Unshod and Hacking?

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tastetherainbow

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Hi...just been reading about barefoot horses on here. my cob had never worn shoes in his life. He's just turned 8 and this year he's done more hacking than he ever has. probably at least 4 hours a week. he's always has great feet but is this too much? i've read that their hooves will adapt to the amount of work being done...is this true and if so how long will it take? should i expect him to go footsore while he adapts?
 
My Ardennes X is 9 and has also never worn shoes.

He will do any amount of mileage necessary and his feet will grow faster in response to the stimulation received.

In all my years of learning about barefoot - I have never heard of one who wore it's hooves to bloody stubs due to work.

If you look around the internet, you will find alot of posts at this time of year about how people's horses have suddenly gone sore.

It coincides with the grass coming through.......
 
The more work they do, the faster and stronger their feet grow.

His feet might look short but if he's still confidently bouncing over all terrains then he's doing fine.

If he becomes a bit foot sore first look at his diet(lovely green spring grass won't do his feet any good) then temp cut his workload, or get him a pair of boots, for his feet to catch up: it usually takes a couple of weeks.
 
thanks guys...he's never been sore in his life but like i said he's also never done so much roadwork either. touch wood he's doing fine at the min but was just thinking about wether i should cut back on the hacking...how far/long do your horses ride out for? what are they fed?
 
Build up slowly to the hacking and he'll manage fine.

My horse did the common rides last year barefoot: 6-8hrs of fast road work. His feet have never looked better.

He gets a general supplement and as little grass as I can manage: he's not a classic laminitic type (small sports horse type) but gets sensitive feet on too much grass.
 
My Haflinger has never been shod (shes 8, had her since 3yo unbroken) and she does up to 4 hours hacking on rocky hill tracks/roads/moors. Shes done an 20k endurance ride too, in a fast time. Her hooves look very short compared with how long some farriers leave hooves but she hasnt become sore, nor have her feet worn away leaving only legs and fetlocks :-)))

My always shod semi retired hunter has now had his shoes removed too...wish Id done it ages ago, he didnt even seem to notice they had gone! Took backs off first and then fronts a couple of months later.

Heres the Haffie in typical terrain...(apology for photo of sack of tatties, we'd never done a stream before!)
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Edited to add she is fed only on hay/lo cal haylage and a handful of healthy hooves in the winter. Other than that just sparse grazing (and shes still too fat!)
 
Mine both hack out regularly on this sort of stuff, and MUCH worse! One is a (previously) flat footed Aa and the other (this one) is a PRE x, they have really only been working wthout shoes for about a year and had hoofboots a lot to start with - now only on long rides - over 10km say and only on the fronts. They have feet like iron and we often do 20km + of an evening.

I would say, mine eat no grass AT ALL unless we find a mouthful when we are out. Their forage is straw - grotty old wheat straw - and the occasional flake of baled oats if they have been working.

ETS - We hack between 2 and 4 hours each time, maybe three times a week. So 4 hours a week isn't going to bother your lad!

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lachlanandmarcus said:
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Am I right in suspecting that this was "Team Pony Power" at Corrachree last May? If so, the Spooky Pony is not far off the left edge of this photo... :D

OP, if you went from no hacking at all to 4 hours roadwork each DAY, you might have cause for concern. As it is, it sounds like he's doing absolutely fine.
 
If he's already doing at least 4 hours a week he's not doing bad is he? I'd keep an eye on him, but suspect he'll be fine. Roads aren't the most difficult surface for barefeet by the way.
 
Most horses that are used to barefoot would probably be OK.

I did have to put shoes on one of mine as he was getting sore feet with the hacking but have four others who are fine without shoes.
 
Agree with eggs, those unshod/barefoot for life are the best adapted to anything life can throw.

Wild horses move between soft/hard/dry/wet terrain in day even and still have hoof to walk on. Hooves are incredibly strong!

