why do I get shoes put on my horse?

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ThePony

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Hi All,
Sure this seems a stupid question, but it has me a bit stumped!
My girl has good feet, though they do, despite my best efforts, get slighty dry in the summer. We do roadwork a couple of times a week tops and school on a mainly sand surface. Every six weeks without fail she has her feet done and new shoes - why do I do this! I just do what I have always done and what everyone else does without really thinking it through! Have tried to read up on barefoot stuff, but alot of the information doesn't seem to give much of a balanced view, lots of those 'converted' seem to be rather mad on it which makes it hard to make sense of the reasons (no offence intended!). My farrier, although being fab at shoeing, is poor on the talking side so is very hard to try and extract info from him!
So, what are you experiences please?
 
If she has strong feet it sounds like she'd be fine barefoot. My event horse is barefoot when not eventing and does very well. She's never sore, even straight after shoes come off.
 
I'm in the same postition as you, I do very little road work with my mare, she is only worked 4 days a week either in a sand and rubber school or on soft grass or a dirt track. She has excellent feet and already has the back shoes off.....I am so tempted to try barefoot but still have farrier some to check them every 6 weeks natch lucky for me she see's others at the yard on the same day so it wouldn't be a problem.
But I'm still scared to try
 
Hi glosgirl

I was very much like you until recently. I bought my first horse last May who was unshod when I bought her and doing just fine. Just like everyone else I had her fully shod and have continued to do this until I just changed farrier. After talking to him about her feet and what kind of riding I do we decided to remove her back shoes (I do just about the same kind of riding as you do).

She has now been without her rear shoes for about 2 weeks and her feet are totally fine.

Hope this helps.

Bessieboo x
 
Is your horse shod all round? I might start with taking back ones off if you are keen to try it out. My youngster is still unshod, and if/when my farrier recommends that he needs shoes, I will try front only at first.
I know what you mean about the "converted"! OK my horse doesn't have any shoes, but he is trimmed by a normal farrier and I just do it because it makes the most sense for us. I should probably add that my horse is an ID and has good feet!
 
Make farrier a cup of tea, give him a slice of cake and just ask!

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I have always had a farrier who puts shoes on only when needed. My horses/ ponies have been shod when their feet did not stand up to the work they were doing . Some of them have done lots of work on roads and never needed shoes, some have needed shoes part of the time according to their work.

I would suggest that if you want to try barefoot do as chestnut-mare has done and try the backs first. If your horse has no problems with it , then try the fronts. There are plenty of hoof boots around if you need them during then tranisition.

I currently have my horse shod in front, as only his back feet cope well without shoes.
 
I am married to a farrier and all my 4 are barefoot! If it suits the horse and with the amount of riding you do try it. Be prepared to be patient at first while your horse gets used to going barefoot and as someone above suggested maybe go barefoot with the hinds first. Good Luck!
 
I've only had my horse just over 6 weeks and she is my first horse - so I have no experience of making shoeing/non-shoeing decisions.

She arrived barefoot and her last owners said she had not had shoes with them. We had a farrier visit shortly after she arrived and she had a trim - he said she had nice strong feet.

I didn't even know there was a 'movement' ROL

Anyway, I have just started reading this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0851319602/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

and it does seem to be relatively unbiased either way. It seems that diet and exercise have a great deal to play in the 'health of the hoof'.

The advice to try back feet first sounds good, I do know of several horses that are just shod on the front.

Good luck.
 
i'd take shoes off most horses tbh - but also see the need for them and am not a die hard barefooter
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each to their own and all that jazz.

i only put shoes back on my mare when we needed studs but coped fine before then without - a few piccies below were taken when she was still barefoot
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i educated myself and trimmed her myself with my trims being checked occasionally by a barefoot trimmer.
 
My mare evented last season with 4 shoes and studs and had them all off in October. My farrier was more than happy for her to have them off as she has good feet and he felt she would cope well.

But, she's been absolutely fine without shoes. She's hacked once a week, twice absolute max and is ridden/ lunged 4/5 times in a sand/ rubber school.

She'll have them back on in March when we start eventing again.

If I'm honest, I did this to save myself some money and because the farrier said she's cope fine. With the ever- increasing costs of eventing, every little helps!

Really glad I took them off. It's made her so much more confident up and down hills out hacking because I think she has much more grip even though she has road nails in her shoes, she strides out downhill where as before she would be mincy occasionally on a steep incline.

