shoes off for winter/ on again or not?

[horseandshoes77]

Well posted before bout my dales having shoes removed in winter as less work etc...anyhow this year both him and my youngster have had shoes removed but are only hacked out max 2 times a week on good soft ground, both cope fine... I am however now considering not putting shoes back on as dales copes fine unless extremely hard word on hard ground..youngster not sure yet as first year of real work... so question is..when they come back into hard work should I leave feet alone for a longer period to give chance for them to grow to accommodate the extra work or is there anything I should specifically ask farrier to do when trimming as they will be staying without shoes? farrier normally trims foot and frog etc bt after reading some threads should these be left if not replacing shoes at all ? how long do u leave between trims if barefoot?

thanks

 

[Dubsie]

We tend to go about 10 weeks between trims. Sometimes in the summer when the feet grow quicker, if not ridden enough might be a bit sooner. The farrier only trims off a small bit of the wall, and rasps it, or just rasps it, never touches the frog.

 

[touchstone]

My fell mare hasn't been properly trimmed for about ten years - a bit of extra road work does the job nicely. I'd mention to the farrier that you want the frog leaving and are working without shoes and see how you go from there.