Even those new to barefoot can adapt exceptionally well. Through hundreds of years of shoeing, we've forgotten how tough hooves really are.

Here's mine, shod since 3 - 10. Barefoot 7 months - just after a 2 hour hack through road, forest, stone and shingle tracks:

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Thanks for all your replies...ye hopefully he will cope fine but he's doing about 4 hours a week not a day lol. i always try to put him on grass verges etc whenever possible but think i'll stop worrying about that now xx
 
Tinypony said:
If he's already doing at least 4 hours a week he's not doing bad is he? I'd keep an eye on him, but suspect he'll be fine. Roads aren't the most difficult surface for barefeet by the way.
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this thread interests me because my boy is barefoot, always has been to my knowledge - what do you think are the most difficult surface for barefeet?
 
I think that the most difficult surface for horses, shod or barefoot, are rough tarmac type roads which have been filled with chippings. Where the chippings sit on the road but cannot be pushed into the road surface by the weight of the horse. It's like standing on a three pin plug in your bare feet, if you want to get the feeling.

Barefoot horses tend to stumble a lot on this sort of surface as they feel the stones and attempt to take their weight off the foot. This is sometimes called being footy, but its not.

Shod horses on the other hand do not feel the stones to the same extent but will tread on them and cause extensive bruising to the sole and frog. There may be some advantage in the shod hoof where the chippings are small, but overall this cannot outweigh the disadvantages of shoeing to the health of the hoof/horse.
 
AndySpooner - mostly agree - although my best barefooters go over anything and don't seem to notice - but they are also physically fit so not prone to 'ankle' turning on stones and don't have thrush.

So long as people work their horses consistently road work et al are unlikely to be a problem. As always look at the Houston and Austen mounted police forces

6 X 8 hour shifts a week and none of their hooves wear out either. Sometimes the shifts are 12 hours. The only time they wear boots is for transition and riots.

Like a previous poster said - we have forgotten just how tough hooves are.


The biggest problem my client horses face is not enough work rather than too much and the horses with the worst feet are those that are 'molly coddled'. Get them out, get them working.
 
LucyPriory said:
AndySpooner - mostly agree - although my best barefooters go over anything and don't seem to notice - but they are also physically fit so not prone to 'ankle' turning on stones and don't have thrush.

So long as people work their horses consistently road work et al are unlikely to be a problem. As always look at the Houston and Austen mounted police forces

6 X 8 hour shifts a week and none of their hooves wear out either. Sometimes the shifts are 12 hours. The only time they wear boots is for transition and riots.

Like a previous poster said - we have forgotten just how tough hooves are.


The biggest problem my client horses face is not enough work rather than too much and the horses with the worst feet are those that are 'molly coddled'. Get them out, get them working.
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Agree completely Lucy, the question asked was which is the most challenging surface. Obviously, with everything in place no problem.
 
AndySpooner said:
Agree completely Lucy, the question asked was which is the most challenging surface. Obviously, with everything in place no problem.
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most challenging surface - sorry lost that in replying to OP about amount of road work. - good question - Normally I'd agree small stones over concrete and/or tarmac but I'm changing my view a little because I am finding that some schools/arenas can be more difficult.

That hard rubber stuff can be nightmareish - esp when its a bit deep and the underneath is coming up.

Taking my own as an example - she will happily bounce down the road (and I mean bounce) but used to dig her feet in and refuse to go in our rubber arena.
 
LucyPriory said:
most challenging surface - sorry lost that in replying to OP about amount of road work. - good question - Normally I'd agree small stones over concrete and/or tarmac but I'm changing my view a little because I am finding that some schools/arenas can be more difficult.

That hard rubber stuff can be nightmareish - esp when its a bit deep and the underneath is coming up.

Taking my own as an example - she will happily bounce down the road (and I mean bounce) but used to dig her feet in and refuse to go in our rubber arena.
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The most difficult surfaces our horses (7 of them) find are the really large flints or "knobbly" tracks in bridleways where the flints are fixed.
 
