Shod or Barefoot?

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Megan123

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I am doing an extended project on 'Should horses be shod or barefoot?' I want to find out what other peoples opinions are on this topic. It would be really helpful if you could comment with your opinions. All I need to know is do you think horses should be shod or barefoot and what are the reasons for your answer. Thanks
 
It rather depends on the quality of the feet. The only pony we ever shod was an old Welsh x who had terrible feet, very crumbly. They did improve after lots of Biotin/limestone flour but never good enough to go barefoot. We had an ex racer who went barefoot and had wonderful feet and my Highland never had shoes on. Incidentally, we only ever had the horses trimmed by a registered farrier and NOT a "barefoot trimmer". I do think that barefoot is best as long as there isn't too much road work but said Highland went out every day with no problems
 
I was going to say all of the above but decided to just answer the question you asked. It does depend yes but in an ideal world then barefoot.
 
I think in an ideal world all horses would be barefoot but many horses do better with shoes due to their diet/routine etc.
My horse is currently shod but I'm in the process of changing his diet and once the clocks change, he'll be exercised more and shoes will come off July time!
 
Depends on the horse and the level of work... all of mine are "barefoot" one who isnt in work has feet like a horse in hard work because his feet just dont grow very fast at all even in shoes so when he is in work he has to have shoes on otherwise he will go lame because he wears his feet down too much. He has gone 28 weeks since his last trim and the farrier has said that there is nothing to take off. The other is in medium work and has to be trimmed every 7 weeks because his feet grow very fast and dont wear down as much. Both horses are on the same diet so it is nothing to do with that. Its all about the horse and the breed. Some horses just dont get on with barefoot as well as others.

Its a bit like how long is a piece of string...
 
In the perfect world Barefoot
I hate to think of the impact caused by walking on metal shoes on hard surfaces. I myself run in the summer and I can feel the difference afterwards if I have run on mud instead of grass and thats with squashy running trainers on.The hoof can work as it was intended and the frog can do its job. I have also found barefoot have more grip than shoes.
My two horses are both shod tho :rolleyes: One smashes the outside of his back hooves into the ground so they would not cope without shoes on and I have a WB who I tried to transition years ago and he just couldnt cope. he was uncomfortable and miserable so on my vets advice I had the shoes back on.
 
I have three barefoot(tho I prefer unshod) and one with half a set on

Of the three unshod one is retired, one ruined her tootsies by pulling shoes and couldn't get one back on again so said 'stuff it' and just pulled them.....six months on and she hasn't noticed she hasn't got them on and is self trimming to the point the farrier hasn't even touched them, just looked them over and said she's doing the work!:D

The other had a huge abcess that came out if his front tootsie that burst out of three holes that had to be made. Farrier said he could get shoe on but he would ruin the what little hoof he has if he pulled it off so he is just over six months unshod and in boots. He also has a 15 degree rotation in his front tootsies from lami two years ago.
The above are on pro balance and fast fibre to help with maintaining feet.

The tb has a front set on, we haven't taken them off as he is in retraining/ retrained and we want to progress with his schooling and hacking/jumping so don't really have time to wait for him to harden up....


It's not a case of unshod/shod its what is right for that horse owner at that time......
 
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