cptrayes
Well-Known Member
I think there has finally been a big breakthrough in the barefoot/shoeing debate with a major horse monthly publishing an article that for the first time does not quote vets and/or farriers saying that barefoot is OK if you horse doesn't do much roadwork.
But the article makes me concerned for a lot of shod-horse owners out there because it does strongly imply that all horse owners could take off their horse's shoes and this simply isn't true. While I personally believe that most horses are capable, eventually, of a full workload with bare feet, there are many horse/owner/livery yard combinations where it won't work.
So while I am VERY against shoes where horses simply don't need them, (and there are thousands of horses in this country being shod when they don't need them), I'm also very against people who need their horse shod being made to feel guilty if they can't "do" the barefoot thing. So here are some pointers as to when you SHOULD have shoes on your horse.
I hope this will start a sensible debate with other barefoot devotees like me adding their advice, and we can show that we are not the mad ourwayistheonlyway nutters that many people want to think we are.
STUDS
If you are convinced you need studs you will need to shoe. There are boots that take studs but they are not legal for BE or BD. Many of us found that studs were unnecessary for jumping even up to Advanced Eventing but you will most likely lose marks on a slick dry grass dressage arena on hard ground without them.
GRASS
There is a very, very high proportion of barefoot horses who will feel stones in the spring summer and early autumn. This is actually very low grade laminitis. In most of those horses it can be controlled by removing them from grazing when grass sugars are high, late morning to early evening. In a smaller, but still significant, proportion a much greater restriction must be placed on sugar in grass and food.
If you simply can't restrict your horse's grazing like that, and you can't or don't want to use boots, or if you simply don't believe that your horse should have his grazing restricted, then you will need to shoe.
WORK
Many horses will cope with peaks and troughs of work barefoot, but some will not. So if you want to hack for four hours on Saturday, for example, your horse might not keep its foot condition well enough if he only pootles in an arena during the dark winter evenings. If so, you'll need to boot or shoe. Stony tracks and roads are no reason not to go barefoot, they cope brilliantly. But not unless they keep their conditioning, and some horses need more regular exposure than others to do that.
MINERALS
Mineral imbalances can be a nightmare. My own grazing, for example, is very high in manganese and iron. Until we knew that, my friends and I had trouble with abscesses and with insulin/laminitic issues. So we needed to investigate and found that copper and zinc are prevented from being taken up by manganese and iron. And seaweed supplementation, high in iron, was a VERY bad idea! Once we got that right by supplementing copper and zinc, abscesses stopped, cracks healed and our horses could tolerate more exposure to grass as well (copper has a role in regulating insulin, which is vital to digesting sugar). There are people on this forum and others who will help with this, but if your horse isn't "right" barefoot, and you can't find out what his imbalance is, or don't want to, you will need to shoe.
WET
Standing in a wet field all winter softens feet and some horses will not be able to cope barefoot unless they have a period each day in the dry. Unfortunately, some will also not grow foot fast enough if they stand still for more than half the hours in a day, and stabling overnight is not the best environment for them. If your horse is one of these, and you can't provide "dry turnout" (mine are in a barn, for example, others have partially covered and/or very well draining track systems) then you will need to shoe.
UNSUPPORTIVE FARRIER/VET/LIVERY
It can be very stressful to go against your farrier and/or vet in taking your horse barefoot. (Unfortunately, although there are more barefoot-aware farriers and vets every day, there are still plenty of farriers and vets telling owners that their horse won't manage when it is not true, as mine and many other barefoot horses demonstrate). Some livery yards can also be extremely hostile if your horse is at all footsore in the early days. If you can't face this, you'll need to shoe.
TRANSITION IS TOO PAINFUL
There are some horses which really struggle when the shoes first come off, and in rare cases this can last months. Those horses shouldn't be exposed to surfaces that they can't manage without protection, which can, to be honest, be a heck of a fuss and bother (booting up just to walk to the field, for example). If your horse is one of those and you can't cotton-wool him the way he would need, you'll have to leave the shoes on.
(Other than this transitioning issue, current foot quality has no bearing WHATSOEVER on whether a horse will work happily barefoot. The removal of the shoes, with a correct diet and work, improves foot quality beyond recognition within four months, and these are some of the very horses that will benefit most.)
