Taking back shoes off??

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Ballerina

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Hi I'm considering getting my horses back shoes off at the end of summer so am just wondering how long does it take for them to adjust ect?
 
Depends on many things. My pony is 7, barefoot and has been most of his life but he has thin soles so I can't walk him on stoney ground without boots. He has a low sugar diet with a Hoof supplement to help but its unlikely he will ever have rock crunching feet because that's the way he is made.
 
She has good feet but has been shod for the past 5years . I did think she might be a bit footy for a few weeks , I don't do a lot of road work as orchards r just up the road.
 
really depends.
my girl was only briefly a bit sensitive on stone tracks, but didn't effect her much. My sensitive TB, who has always had terrible feet despite a lot of effort, remained constantly sore on his backs and ended up having to put shoes back on after months.
my girl is now barefoot all round and fine, having always been shod in the past
 
It really does depend on the horse.

Mine (Irish cob) has been unshod at the back for several years now and copes brilliantly. He was ok from day one and his backs are like iron now. He does need front boots to be comfortable on our stony tracks however.

My friend took the shoes off her 24-year-old ID last autumn after a couple of years of remedial shoeing for a tendon issue and he coped fine while the ground was soft and we were only doing roadwork but not so well as it's hardened up and she has just bought him some back boots to go with his fronts. He wore them last night for the first time last night and was great. Although she has had to invest in boots, the quality of his feet has improved massively and his intermittent lameness seems to have disappeared completely *touches wood*
 
As above 100% horse dependent! My guy has to be shod behind for the harder ground and increased summer work, but I pull them off about mid October, or when it starts to get soggy and they stay off till April time. His workload doesnt change, but the type of work does a bit as i can only hack weekends in the winter. He is just the same immediately.
 
May be worth waiting until the ground is a bit softer, it will give you horse a better chance to adapt successfully.

Edited to add, I have just seen that you said the end of the Summer - hopefully the ground will be softer then!
 
Depends on the horse and how good his feet are, if hes got rubbish thin soles then he'll feel it to begin with but being barefoot will help them long term. With my horses, I have them barefoot all year round and only have them shod if they're competing on grass in the summer (eventing etc.). So with my mare for example, I shod her April - September last year and winter they were off. I did the same with my last competition horse, in fact its something I do with all my competing ones. The non-competing ones are all kept barefoot. None of mine ever struggled, they actually seemed more surprised by the shoes going on than them coming off.
 
I took the back shoes off mine last October and haven't had a day's trouble. Farrier and vet (he's had an unrelated problem with his front feet so has seen the vet a few times) are both really happy with him. When I discussed it with my farrier he said there's only one way to find out. You've jut got to try it and see what happens.
 
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