The barefoot debate...sitting on the fence!

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redmone

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Dolly is shod at the front and barefoot at the back.

Does that mean I'm in everyone's good books and agree with everyone?? Hehehehe!!! No conflict here!

Sorry, I'm full of a heavy cold so a bit bored and lonely!!! OH has taken daughter riding and I'm watching real life a & e on TV which seems to consist of horse riders (daughter!) And bikers (husband). Sigh.

I'll trade some after eights for a lemsip!

Xxx
 
I know, it is THAT bad!! To top it off, I just had to get out of my sick bed to answer the door. It was a very nice lady wanting to talk about the end of the world!!!! I was like "daaaaarling, that was so last month!"

After eight? ; )
 
Our hunter (on loan) is shod he is a right wimp and no shoes is a no go for him

However looking to try and leave Spring unshod if possible.... husband not so sure as he wants to hunt her and xc etc..... She is only coming 3 at the minute so will be unshod anyway until comes to breaking.......

Not sure where to go on this and worried to ask I dont want the full on lecture from either side of the fence, just some nice friendly advice..... :confused:
 
That's the problem isn't it, seems people on both sides of 'the fence' feel very passionate about it.

In my very novice opinion, each horse should be looked at as an indiviudal, just as humans would be. And then the right solution found for each one. I try to keep an open mind!

I've heard of lots of barefoot horses hunting and xc. Perhaps a good diet and don't shoe until you get reason to do so? But as above I am very inexperienced to give anyone advice!

Thanks for posting though. Have an after eight : ) xxx
 
Springy said:
Our hunter (on loan) is shod he is a right wimp and no shoes is a no go for him

However looking to try and leave Spring unshod if possible.... husband not so sure as he wants to hunt her and xc etc..... She is only coming 3 at the minute so will be unshod anyway until comes to breaking.......

Not sure where to go on this and worried to ask I dont want the full on lecture from either side of the fence, just some nice friendly advice..... :confused:
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My mare only has front shoes on. When I bought her, I was told that thte farrier had said that she would not cope without shoes. I had her hinds taken off before introducing her to the herd. My farrier couldn't then, and still can't, see any reason why she should have her back shoes on again. However I did take the fronts off, after she'd lost them a couple of times. She just could not cope, so she now has her front shoes on again. She has a high fibre, low sugar diet but is a very heavy girl.
IIWY, I would start riding the 3 yr old when you are ready, keep a careful eye on the feet and shoe if necessary, but not before. I'm sure your farrier will be able to discuss this with you, although IME the horse will be able to tell you what she needs.

So, I agree with you Redmone and thanks but no thanks to the after eights - can't stand them.
 
I prefer not to shoe, but have one that needs to be shod to do any work, Result; 3 unshod, 1 shod in front when in work, shod all round when in heavy work. I have been told on here that it's only my own stupidity that means I have to shoe the one, but IMO you do what your horse tells you and if she can't cope I'm not going to let her hobble, nor am I going to pfaff about with witches brews of potions and restrict her down to nothing in the way of grazing. NOTHING works all the time, for every horse.
 
Hmm I've got left over thorntons Xmas chocs too? Medicinal purposes you see!!!

Dolly came with no shoes and we were advised to have fronts on for hacking. In hindsight i'd have tried her without for a while, but being our first pony we did as was advised.

She seems to have lovely feet though, shod and unshod. We just have to watch her weight as she's a typical (fat!) native that could live on air but insists on stuffing herself!!! Daughter found a photo of her online where she actually looks malnourished. We think she was way down the pecking order in a herd. Then I believe she was turned out alone for some time and allowed to gorge herself, hence the crest she came to us with.

It explains a lot. Her possessive behavour towards people. Her defensive behavior towards food. She eats like she doesn't know when the next meal will come.

Bless her little ginger socks, wish I could tell her to relax and that she's with us forever.

Xxx
 
Thanks Honey!!

Feeling sorry for myself today and extremely bored! Can't believe OH and daughter have gone to play ponies without me!!!!!

Only so much "medical emergency" TV I can stomach...changing to come dine with me now : ( xxx
 
When I bought my ISH he was shod all round, I had them taken off purely because I had no history of his turnout history, didn't know what he was like with other horses, and could easily avoid roads at the yard I was on. I made no alterations to his lifestyle or feed regime and he has been absolutely fine for the past year. I am likely to hack out a lot more this year though so will keep an eye on his feet and will put shoes on if he needs them, I'm hoping I won't need to.
The only downside to being barefoot in my opinion is that when hacking on roads you don't get that lovely clip clip noise from the shoes!!! Oh how I miss that sound!!!!
 
trottingon said:
When I bought my ISH he was shod all round, I had them taken off purely because I had no history of his turnout history, didn't know what he was like with other horses, and could easily avoid roads at the yard I was on. I made no alterations to his lifestyle or feed regime and he has been absolutely fine for the past year. I am likely to hack out a lot more this year though so will keep an eye on his feet and will put shoes on if he needs them, I'm hoping I won't need to.
The only downside to being barefoot in my opinion is that when hacking on roads you don't get that lovely clip clip noise from the shoes!!! Oh how I miss that sound!!!!
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The cob I ride is not shod and has great feet. He could wake the neighbourhood with the sound of his clip clops :D much nicer than the loud ringing shoe noise. Great grip on roads as well whereas shoes make me feel a bit unsafe on up and downhills on roads.
 