Wet grass is a bit tricky.... especially if you have to do circles.

However, I have a handy tip to avoid slippage: wait 'til it's dry :D

Although - can't be said for all barefoot equines - At times, I have a particularly dozy one.
 
Most difficult for mine are the bad 'ramblas' which are basically just loose stones/chippings about fist size, as they tend to roll under foot.

I have never got my head around how a shoe (fitted to the outer hoof wall) can 'protect' a horse's sole/frog from stone damage! If the shoe raises the foot sufficiently off the ground to clear biggish stones, surely the frog is not in contact with the ground and thus not performing its function of blood pump/shock absorber for the hoof (and the hoof wall is too long, lol!) and if it isn't, then the stones are STILL going to impact on the sole/frog...so why not go unshod if you can? It does take time to get them there though.
 
Just reading through this thread. What supplements/oils would you use? My farrier has suggested keratex hoof hardnerer or Nar Rock hard. She is fine most of the times except as you on stony ground.
 
Chico Mio said:
Most difficult for mine are the bad 'ramblas' which are basically just loose stones/chippings about fist size, as they tend to roll under foot.

I have never got my head around how a shoe (fitted to the outer hoof wall) can 'protect' a horse's sole/frog from stone damage! If the shoe raises the foot sufficiently off the ground to clear biggish stones, surely the frog is not in contact with the ground and thus not performing its function of blood pump/shock absorber for the hoof (and the hoof wall is too long, lol!) and if it isn't, then the stones are STILL going to impact on the sole/frog...so why not go unshod if you can? It does take time to get them there though.
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Absolutely correct, shoes don't actually stop bruised soles or frogs, but because there is less feeling in the feet it gives a false impression of protection. I've added this link from another thread which demonstrates whats happening in the hoof.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayEJacuoJ7I

As far as hoof hardeners go I tend not to bother with that sort of thing as a healthy barefoot hoof doesn't really need them.
 
After spending ££££££££££ on Farriers Formula and Keratex when I first broke in my filly and we started doing hard surface work, I eventually found that Healthy Hooves (Dengie) was just as good and lo cal, and now both the Haffie and the Hunter have that (she only gets a handful a day as shes too good doer, tho the Hunter likes his with Spillers H&P nuts as a garnish and as he's 18 he gets what he asks for :-)

Really wouldnt waste £££ on gold nugget supps when the HH is £8 odd a sack and they love the taste. Had to spend a lot of ££££ before I realised tho!
 
One is barefoot and currently doing 7-8 miles 6 days a week. Further at weekends. Also schooled on grass twice a week. 70% of the hacking is on roads or gravel tracks. Feet have always been brilliant, never needed boots and I've had him 8 years.
Another, kept the same, lovely, good feet, now shod on fronts as couldn't manage barefoot. Wore her feet down far too much and was uncomfortable. Dramatic change once shod, much more forward going. Prefer her with shoes than reducing her workload on the roads and being restricted to too much schooling.
 
she is currently on handful of fast fibre and handful of hi fi orignal. she has been fine all winter up untill recently and now is finding stoney ground difficult.

So what would u suggest then if not to go down the harderner rotue?

I only hack on weekends and occasionally once in the week.
 
I would replace fast-fibre with speedibeet as much higher in calcium and fast-fibre is heavily fortified so you could be giving her more nutrients than she needs. Have you changed paddocks recently Rosiesmum? If a bit sensitive, usually diet or something going on inside I've learnt.

Also, go on the UKNHCP or EPAUK forums as lots of really good experiences and suggestions for footiness on there.
 
didnt realise that bout fast fibre thought it would fill her up and still give her her vits an mins. will have to stay on this bag for now as only just brought it. was on lo cal but thought it would be cheaper. learn from ya mistakes.

funny u should say that but i have moved fields and she is now out 24/7 aswell.

thanks for the suggestions :)
 
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