what to do with first timer barefoot?

[jackessex]

hi all ive been told the local hunt are coming to my area this sat,im desperate to go but my chap has never hunted he is 8 and this yr has gone barefoot,he is hacking for about an hr ish most days and i was thinking of taking him maybe for an hr or two and seeing how he gets on,would this be exceptable?we dont have many that are within hacking distance so if i dont go now i dont know when i will be able to take him again but my concerns are that
A) he will be a complete nuttter
B)his feet wont be able to take it,ie he will be so pumped up that he will not give a true indication about how he is coping with the ground
what do you guys think?

 

[Herne]

You will inevitably be doing a fair amount of road-work. Get him shod. If you don't, you'll only end up wishing you had...

 

[ThePony]

Go for it! Call the sec first and they can let you know when might be quieter - some have mummies mondays or similar which are rather calmer and with less jumping than the other meets. Stick without the shoes, you can go belting down the roads with everyone else without having a mega stress about concussion or slipping! If the ground you will be hunting over has a tendency to be rough or flinty then make sure he is comfortably covering this sort of going on hacks before you contemplate hunting over it.
Enjoy!

 

[forestfantasy]

This ^
It sounds like you do plenty of roadwork in the week so that won't be a problem for you, my horse hunts with just fronts, no reason for you to shoe as long as he is comfortable

 

[hunting mad]

You will inevitably be doing a fair amount of road-work. Get him shod. If you don't, you'll only end up wishing you had...

I agree

 

[Suziq77]

This ^
It sounds like you do plenty of roadwork in the week so that won't be a problem for you, my horse hunts with just fronts, no reason for you to shoe as long as he is comfortable

Mine hunts with just fronts too.

 

[cptrayes]

You will inevitably be doing a fair amount of road-work. Get him shod. If you don't, you'll only end up wishing you had...

I agree

I don't.

As someone said, make sure that he is currently comfortable on stony ground. His feet may wear, but they will regrow in a week and your only problem will be completely unrelated to shoes, which is whether he is fit enough. If so have fun like we do:

http://gallery.myff.org/gallery/1169422/radar+hedge.jpg

 

[Clava]

Admittedly it was dry, but we had a fantastic time hunting with hoofboots on (Gloves.)
but next time no boots!!

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=490607

 

[BringoutheBest]

I hunt mine for hours with no shoes at all, and he is never footy or sore the day after. I'd say go for it
We don't tend to do much roadwork at all with our local hunt, quite a few stony tracks and old railways though. Saying that, the stones are usually covered with a few inches of mud anyway. Like I said, mine copes fine unshod so you can only try it and see!

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

I've been hunting my youngster barefoot. We do a lot of roadwork as well as off road/schooling/started jumping the farrier came this week and said you couldnt tell from looking at his feet! he advised NOT to shoe him unless he gets footy/needs studs

 

[jackessex]

thanks everyone who said about the barefoot hunting ive decided i will be taking him out but have a slight prob with low grade lami at the mo so the fun has had to go on hold till i get him sorted again.just out of interest i have some boas that fit him very well has anyone hunted in them as i wondered how they hold up??

 

[cptrayes]

I wouldn't unless you are absolutely certain you will not be going through mud, plough, rivers or up and down steep banks. They will either come off, rub or get full of yuk and I found them slippery on steep grass banks. Hunting and hoof boots really do not mix!

 

[jackessex]

I wouldn't unless you are absolutely certain you will not be going through mud, plough, rivers or up and down steep banks. They will either come off, rub or get full of yuk and I found them slippery on steep grass banks. Hunting and hoof boots really do not mix!

no rivers but everything else and the mud is deep clay!!!so boots are out then

 

[Goldenstar]

Boots defiantly a no no if it's clay. Ifvyou have a low grade lami I shudder to think what he will be like after a day where go end up moving quickly along the roads.
I feel you will need to shoe him the thing with hunting is when the field go's it's hard to save your horse unless you have a companion horse with you and you know the country well.
Also autumn hunting is now ending and that is the time to bring out first timers so if you do go out check with the secretary that it's a suitable some meets tend to be 'bigger' than others and you need a quieter day for first timers.

 

[maggiesmum]

Boots defiantly a no no if it's clay. Ifvyou have a low grade lami I shudder to think what he will be like after a day where go end up moving quickly along the roads.
I feel you will need to shoe him the thing with hunting is when the field go's it's hard to save your horse unless you have a companion horse with you and you know the country well.
Also autumn hunting is now ending and that is the time to bring out first timers so if you do go out check with the secretary that it's a suitable some meets tend to be 'bigger' than others and you need a quieter day for first timers.

OP has said they're putting plans on hold till LGL is sorted, once sorted and horse is sound and working happily on hard ground again there's no reason why she shouldn't hunt without shoes, plenty of us have and do and we don't need to save the horse, in face quite the opposite as we have better shock absorbing abilities. I'd rather move quickly along a road on a barefoot horse than slide all over the shop on a shod one.

 

[Goldenstar]

My friends barefoot horse came downwith her when it slipped and shattered her leg my point to OP is that they don't know how the horse will cope or behave and low grade lami would put a question Mark over the horse on this yard for ever for any type of conncussive work.

 

[maggiesmum]

Do you think the only reason the horse slipped was because it wasn't wearing shoes?
I've seen loads of falls / slips out hunting by shod horses and theres usually a faller at every HT and they wear studs so I don't really accept that argument and on a road you get better traction with an unshod horse than a shod one.
I agree they have no idea how the horse will react to hunting but then we all had to start somewhere, common sense dictates that first timers check with the secretary as to whether it will be suitable day to try a new horse.

