Thinking of taking back shoes off

clevelandbay

clevelandbay

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Hi all,

Since moving yards we are not doing very much hacking out (a, because we have a fantastic arena and b, the new yard is located on a very fast road!). I'm thinking of having my girlies back shoes taken off (financially - every little helps and all that!)

Rosie is 16 and Cleveland bay x TB and has quite good feet. Poppy is sports horse (TB type but not a skinny minny) and is 12 - her feet aren't bad for her type although she does occasionally throw shoes.

Just wondering if anyone had any experience of doing this? What can I expect? I know they may be footy and sore for a while - how long will this last?

Should I be feeding them a supplement or applying any hoofcare products? Anything else I need to consider?

Any advice gratefully received.
 
Often take all my lads shoes off in winter - just have to be sympathetic to them being a bit footsore to begin with but if your horses have good feet & you continue to have them trimmed regularly it should be fine.
You're only having the back shoes off so they'll probably notice that less & be less sore than having fronts off.
One thing I apply to his hooves which my farrier swears by is Kevin Bacon hoof dressing - marvelous stuff!
 
The first thing I did was whip the back shoes off my pony when I bought him. He didn't show any signs of being sore or footy but the transition can bring some discomfort for some horses.
With care and consideration, you can get your horse through this transition without too much difficulty.
The current issue of Horsemanship Magazine discusses barefoot and is a good read.
 
I've only just had to put backs on my two girls because i've moved to a very stoney area. Before they were both bare behind as we rode on either roads, in the school or new forest heath.. one is full TB and one ID x TB and both do have good feet. I used to stay at 6 week trims and put Keratex hoof hardener on - who knows if it does any good but i figured it can't do any harm!

With your one that loses shoes i'd say you'll have to give it a go, but if her feet are a bit flaky/ soft you may well end up going back to shoes with her...
 
Mine kept pulling his shoes off, he was having corrective shoeing as he is a bit wide behind, so this time last year we took his back shoes off. He is connie x iberian. At first yes he was footy on stony ground, but fine in field, arena and smooth road. I ended up getting him some hoof boots as he just seemed uncomfortable if we hacked out for more than an hour on wet days when his feet were softer.
One year on and he has done brilliantly all summer. Only after damp weather do his feet seem tender so he wears his hoofboots to hack out on those occasions.
My farrier checks the feet every 6 weeks when he does the fronts, and actually hasn't needed to trim them at all! He just tells me to ride him on the road without boots for a bit which wears down the growth if they are getting long. The natural shape the hooves have taken is nice and upright. The hoof shape also compensates for his gait and he actually moves straighter as a result.
It was a tricky one to weigh up whether corrective shoeing OR barefoot would cause more wear to his joints, so we decided to try it and so far, so good.
 
My last mare was full TB, very fine legs and TINY feet (the rest of her wasn't what I would describe as fine ;) Wierd horse..) and I had her back shoes whipped off because she was quite dominant in her field. origionally it was only going to be for a few weeks.. but it turned into nearly 3 years, she was fine without them.
 
I have a 23yr old tb ex-racer...she is now retired goes out everyday and has not had backs on for years now...she has tiny feet but they are strong and my blacksmith says very good. she still has fronts on becaue we tried to go all round barefoot but she couldnt get over being footsore on the stones on her fronts. she would always want to walk on the grass to and from her stable...so we gave it a few weeks but no go...she is fine with her backs though.
She has arthritis in her hocks and it was actually considered a good idea as her feet will wear better and to the way she compensates for her arthritis...she is on various supplements for it.
She often used to catch her legs with her hind shoes too...since no shoes and no brushing boots she has been miles better!
 
Ned has never had back shoes on, mainly because he tries to kick the farrier! We can't have that. He's fine and so are the others at the yard who don't have them. :)
 
I made the decision to take my boy's back shoes off three years ago. At this point I had owned him for 2 years and although I had eventually found a supplement which worked for him (farriers formula) and his horn quality was improving it was taking time to grow down, so he was still constantly losing back shoes, often every two weeks!*
Combined with his poor quality hoof, he also had been diagnosed with PSD in both hinds (suspensory ligament damage), which had occurred before I owned him (that's another story), as a result he had to be sedated to shoe his backs. Without sedation he once broke a stable door pulling it out of the breeze block wall as he bolted into a stable trying to escape the farrier. While I was considering this option the farrier came and reached a point where a shoe could not be nailed on, so my decision arrived.
It was the best thing I ever did, not only from a financial view, but also a *health point of view for my horse. I no longer had to regularly sedate him, but once he got over some initial soreness (prob about 2 months)
his hoof quality improved massively. Now, he copes with plenty of hacking and schooling, (when other injuries aren't holding things up - he's a self harmer lol). His backs are regularly trimmed by a DAEP approved trimmer, and his behaviour has improved but he still has issues due to remembered pain. I don't ask my farrier to do them because at the moment he's perfectly behaved for him doing his fronts and I don't want that to change and I now have a fantastic farrier that I don't want to upset, as I say he still has bad days.*
 
