Should I take his shoes off ??

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Geegeesarah

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I have a 3yrs old Irish sports horse who I have been riding for the last six weeks. What I want to know is weather I should take his shoes off. The reason being is that he has been doing really well out on the roads and schooling in the field but I feel now that because he is doing so well should I just let him have a few months off? He does have a tendancy to over reach, so will time off to grow alittle more help? I can still lunge him ? Any help advice gratefully recieved.
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Don't see any problem with doing light work with no shoes on especially on soft surfaces like a school or field. 3 seems a bit young to have them on to me anyway.

You will get some replies from the Barefoot community who do endurance rides etc with no shoes I tootle around on my sports horse hacking schooling lunging farm rides etc all with no shoes
 
If he was mine I would take his shoes off and let him have some time in the field. He will still be growing and filling out for a while yet, its so easy to over do things when they are being so good
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Thanks for that. I have a friend who does the barefoot thing and its not for us. Am just finding my way with young horse so all advice is gratefully received. I do have another horse to ride as well so am sure she will enjoy me spending time with her. Thanks again
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Can I ask why it's not for you? Don't want to start any arguments - just interested in people's reasons. I used to think the same but now I've taken the plunge and actually gone barefoot I can't believe I resisted for so long!
 
A friend decided to go barefoot with her 24 yrs old 16.3hh cleveland bay horse. It got an abcess on its foot about 6 months after the shoes came off am not totally blaming this on the barefoot. It wore boots whilst being ridden on the roads (what a palava) as she used to stumble in them so wasnt safe to ride. she was sore on her feet when the ground was hard and got to the point of not moving. I am sure that barefoot is great for some horses but in this case it wasnt.
 
Hi

I tried the barefoot route with my pony - total disaster, he was incredibly unhappy and I wont do it again. However, I found out by trying! Could I sugest that if you are not riding much over winter you try barefoot and see if your youngster copes? if he does great, if not reshoe in spring.

Another alternative that used to be used in the good old days was to shoe with grass tips that are just at the front tip of the foot to prevent them breaking up.

Also I doubt that shoes will affect his over reaching mine used to do this and it was basically down to youth and lack of balance. He doesnt over reach now due to being much better schooled, muscled and balanced as he has got older.

Lunging should be fine with or without shoes and long reining is also good for young horses.

Good luck.
 
I'm not one for barefoot at all but in this case, with such a young horse, I'd take them off and leave them off as long as possible. He probably hasn't had them on long anyway and if he's going to be out over winter, leave them off. If you bring him back into work carefully and slowly, there's no reason why he can't stay unshod for a good while. Talk to your farrier, mine looks after unshod horses as well as shod ones, just does whatever suits.
 
Thanks for that. I have two horses shod and two ponies barefoot so I do have a open mind about it. Its the size of the animals that worry me with being on stoney lanes and tarmac alot (I dont have the luxury of a school, just a very wet field), the youngster hind feet wore down very quickly so that is the main reason he had shoes on.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi

I tried the barefoot route with my pony - total disaster, he was incredibly unhappy and I wont do it again. However, I found out by trying! Could I sugest that if you are not riding much over winter you try barefoot and see if your youngster copes? if he does great, if not reshoe in spring.

Another alternative that used to be used in the good old days was to shoe with grass tips that are just at the front tip of the foot to prevent them breaking up.

Also I doubt that shoes will affect his over reaching mine used to do this and it was basically down to youth and lack of balance. He doesnt over reach now due to being much better schooled, muscled and balanced as he has got older.

Lunging should be fine with or without shoes and long reining is also good for young horses.

Good luck.

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Well done for trying - sorry it didn't work out for you and your pony. Can I ask what changes you made to his diet when you took his shoes off? For many horses unless you change the diet they will never be comfortable without shoes but it is amazing that a few very simple dietary changes can make a huge and immediate difference between being 100% comfortable and being footy. Luckily the changes you need to make to diet are beneficial to the whole horse not just the feet so it's a win win situation.

Have to disagree with the overreaching. My 13 year old gelding used to overreach badly when competing. Since taking his shoes off he hasn't overreached once. Now he can actually feel where he puts his feet he makes sure he doesn't tread on himself.

To the OP whose friend struggled with boots - there are much better boots on the market now that are very easy to put on and are so close fitting to the hoof that the horse barely notices they're there. The thing that put me off barefoot for so long was looking at the boots some of my friends horses had to wear. So big and clompy and fiddly to put on. No way would I have had the patience to put them on so I stuck to metal shoes. But this year with the availability of Easyboot Gloves and Renegades I finally had access to boots that are slimline and easy to put on. Bingo!
 
Some people get very worried about how much horn their horses lose when they take off the shoes, but barefoot feet are designed to be short. Some have tried barefoot but reshod because the horse "wore it's feet away". If the horse was not unsound - that's how short they are supposed to be. Shoeless feet that crack away at the bottom third have almost always been left too long. Barefoot horses walk on their soles, heels and frog, not their hoof wall.

I couldn't agree more with Gedenskis about diet. One of mine feels stones if he eats grass between midday and early evening spring to autumn. Kept off it during those hours for just one day, he is rock stomping again like he is all winter.

Should you take your three year old's shoes off? I would, but I'd never put them on again. Mine event and hunt without them now I have the diet, exercise and living arrangements sorted out.
 
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