Taking back shoes off

[stormclouds]

Have had a quick search and a lot of the threads that already cover taking backs off seem to be aimed at older horses/those quietening down for winter. So, sorry that it’s been done to death, but was hoping for some opinions.

Would like to take the back shoes off my pony (14.2 NF), and now is probably the best time to do it (I think) – ground is getting softer, and we’ll be doing much less hacking now that winter is here (boo).

However, what do I need to consider? He’s a very good doer, so is on a low sugar/starch diet (handful of TopChop lite and have Equidgel in the post on a friend’s recommendation to act as a balancer).

Our hacking mixes between roadwork, stony lanes and fields, but the longer hacks (with stony lanes) I won’t be doing as much/at all over winter.

YO thinks it is a mistake to do so, so no help there!

He had pretty bad feet when he arrived, but they’re about a million times better now. Will this be an issue? I thought that going barefoot would help his feet (in the long run), but YO thinks it will do the opposite.

Is it as simple as just whipping them off, not trimming them too much, and giving him a few months of just work in the arena/short hacks out on concrete?

 

[be positive]

I take back shoes off of almost everything if it arrives here shod and have never had a problem, it can be as simple as taking them off and being a little careful for the first few weeks as to how much work they do, especially if you are already feeding a sensible diet, the most recent one has not really noticed they are not there apart from the fact she is slipping less on the roads, her fronts will probably come off next time they are due.

Most natives really do not require shoeing, the NF ponies I have had here usually have excellent feet, are sure footed and if they are not shod when young should never need doing, it certainly is not just for oldies slowing down and most will benefit from being unshod as the horn quality improves with work and having no nail holes to crumble away, if you were on my yard I would be encouraging you to go for it, I guess your YO is not used to seeing working horses having barefeet.

 

[ihatework]

Just whip them off!

I wouldn't shoe any horse behind unless it was jumping to a standard that required studding

 

[stormclouds]

Brill thanks both - exactly what I thought and was hoping to hear!

Yeah YO is very funny in her thinking, and still questions why I don't feed molassey, high sugar/starch mixed feeds, and says that my poor pony probably wants tastier feed...

 

[iwakbogo]

Brill thanks both - exactly what I thought and was hoping to hear!

Good luck Stormcoulds

 

[Mrs G]

My 8yr old TB has been unshod behind for nearly 5yrs and he has good, strong issue-free hind feet. Saves on worrying about him loosing shoes by 50%, saves money on shoeing and his hind feet def look better that his shod front ones. It has also helped numerous times to prevent injury and destruction; he once left me stunned after kicking out at a fly on his belly and catching me on the head as I was trying to pick his feet out; I was concussed but it could have been far worse if he was shod! Also he has a tendency to buck and the amount of times he has caught the walls of the indoor school with such a bang; if he was shod he would almost def have split the planks, and again when travelling he can kick out with enough force as it is! Next summer when we can't hack out on our local (stoney) bridle ways due to the horseflies I am going to take his fronts off too for a couple of shoeing cycles to give his fronts a chance to grow out the holes and who knows, maybe give barefoot a go! You have very little to lose in giving it a try x

 

[stormclouds]

Woah MrsG, that must've seemed like a very good decision in hindsight!! Glad it's worked out for your boy, and good luck for taking the fronts off (that will hopefully be my next step, once we see how back feet are looking).

Now to convince my YO's farrier to take them off..!

 

[Micropony]

My big horse's back shoes came off on farrier's advice - he needed bar shoes in front and the idea was that having no back shoes would reduce chance of him pulling off his fronts.
Farrier warned me to expect some scuffs and chips and whatnot for the first couple of shoeing cycles while the nail holes grew down.
He really didn't have very good feet and he coped absolutely fine, including about 3 hours a week hacking mostly on roads and a few stony tracks where I would let him pick his own way.
My new horse doesn't have hind shoes, and I don't see the need for them unless you need to use studs or there is a particular reason, e.g. the horse needs to be shod behind in a special way to provide extra support for an injury or conformation problem or something of that kind.