BenjaminBunny said:
I made the decision to take my boy's back shoes off three years ago. At this point I had owned him for 2 years and although I had eventually found a supplement which worked for him (farriers formula) and his horn quality was improving it was taking time to grow down, so he was still constantly losing back shoes, often every two weeks!*
Combined with his poor quality hoof, he also had been diagnosed with PSD in both hinds (suspensory ligament damage), which had occurred before I owned him (that's another story), as a result he had to be sedated to shoe his backs. Without sedation he once broke a stable door pulling it out of the breeze block wall as he bolted into a stable trying to escape the farrier. While I was considering this option the farrier came and reached a point where a shoe could not be nailed on, so my decision arrived.
It was the best thing I ever did, not only from a financial view, but also a *health point of view for my horse. I no longer had to regularly sedate him, but once he got over some initial soreness (prob about 2 months)
his hoof quality improved massively. Now, he copes with plenty of hacking and schooling, (when other injuries aren't holding things up - he's a self harmer lol). His backs are regularly trimmed by a DAEP approved trimmer, and his behaviour has improved but he still has issues due to remembered pain. I don't ask my farrier to do them because at the moment he's perfectly behaved for him doing his fronts and I don't want that to change and I now have a fantastic farrier that I don't want to upset, as I say he still has bad days.*
Click to expand...

I'm glad it worked out so positively for you. In the initial couple of months while he was sore, did you work him carefully (ie on a surface only), and build up to hacking on roads etc?
 
this is an interesting thread, as I to am just about to take the plunge next week and take hind shoes off both my two horses for the winter. my farrier doenst think they should have any trouble, so I am hoping all will be well as they both have excellent feet, live out 24/7 ,we have lots of nice grass hacking and smooth roads, plan to do some SJ and dressage over the winter, but all on a surface, so they should be fine, I guess only time will tell though!
 
Taken the back shoes off mine as most of our hacking is grass so didn't see the point. Only put them on if we need studs for comps. Was absolutely fine - most of the weight tends to be carried on the fronts anyway, so fronts are more of a problem. I wouldn't deliberately go miles on flinty tracks as soon as he's had the backs off but other than that should be no problem. Much better grip on any roads you do go on too - at least at the back end.

If you did have significant trouble, probably time to sack the farrier!
 
I had the back shoes taken off my lad at the beggining of this month...

Thank god he wasn't foot sore at all, but the last week or two, his hooves have started to chip at the bottom where the old nail holes were. I've spoken to my farrier about it, and he said it's nothing to worry about, quite normal. He's not sore or anything.

So all went fine, I would just watch out for the bottoms chipping a bit where the nails have come out, but if he's anything like mine, he'll be fine :D

Good luck x
 
My Horse has no back shoes either. She came to me like that and has brilliant feet so haven't put any on her since she's been with me. My farried also says that her feet are very very good. She onyl gets fotty on one particular hack. Were it's a bit stony up the hill. But thats it.
 
none of ours have back shoes, we have a 31 y/o tbx who's hopping lame infront without but fine with no backs, a 15 y/o ISH, 13 y/o cob (none at all) 12 y/o mini warmblood and a 5 y/o arab x warmblood. My ex racer was only shod infront too and a couple of ponies bought as projects, none have had backs on in about 4 or 5 years.

All adjusted immediatly and also since we took the backs off about 4 years ago we have not had any kick injury vet bills at all. Do it!! Unless there's a conformational issue I wouldn't be paying for shoes behind without atleast trying them without.
 
when i got my horse 14 months ago i took her back shoes off, i have never had a problem with her being lame or footy, but saying that she has really good hooves.
I do a mix of roadwork and schooling.
 
If any of you whose horses are footie behind with no shoes on want to sort that out, you could do with searching this forum for the barefoot threads which will give you a lot of information on diet changes which could very likely remove the sensitivity. Plenty of us are hacking horses with no shoes on at all over severe surfaces with no problems, but many of us have had to adjust our horses' diet to achieve that.

The principles are a good diet for any horse - low sugars, low carbohydrates, high fibre and a proper mineral balance (which depends on what minerals are in your grazing and your hay/haylage).
 
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hey there. thought I would give an update on back shoe removal, after taking them off both of our horses over two weeks ago, I am very very happy to report, no problems whatsoever with either of them!!! even out on the roads, in fact we are now not slipping when going downhill on some of the more worn and slippery country lanes, so, a very good result and a huge saving with my farrier bill as well!
it will be interesting in the spring to see if they would need them back on again, as plan to do some low level eventing..although we dont really use studs, does anyone on here event either with front shoes only or barefoot, be very interested to hear their comments !! ??
 
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