I hope this helps those of you who are thinking about barefoot. Hopefully other people will add their advice too.
But the article makes me concerned for a lot of shod-horse owners out there because it does strongly imply that all horse owners could take off their horse's shoes and this simply isn't true. While I personally believe that most horses are capable, eventually, of a full workload with bare feet, there are many horse/owner/livery yard combinations where it won't work.
So while I am VERY against shoes where horses simply don't need them, (and there are thousands of horses in this country being shod when they don't need them), I'm also very against people who need their horse shod being made to feel guilty if they can't "do" the barefoot thing. So here are some pointers as to when you SHOULD have shoes on your horse.
I hope this will start a sensible debate with other barefoot devotees like me adding their advice, and we can show that we are not the mad ourwayistheonlyway nutters that many people want to think we are.
STUDS
If you are convinced you need studs you will need to shoe. There are boots that take studs but they are not legal for BE or BD. Many of us found that studs were unnecessary for jumping even up to Advanced Eventing but you will most likely lose marks on a slick dry grass dressage arena on hard ground without them.
GRASS
There is a very, very high proportion of barefoot horses who will feel stones in the spring summer and early autumn. This is actually very low grade laminitis. In most of those horses it can be controlled by removing them from grazing when grass sugars are high, late morning to early evening. In a smaller, but still significant, proportion a much greater restriction must be placed on sugar in grass and food.
If you simply can't restrict your horse's grazing like that, and you can't or don't want to use boots, or if you simply don't believe that your horse should have his grazing restricted, then you will need to shoe.
WORK
Many horses will cope with peaks and troughs of work barefoot, but some will not. So if you want to hack for four hours on Saturday, for example, your horse might not keep its foot condition well enough if he only pootles in an arena during the dark winter evenings. If so, you'll need to boot or shoe. Stony tracks and roads are no reason not to go barefoot, they cope brilliantly. But not unless they keep their conditioning, and some horses need more regular exposure than others to do that.
MINERALS
Mineral imbalances can be a nightmare. My own grazing, for example, is very high in manganese and iron. Until we knew that, my friends and I had trouble with abscesses and with insulin/laminitic issues. So we needed to investigate and found that copper and zinc are prevented from being taken up by manganese and iron. And seaweed supplementation, high in iron, was a VERY bad idea! Once we got that right by supplementing copper and zinc, abscesses stopped, cracks healed and our horses could tolerate more exposure to grass as well (copper has a role in regulating insulin, which is vital to digesting sugar). There are people on this forum and others who will help with this, but if your horse isn't "right" barefoot, and you can't find out what his imbalance is, or don't want to, you will need to shoe.
WET
Standing in a wet field all winter softens feet and some horses will not be able to cope barefoot unless they have a period each day in the dry. Unfortunately, some will also not grow foot fast enough if they stand still for more than half the hours in a day, and stabling overnight is not the best environment for them. If your horse is one of these, and you can't provide "dry turnout" (mine are in a barn, for example, others have partially covered and/or very well draining track systems) then you will need to shoe.
UNSUPPORTIVE FARRIER/VET/LIVERY
It can be very stressful to go against your farrier and/or vet in taking your horse barefoot. (Unfortunately, although there are more barefoot-aware farriers and vets every day, there are still plenty of farriers and vets telling owners that their horse won't manage when it is not true, as mine and many other barefoot horses demonstrate). Some livery yards can also be extremely hostile if your horse is at all footsore in the early days. If you can't face this, you'll need to shoe.
TRANSITION IS TOO PAINFUL
There are some horses which really struggle when the shoes first come off, and in rare cases this can last months. Those horses shouldn't be exposed to surfaces that they can't manage without protection, which can, to be honest, be a heck of a fuss and bother (booting up just to walk to the field, for example). If your horse is one of those and you can't cotton-wool him the way he would need, you'll have to leave the shoes on.
(Other than this transitioning issue, current foot quality has no bearing WHATSOEVER on whether a horse will work happily barefoot. The removal of the shoes, with a correct diet and work, improves foot quality beyond recognition within four months, and these are some of the very horses that will benefit most.)
I hope this helps those of you who are thinking about barefoot. Hopefully other people will add their advice too.
