Taking hind shoes off - what do I need to consider?

[TheSylv007]

I'm pondering just having front shoes on my horse. We don't do lots of roadwork and mostly work on surfaces though hope to be out hacking more as the weather gets better! She has excellent feet and I'm now struggling to come up with a good reason to keep her shod at the back. I've also noticed that the farrier seems to shoe her with almost no gap between the top of the shoe and the back of her frog, it's touching on one side and I can barely get a hoofpick between which seems wrong somehow. Trouble is, I'm not a farrier so it can be hard to question their methods!

She also struggles to really step through behind which I know is partly a schooling issue which we're working on, and also related to her confirmation which is long backed and slightly short legged! I wonder if being unshod at the back could just help a tiny bit (she's had all the back and tack checks and we're working on her way of going).

Also, is there anything I should be considering before going ahead? She's fed Alfa Oil, conditioning mix, micronised linseed, sugar beet and a calcium based calmer and she's looking really good on it. Is there anything else I need to look at diet wise being as her feet are very good?

She's due to be shod next week, is this too soon to take them off without doing anything diet wise or should I just go for it?

Any thoughts or advice very welcome!

 

[xgemmax]

Go for it, I bet you'll be surprised how well she copes diet wise, I'd make sure the sugar beet is unmollased (ie speedibeet) and maybe have a look at the conditioning mix to see how much sugar/starch it has in, as a general rule feeds should be as low in this as possible

 

[TheSylv007]

Brill, the beet is unmollassed so that's great, will double check on the conditioning cubes but they are meant to be low starch I think

 

[mightymammoth]

just remember to take it easy and build up your hacks to give his hooves a chance to toughen up. Unlike me who took backs off and thought I could carry on as normal which caused sore hooves and backs going back on. (We got there eventually now as he's unshod all round)

 

[TheSylv007]

thanks for the advice, I'll take it easy then