I've always wondered about the logic of shoes for grip! Polished metal on concrete downhill cannot be the best idea!!

Dolly does clip clop though (well, clip thud anyway!)Half shod rules!!!
 
One of mine is shod all round and the other who is out of work has no shoes on. He will be shod again in March when I try and bring him back into work. He copes ok unshod in the field but wouldn't on the road. Would just have fronts and see how he goes but the vet wants him to have wedges on behind.
 
Springy. I would ask your farrier if they're good and will give an unbiased opinion.
Mine are all unshod, but OHs dad who does them will be very quick to tell me if he's not happy. I'm lucky that he's a farrier who will do what's best for the horse and quite likes unshod, so won't sell you shoes for the sake of it.

Redmone.... That depends did you ask the horse if it was okay first? :p
 
Cortex I'm the same, 5 bare and 1 shod all round. My big lad has reverse rotated pedal bones and isn't sound in shoes so I jumped on and followed the barefoot guys and had great advise and have learnt a lot BUT my mare isn't happy bare and iv had her 10 yrs and I know her inside out. Her face tells me she's not happy and I listened and how she's shod she's full of life again. It really is each to their own. There prob is a lot of horses that could cope bare if the owners sorted out diets etc but they have to put a lot of work in as well and I'm not sure all owners could be bothered tbh and I know now my mare is shod it's one less to worry about with thrush watching, grass watching etc.
 
Nice to hear so many people listening to what their horses individually need rather than simply shoeing or not shoeing to blindly follow (or to buck) a trend! : )
 
This is an interesting debate, I am going to join you on the fence I think...and I have lemsips! (blackcurrant I think)

Two of my horses are shod all round and one is currently barefoot but will be putting front shoes on her soon which I hope will make her more comfortable. I may have at one time considered trying barefoot with the other 2 but after what my mare has gone through in the last year and a bit I am too scared to try it in case it opens up a whole can of worms.

I think generally barefoot is probably best, but with the proviso that shoes are not evil either and for some horses are necessary for quality of life, in the same way as I need my glasses, my eyes are poor, glasses don't fix that but they do enable me to live a normal full life.
 
Skint1 what a great comparison to glasses! None of us would choose them but in some cases they do improve our life. Similarly I wouldn't wear them if a simple change in diet or lifestyle would fix the problem first.

The only variation I've not heard so far is someone with a horse with one front shoe and one back shoe!!! Heheheh!!!

PS I would love your blackcurrant lemsip please!! The lemon ones taste like flu in a cup!!!!

Pps I've got choc orange segments to offer now!!! Some of them have popping candy in them!!!!
 
Awwww!! My daughter was given a set of 4 tiny horse shoes, mounted on a piece of wood, by someone. Not sure where they are from! But they're cute! Probably about the size of the top of an egg cup!

What's an imprint used for? X
 
My thoughts were I'd see how I would get on. Neither have been shod in their lives apart from when the one in my sig was backed she was shod for that.

The little one has such hard feet now she actually sounds like she has shoes on and the big one is getting there too. There may come a time when they need shoes but until then I will carry on how we are as they are fine. The bigger one is in harder work and does more mileage on the road but I am really happy with how her feet are shaping up. She has slightly squint front legs so I think it's better for her to be unshod.
 
Can't remember what the foal had it for but built up one side of a hoof so legs didn't damage when hoof was repairing.

I'll do a rubbish job of explaining. Have a Google, they're expensive but brilliant things.
 
Cortez said:
I prefer not to shoe, but have one that needs to be shod to do any work, Result; 3 unshod, 1 shod in front when in work, shod all round when in heavy work. I have been told on here that it's only my own stupidity that means I have to shoe the one, but IMO you do what your horse tells you and if she can't cope I'm not going to let her hobble, nor am I going to pfaff about with witches brews of potions and restrict her down to nothing in the way of grazing. NOTHING works all the time, for every horse.
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I can't recall anyone ever calling you stupid Cortez. I thought we all reached the conclusion that you need to shoe that horse for two reasons. One, because she works for her living as a film horse and has to be able to perform when required to earn a living. Two, because she is a horse who does not cope easily with inconsistent workload, as some don't, and the film work can vary wildly. Both of which, of course, are perfectly sound reasons to shoe her.
 
At the moment I have two barefoot. The big mare may be shod if our work load increases as it involves a lot of road work the little one has never been shod in her life and even with a lot of road work she maintains good feet.

My two old mares both had to be shod as they had flat feet and felt every stone and bit of gravel, I shod them for their comfort. I did try them barefoot but with the road work and sensitive feet it just never worked.

I treat each horse or pony as individuals, I don't shoe unless they really need it and I don't judge others for their decisions.
 
skint1 said:
This is an interesting debate, I am going to join you on the fence I think...and I have lemsips! (blackcurrant I think)



I think generally barefoot is probably best, but with the proviso that shoes are not evil either and for some horses are necessary for quality of life, in the same way as I need my glasses, my eyes are poor, glasses don't fix that but they do enable me to live a normal full life.
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I think that is a great way to put it x
 
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