Go for it, if it doesn't work she can just have them back on again.
 
If the amount of work a horse is doing is less or equal to the growth of his/her feet then there is no reason what so ever for them to have shoes.

A horse will tell you if it needs shoes or boots if that is your choice, by getting footsore.

Horses were not designed to be worked on unatural surfaces such as tarmac.

Some horse cope better whithout shoes and some need more work to keep them barefoot than an owner may be willing to provide. neither school of thought is wrong.

talk to your farrier!! And try having the backs off first.

Im sorry i dont have time for a longer reply i am in the middle of my working day. But i think the replies given so far should be sifficient advice for you to go off. I will reitterate though... talk to your farrier!
 
I too am considering barefoot for my boy, and can recommend" Feet First'.

My farrier is not encouraging , he thinks that 'cos neddy wears his back toes down it would not be good. But I am still thinking of trying !
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Hi,
wow, thanks for all your replies, great to get everyones view! I shall try pressing my farrier again for info. She has good feet so maybe backs off would be a good first step to see how she handles it. One thing I was wondering, on shoes they extend towards her heel - I understand this offers some support? How do barefoot horses manage without this?
 
"Feet First" is a great read and will cover all the aspects of being successful wiht a barefoot horse

You don't need shoes for roadwork - this is a total myth - in fact shoes are the last thing a horse would choose to walk on a hard surface with! How do you think your knees would feel after walking aned trotting on hard tarmac for an hour with steel soles!!! Yep - not good. And they won't slip if the don't have shoes.

I work all of mine barefoot. I was incredibly hostile to the whole barefoot concept initially and then did it with one horse to prove it was flowery nonsense - bu**er me it worked and the horse was so much better without them that I went with the rest and then actually started training with UKNHCP.
 
Hi, just to let you know my mare has her shoes off and has been so for a year now. We hack, road work sand school etc and she is fine. Infact when hacking out I completely forget she is shoeless, shows no difference to the others with shoes.

You have to build up the hardness on their feet mind, and at first she was a little bit footy on stoney ground but they soon harden and now no probs at all. If you can give it a really good go to properly test then that's the best you can do. The worst is, shoes back on. (but I bet you'll be fine).
xx
 
[ QUOTE ]
One thing I was wondering, on shoes they extend towards her heel - I understand this offers some support? How do barefoot horses manage without this?

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. Barefoot horses develop stronger internal structures of the hoof - they don't need the extra 'support' as it grows there as nature intended. Thousands of very sound wild horses galloping over incredibly rocky ground is testament to the strength of a natural hoof.

I took my horses barefoot in June last year and haven't looked back since - we compete endurance and cover many miles at speed. We haven't missed having shoes once. Your mare sounds like the perfect candidate but it's definitely more than just whipping the shoes off - you've got to look at diet too. Feet First is a good introductory text to find out more.

Oh and tarmac is one of the best surfaces for the newly barefoot horse to work on. I do lots and lots of roadwork with my lot - it's good because it's a smooth surface but hard. Working them on hard, abrasive surfaces stimulates the horn to grow faster and thicker and also stimulates the internal structures of the hoof to grow stronger... the sole, the digital cushion etc. Working only on soft ground - grass or artifical surfaces - will not enable the hoof to grow stronger so you should always try to work as much as possible on hard ground and once the hoof strengthens on even more challenging surfaces like rocks and stones.
 
I believe strongly in taking a horses shoes off for a period regularly to help their feet "heal". My farrier is very pro this too and agrees with me that putting a nail through the horses white line means it is pretty much a cretainty there is some level of white line disease there. Take the shoes off, allow the nail holes to grow out, then see what you are left with.

One of my Tb racehorses had dreadful feet but i put that down to his breeder shoeing him so early, when he stopped racing he came home and we took his shoes off for his holiday, i then managed 6 weeks walk/road work before we needed fron't on (He was getting a council trim from the tarmac but the camber of the road meant the feet were not quite wearing evenly.

He evented without hinds for a season but to be honest there was not enough grip in combinations and downhill so shoes were put on following season.

He grew a full foot in 7 months and he normally trashes the outside of his hind shoes in 4 weeks, his feet just grow to accomodate the work!

Its worth a shot, none of mine have any shoes on just now which means they can go out quite easily and not have the snow ball in their feet as much too!
 
