To shoe, or not to shoe, that is the question.

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Ponio_lover

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I'm sure this has been done to death but need some advice.
Farrier is due later this week. My mare has had a full set of shoes for at least 14 years. She is currently in very light work, in a school only as we have no hacking as straight onto the main road. Recently my costs have gone up as she's now on some long term medication for digestive problems, and a fellow livery pointed out that I could probably lose the back shoes, if not the lot. They are done every 5-6 weeks as it's controlled by the yard owner! So I'm paying constantly for shoes that are barely used.
I have never had an unshod horse so questions are really:
- can they transition after so many years??
- would it be better to take off backs first and see how she goes before making a decision on fronts?
Or
- stop messing about and whip 'em off?

All advice appreciated. Thanks!
 
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In your situation I'd take them all off.

my friend did a twenty three year old who had been in shoes since three years old. She never noticed and she was in full work. She did, though, stop grunting when walking downhill and her hollowed back rose and made her look years younger!

Yours is likely to be a little footie to start with, but you might be lucky, especially if you don't have to lead her on rough paths to turn out.

What gut problems and meds does she have? Horses with difficult digestion can find barefoot more difficult or even impossible.
 
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Yes, Yes, possibly do it in 2 stages depending on the feet, I took the shoes off a 30 year old who was in light work, he had been shod for 26 years as far as I know, he was absolutely fine, I did them in one go and he barely seemed to notice but his diet was already low sugar/ starch so he was as prepared as he could be, he continued to do light work for a couple of years before retiring fully but his feet never looked better than they did with no shoes on.
 
I'd take backs off and see what she's like but if she's doing very little I can't see why there would be a problem - albeit you need to monitor for any discomfrot and deal with it if it occurs
 
Thanks for all replies. YCBM, she is on Codeine Phosphate to stop her scouring and being bloated. Has worked a treat. Vet thinks her gut is irritated by the length of fibre she's consuming.
Her feet seem pretty good other than a bit of thrush in back feet when she was really scouring.
Do you think that would affect it?
 
Ponio_lover said:
Thanks for all replies. YCBM, she is on Codeine Phosphate to stop her scouring and being bloated. Has worked a treat. Vet thinks her gut is irritated by the length of fibre she's consuming.
Her feet seem pretty good other than a bit of thrush in back feet when she was really scouring.
Do you think that would affect it?
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That's interesting. If it's to stop inflammation then I think it might help. I can't see why that would be a problem. Have you tried brewers yeast? I feed 50g a day per big horse, it's been properly tested in humans and it's very good for the gut.
 
Thanks and yes I did. Tried Brewers yeast, as well as a whole host of well known products including Protexin. Unfortunately they just weren't strong enough to do the trick in this case. The Codeine however worked within a day!
 
Ponio_lover said:
Thanks and yes I did. Tried Brewers yeast, as well as a whole host of well known products including Protexin. Unfortunately they just weren't strong enough to do the trick in this case. The Codeine however worked within a day!
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Great. Try the shoes and see what happens, you can always put them back on :)
 
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