I'm glad none of my horses are on your yard - if you'd write off a horse thats had LGL then my ex navic/LGL TB (and the warmblood I hunted before him) would have been off to the knackers a long time ago, fortunately he thinks differently.
If you were to remove the shoes of all the horses on a yard you'd be truly shocked at how many of them suffer from low grade lammi, shoes mask the problem and incidentally add to the concussion!

 

[Goldenstar]

No horses are on my yard but mine.
You implied in your post that your horses slip less on the road because they are unshod having had horses both barefoot and shod I don't think it makes any difference just like a person can slip barefoot or wearing shoe so can a horse.
I am not anti barefoot and I know non of my horses suffer low grade lami and they all spend part of the year unshod, I have a dressage horse who is about try a period of barefoot to see if it suits him.
my comment about the quiet meet was intended to help the OP I got the impression that she had not hunted much if at all and I thought that she might not realise that in most countries some meets are usually more fast and furious of course it's always possible that a quiet day is a big day and vice versa.

 

[Goldenstar]

I should have added that I would never send a horse to the knackers because it had low grade lami I just would not give it a concussive job to do hunting with us can mean a lot of roadwork at times so I would find it another job likewise driving horses have a lot of concussive work so I would give that a change of job.
By the way no horse has ever left here to go to the knackers they walk out of their stables and round the corner towards thefield and are PTS here.

 

[Clava]

You implied in your post that your horses slip less on the road because they are unshod having had horses both barefoot and shod I don't think it makes any difference just like a person can slip barefoot or wearing shoe so can a horse.
.

Barefoot horses slip a great deal less than shod ones on the road, without a doubt! When we went hunting and trotting down the road the shod horses were slipping all over the place, especially downhill, the three barefoot horses hunting were not slipping. I think some of the shod riders hardly notice how much their horses are slipping.

On wet and slippery mud but with a hard surface below (i.e chalk or hard ground with mud over it), then some barefoot horses do have less grip, my tb has tiny hooves and does slip, my friend's cob with huge hooves, doesn't. My haflnger doesn't slip.

 

[Goldenstar]

Slipping is always greatly affected by a horses way of going as well some are also much cleverer than others and know to adjust there steps on sloppy Tarmac we have two hunters who experienced and really never slip but my5yo is still bit wet behind the ears has not really got yet that's he can do things to stop it he's funny he just walks a few step then trot on but I had horses that just did not seem to care that they were slipping .

 

[Goldenstar]

I of course meanlt slippy not sloppy Tarmac sloppy Tarmac would cause a whole new set of problems

 

[cptrayes]

No horses are on my yard but mine.
You implied in your post that your horses slip less on the road because they are unshod having had horses both barefoot and shod I don't think it makes any difference just like a person can slip barefoot or wearing shoe so can a horse.

You HAVE to be kidding! Barefoot horses particularly love SMA and riders of shod horses have raised a petition about it being dangerous. I can assure you that on 1 in 5 hills in a National Park, my horses slip an order of magnitude less than they did in shoes.

 

[cptrayes]

My friends barefoot horse came downwith her when it slipped and shattered her leg my point to OP is that they don't know how the horse will cope or behave and low grade lami would put a question Mark over the horse on this yard for ever for any type of conncussive work.

The question mark is over its diet, not concussion. The horse is sensitive to grass (we know from another forum). Once he has been restricted from the high sugars in the autumn grass he will be fine.

 

[cptrayes]

Jackessex can you find a drag hunt? They tend not to leave people behind and often have a "sweeper" bringing up the rear, so they are great for first timers. If you do get left behind, there will be a check at regular intervals so you can catch up. And because there are regular checks you know you will not overtax a novice horse with too long a run. It's great fun, particularly if you hunt to gallop and/or jump and not primarly to watch hounds or be seen to be out on horseback.

 

[Jesstickle]

Was pointed to this post as I posted in NL about taking my horse out bare foot. Never hunted before but he does all his road work and showjumping without shoes. I am happy to put fronts on if people think he needs them but am umming and ahhing at the moment. What do other people think. I haven't known him to be footy apart from in the spring but we don't have many stony tracks for me to try him out on round here, most of our road work is just that, road work.

 

[jackessex]

Jackessex can you find a drag hunt? They tend not to leave people behind and often have a "sweeper" bringing up the rear, so they are great for first timers. If you do get left behind, there will be a check at regular intervals so you can catch up. And because there are regular checks you know you will not overtax a novice horse with too long a run. It's great fun, particularly if you hunt to gallop and/or jump and not primarly to watch hounds or be seen to be out on horseback.

thankyou cptrayes,what i was thinking was taking him out localy to one near the yard then if he struggles i can hack home,or get my mother to meet me with box,no drag hunts near us im afraid,he will be ok with long runs as ive spent probably to much of the summer charging round stubble
it was rds i was unsure of as athough we have been doing a few miles on rds i havent charged up them like a nutter!!!!

 

[jackessex]

No horses are on my yard but mine.
You implied in your post that your horses slip less on the road because they are unshod having had horses both barefoot and shod I don't think it makes any difference just like a person can slip barefoot or wearing shoe so can a horse.
I am not anti barefoot and I know non of my horses suffer low grade lami and they all spend part of the year unshod, I have a dressage horse who is about try a period of barefoot to see if it suits him.
my comment about the quiet meet was intended to help the OP I got the impression that she had not hunted much if at all and I thought that she might not realise that in most countries some meets are usually more fast and furious of course it's always possible that a quiet day is a big day and vice versa.

hi im not worried about him slipping as since hes been out of shoes he hasnt slipped on the road at all,which is great as he did all the time in shoes,when i posted first timer barefoot i ment first time for the horse barefoot ive hunted loads of times both with bloodhounds and local pack.