I bought a TB a few months ago with appallingly long feet with a shoe shoved on the end of them (and the shoes were new!!!!) and i have my other horses barefoot - trimmed by a natural hoofcare practitioner, so i decided to take the shoes off this horse despite everyone telling me how he wouldnt cope being a tb and how bad his feet were...so far absolutely brilliant, no soreness, feet are actually resembling hooves again....yes your horse might be a bit sore when you first take the shoes off as it has had lumps of metal banged on to its feet before hand and has never been able to 'feel' but it will get used to it and will become a better horse...you wont look back. I'm quite an advocate for barefooted-ness, and i know what you mean about barefooted people being a bit 'one sided' but honestly, when you do the research, it does make you wonder why people still nail bits of metal on to live animals!!! Dont get me wrong - i have all my life until about 4 years ago when i researched into it! Good luck
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I evented five horses barefoot, affiliated level. I now hunt and have so far hunted three. All different types. One of them my farriers told me would never work without shoes. He evented to novice, fences to around four foot high, landings and take offs made of stone.

I was a total sceptic when I started, which I did through desperation to save my horse. The reason we sound evangelical is because it seems such a miracle that our horses don't need shoes when all the "experts" tell us that they do. The Farrier on here says that horses weren't designed to walk on tarmac. No - they were designed to walk on stone! Tarmac is one of the greatest conditioning surfaces you can ride on, especially when newly out of shoes.

If you try it you'll find out the benefits for yourself. Here's the downsides:

1) Shoeless horses have a stronger blood supply to the foot, and because of that, if they are at all prone to laminitis they will get symptoms earlier than shod horses. To balance that, you will know very early if your horse has trouble and can take him off the grass before the poisons that affect his feet also affect his whole body and overall health. But you may well have to restrict his grass intake during the summer daylight hours if you want him to be comfortable on all surfaces. If he's a sensitive case, he may need a very carefully regulated diet and for some people/horses that can be an awful pain!

2) Barefoot horses grow the best and strongest feet if they are in regular work. Many of them would not respond well to standing around all week and then doing a four hour hack on Saturday.

3) Most barefoot horses do best in winter if they can have a dry area to spend part of the day on without standing in a stable. Movement is good, wet all the time is not.

4) Some foot infections show more in barefoot horses. They don't get them any more than a shod horse, but stuff like thrush might lame a barefoot horse when a shod horse seems to have a partially numb foot and is less likely to feel it.

4) When you see what kind of feet your horse grows for itself, you are in SEVERE danger of becoming as big a foot fetishist as the rest of us - welcome!

Give it a go - what harm can it do - if you don't get on with it, just have the shoes put back on.
 
I took the hind shoes off my young dressage horse as soon as I bought him as he was a bit unbalanced and going through a forging phase.

I have always shod my horses but the youngster did so well with his hinds off and works so much on surfaces that it seemed logical to try the fronts off too.

My farrier still trims/ shapes every six week and always comments on how good his feet are.

Am not saying it suits all horses but def. seems worth trying. If it doesn't work, just shoe again.
 
both mine and mums horses are barefoot-one irish sports horse with textbook feet and my ex racer who has quite upright almost boxt feet (unusual for a TB!!!!), both hack once a week and school on a sand/rubber surface in between.

when i spoke to my TB's old trainer he was horrified i didnt have shoes on him, but honestly he grows super tough little feet and is never sore or sorry.

you can always put the shoes back on, it doesnt have to be all or nothing.give it a go and if it doesnt work, shoes can go back on.

i think a lot more horses could be BF than we give them credit for, but i do def see the need for shoes and would never say ALL horses could, or should, be BF.
 
Ditto cptrayes. Once you've done a lot of research into barefoot horses and what hooves SHOULD look like you come to realise the horrific damage shoeing does to the feet. Some horses are well shod and the damage is minimal. But I see more badly shod or damaged feet than not.
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However I am not totally anti-shoes. They have their place and there would be certain instances I'd consider shoeing my horses (i.e I'm planning on doing a lot of Common Riders with my horse this summer and his slowgrowing feet just won't stand up to it sadly
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)

As to why the majoirty of people shoes their horses -because it's easier. Slap on a pair of shoes and off you go until 6weeks later. Not thought required for conditioning, diet, husbandary and their effects on the feet. Having a barefoot horse often takes time and effort, unless you're lucky and have the occasional horse with the 'perfect feet', and to honest, it can be more trouble than it's worth sometimes....
 
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