Member
Of course it's ok. Not sure I'd need the farrier to agree either 
. You do need to educate yourself about diet etc to have success. There are millions of threads available here to help you. 
. You do need to educate yourself about diet etc to have success. There are millions of threads available here to help you. poiuytrewq
Well-Known Member
It's absolutely fine! Why spend money if you don't really need to? I've got one bare behind, one shod and loan horse barefoot because she has been for ages and has fab little feet
flintfootfilly
Well-Known Member
It'll all depend on your horse, your aspirations, your facilities and your commitment.
I've had one mare who worked well unshod for about 8 years - went over all sorts of terrain, did pleasure rides, all sorts. However, we are about to start a pergolide trial as she has become increasingly footy over the last 3 years and is now showing signs of hoof rings and the pedal bones have sunk, so in effect she's been having lots of small laminitic changes which are now adding up to be very significant. So she now is not comfortable enough kept unshod.
For me, the limitations of having a horse unshod have been needing to boot them if I go over seriously stoney terrain, and also that whilst their grip has been brilliant on roads, my gang have all proved to have less grip on wet grass or thin mud, so if I wanted to do anything competitive on grass/mud I would have had shoes put on.
Worth finding out from your farrier whether he thinks your horse can or can't cope unshod. He may have valid reasons such as thin soles etc, or it may be that he has little experience of horses successfully working on shod. If you understand his reasons for the advice he's given, it'll help you weigh up the way forward.
If there's no physical reason why trying unshod would be a bad idea, then you can always give it a go and keep an open mind. Easy enough to put shoes back on if it doesn't work out.
One advantage of having them unshod is it's much easier to keep the hoof in a good shape, and unshod feet seem to grow thicker walls and more substantial frogs (presumably because of better blood circulation) so even if I opted to have any of mine shod now, I would still want them to have a few months a year with no shoes on, just to help some new good hoof growth come through.
~Sarah
I've had one mare who worked well unshod for about 8 years - went over all sorts of terrain, did pleasure rides, all sorts. However, we are about to start a pergolide trial as she has become increasingly footy over the last 3 years and is now showing signs of hoof rings and the pedal bones have sunk, so in effect she's been having lots of small laminitic changes which are now adding up to be very significant. So she now is not comfortable enough kept unshod.
For me, the limitations of having a horse unshod have been needing to boot them if I go over seriously stoney terrain, and also that whilst their grip has been brilliant on roads, my gang have all proved to have less grip on wet grass or thin mud, so if I wanted to do anything competitive on grass/mud I would have had shoes put on.
Worth finding out from your farrier whether he thinks your horse can or can't cope unshod. He may have valid reasons such as thin soles etc, or it may be that he has little experience of horses successfully working on shod. If you understand his reasons for the advice he's given, it'll help you weigh up the way forward.
If there's no physical reason why trying unshod would be a bad idea, then you can always give it a go and keep an open mind. Easy enough to put shoes back on if it doesn't work out.
One advantage of having them unshod is it's much easier to keep the hoof in a good shape, and unshod feet seem to grow thicker walls and more substantial frogs (presumably because of better blood circulation) so even if I opted to have any of mine shod now, I would still want them to have a few months a year with no shoes on, just to help some new good hoof growth come through.
~Sarah