Shoes on a pony?

[Bobthecob15]

We've just bought a gorgeous welsh part bred pony, 14yrs old. He's got shoes on all 4 feet, the family that had him did a lot of hacking and roadwork (no school or arena to ride in) and he was shod every 8 weeks. The vet who did the vetting said he had really good feet although she recommended he was shod every 6 weeks rather than 8.

We will do a bit of roadwork but mostly will be in the school/ off road hacking...I was wondering about pulling the back two shoes as I'm not convinced he needs them....I'm nervous of pulling them all!

The farrier is out next week so obviously will discuss it with him...part of me thinks if its not broke don't fix it! I'm not really familiar with ponies wearing shoes as all the ones I've had involvement with have been barefoot. I'm just not convinced he needs them and we need to be spending all that money for them! Has anyone done this? Thanks

 

[Mari]

My Welshie came with 4 shoes. I took back ones off to turn him out with other unshod horses. Farrier said he had good feet & we don’t do any road hacking just off road or arena/field. Took fronts off & he’s been barefoot ever since.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I fed mineral supplement from Feedmark, and never looked back, trouble is it takes six months, but get farrier to trim every sx weeks, and walk him on tarmac in hand every day for twenty mins

 

[Peglo]

My new one had 4 shoes on when she came. She pulled 2 off before I got the farrier to her as she was in quarantine and when he did come she was pretty nervous so took the other 2 off and had plans to put shoes back on once she settled.
I messaged the farrier asking if he could come and shoe her but he wouldn’t come until my next scheduled appointment so it made me rethink putting them back on as I was worried he wouldn’t be able to replace a pulled or loose shoe until my next appointment so left her barefoot. Once I’m riding regularly I will use boots but her feet cope ok without for short hacks.
Can always try him without and if it doesn’t work out put them back on.

 

[meleeka]

I’ve never shod hinds on any pony i’ve owned. It’s a good time of year to try as the ground is soft. There’s only really one way to know if he’ll be ok and that’s to take them off. You can always get them put on again if needed.

 

[Bobthecob15]

I’ve never shod hinds on any pony i’ve owned. It’s a good time of year to try as the ground is soft. There’s only really one way to know if he’ll be ok and that’s to take them off. You can always get them put on again if needed.

Thank you, will give it a go and take them off ?

 

[laura_nash]

Thank you, will give it a go and take them off ?

If he's a little sore initially you could consider boots rather than re shoeing. Particularly if he's only sore when working. If he's got good hooves and no metabolic problems he'll probably be fine if you take them all off, but best to try the backs first.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

My connemara came with all 4. Bit of research into nutrition, stripping her feed right back and adding a good vit and min supplement and she is now barefoot all round.

We hack on roads for an hour once a week, hack on grass, stony paths, jump on surface and grass and she is fab! There’s a slippy bit of tarmac on a slight decline and all the shod ponies slip and slide and she ploughs on without a care in thr world!

Was also fascinating to see her hoof shape completely change (for the better).

Def take the back two off and see how you go. No harm in trying! Can always pop shoes back on.

 

[Bobthecob15]

Thanks for the advice, which supplements do people recommend? Been a while since I've owned a horse so feel a bit out of the loop! ?

 

[dreamcometrue]

You can only try it and see how the pony goes OP.
I’ve just taken the plunge! Had the farrier to my pony a couple of days ago and asked what he thought. He said should be fine so he took her hind shoes off.
I dithered a lot as I hack for miles every day and she has EMS (but no problems for the last couple of years as she is carefully managed).
I’m going to do some short in-hand walks on tarmac and grass over the next week and if she seems okay I’ll build up gradually.
Hoping that we can resume our roaming lifestyle by the summer ?

 

[ycbm]

There are quite a few comments here from people saying they don't need shoes because they don't hack on roads. There is no problem hacking on roads with no shoes, they are a great trimming surface. If you're going to do a lot of miles, you might need to build up the distance gradually. People often do that by taking boots of part way through a ride and attaching them to the saddle in some way.
.

 

[J&S]

My ponies (14.3 and 13.1 hh) only have front shoes. During last summer we were riding upto 15 miles on mixed terrain, quite a lot of road work. I did try them both without any shoes but really did not find it satisfactory. This is a good compromise.

 

[Peglo]

There are quite a few comments here from people saying they don't need shoes because they don't hack on roads. There is no problem hacking on roads with no shoes, they are a great trimming surface. If you're going to do a lot of miles, you might need to build up the distance gradually. People often do that by taking boots of part way through a ride and attaching them to the saddle in some way.
.

yeah I should add most of my hacking is on the road and it’s good for trimming. But think I would feel happier putting boots on if we go further.