To shoe or not?

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keepitugly

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I have a 5 year old that I bought from a field last year. He has never had shoes on, I broke him in over the winter and he's not been doing much at all until recently. Farrier says he has very good feet (I can upload photos). I was hoping to keep him unshod but I'm feeling a lot of pressure now to put front shoes on and I'm just looking for some advice and opinions.

I trotted him up for the physio end of last year and he said he looked a bit footsore but totally sound when I lunged him on a surface so I wasn't concerned.

Unfortunately until recently he's maybe been hacked once every 2 weeks for 20 minutes and that is all the roadwork he has done. He does walk slowly but I'm not entirely convinced that's him feeling his feet as he also does it on a surface. I've started to hack him now twice a week for about 20/30 minutes walking on the road to try and build it up.

Last week I took him out for a good 30 minutes and he felt good, forward and jogging to catch up with the horse in front. The next day I schooled him then went to just hack him round the block to cool off and he was quite footy as soon as he stepped onto the hard ground so I left it.

I left him off for 2 days then been schooling him a bit and he's been good. Hacked him again today and he felt fine, just his usual slow walking. Friend said she thinks he looks a bit short in front as if he doesn't want to stride out on the road. I'm feeling a lot of pressure to put shoes on him but I know conditioning their feet takes a long time.

Do I see it through, what can I do to help? How often and how long should I hack him for? Or should I just give in and put front shoes on?

He lives out on a well grazed field with hay, he isn't overweight or underweight. He is fed on thunder brooks chaff, spillers high fibre cubes and forage plus balancer. He's a Connemara.

Thanks in advance.
 
"I'm feeling a lot of pressure to put shoes on him but I know..."

You know. :)

If he's skipping along the roads for 30 minutes at a time then he's not suffering. IME unshod horses can skip on tarmac and pick their way along a stony farm track where of course all the shod horses hammer a trot. I've always found it difficult hacking out with shod horses as they want to go fast where I prefer to go a bit slower (not had a rock-cruncher in company!).

But, as others have said hoof boots will give you peace of mind and you could always ask over at the facebook barefoot forum.
 
Thank you for your replies.

I'm completely clueless about using boots, how do you use them? I mean if he has boots on while I'm hacking him then his feet won't get used to it?

I hacked him again with someone this morning and he felt very good on the way out, then on the way back he started to get slower and was sore when he stood on a few stones. I'm really stressed about what to do as people are starting to get quite nasty about it. They don't understand why I won't shoe him and I can't explain it to them, I hate to think people think I'm being cruel and selfish. Someone said this morning "just stop being stupid and bloody put shoes on it if it's footsore" then rambling on about roadwork and needing shoes. Then someone else saying I'm going to make him backwards thinking and ruin him if I don't put shoes on him because he walks too slowly.

I'm feeling really worried they're all talking behind my back and do think I'm cruel. I think I'll just try to hack him alone for now so I don't have to talk to anyone about it or constantly apologise for being so slow. It's just difficult as I wanted to build his confidence hacking with another horse but I think he'll be okay.

How often is right to hack him and build it up? And what about with the boots, could you please give me a link to the Facebook group?

Thanks again I really appreciate it.
 
why not try using boots for a while and if he is much more forward going this will confirm that he is feeling uncomfortable and you can then make an informed decision. you could continue to use boots and maybe try to leave them off after a couple of weeks to see how he is. his feet could improve and you may be able to do without shoes...however, not all horses are happy without shoes and you may have to shoe him eventually so he is comfortable. you must listen to your horse!!!!!!
 
Yes the horse's comfort must come first, but boots have one big advantage over shoes - you can put them on when needed and then them off at the end of the ride. You can also still ride the horse on surfaces that it's comfortable on BF.

Boots have come on a long way and they really are a viable alternative to shoes with horses that don't need studs for competition, but just need a bit of extra protection in certain circumstances (eg newly unshod, if doing a long route compared to normal or a stoney route if the horse isn't rock crunching).

I can remember seeing this photo of a horse going up Cougar rock during the Tevis cup in Renegade boots and thinking how I would get my mare some to try, before resorting to shoes, if the situation arose where she stopped coping BF.

Bo_Cougar_Rock_2012-1024x1019.jpg
 
Don't worry I am listening to him very carefully.

The more I read about barefoot horses the more I really want to give him a chance, I've just been reading the rockley farm pages and other links on there and it is so interesting. I think I'll definitely just give him more time and hack him a few times a week at his own pace and see where we are after that. I know it's very dramatic and people think it's daft but I really, really don't want to put shoes on as I'm worried it'll cause damage to him in the long run. I've had such a nightmare with my other horse, I'm now trying to barefoot rehab him as a last chance, I don't want to go through that again.
 
Sorry faracat posted at the same time as you. I will definitely look into boots before shoes. I don't think he's bad or really footy at all I just know he's not 100% comfortable over hard surfaces which is understandable as he's just lived in a field all his life until recently.

Thank you.
 
mine was barefoot but as we increased hacking I thought he felt short in front, everyone else thought he looked ok, I put hoof boots on (had some old macs) and he felt so much better that I decided to shoe! Have never regretted it, he is off games injured at moment so barefoot and from day one coped with stone yard fine.
 
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