Why do we shoe by default rather than necessity?

as a practicing farrier all our clients are told that shoes should not be needed until wear exceeds growth as a general rule , there will always be an exception
 
soloequestrian said:
One of mine has four white socks, right up to his knees and wears black Boa's to hack sometimes. He always looks like he has made a huge fashion faux pas.
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I don't use Renegades very often as I prefer the Gloves but when I do people often comment on my horse wearing trainers or Nikes!

The Gloves are so close fitting that most people don't even notice you have boots on!
 
All this discussion has reminded me of the Eddie Izzard piece:

"The best thing with thimbles is to put one on each finger, and then you can do impressions of horses. (mimes tapping fingers) Horses with one too many legs, I suppose… ‘Cause they do have a metallic sound, don’t they, horseshoes? Well, horses have got hooves, they’ve got this bit of semicircular metal nailed to each and every foot! And that’s just a con! For centuries, blacksmiths saying,

“Is that your horse? Better nail a bit of semicircular metal to each of his feet!”

“Oh, no, thanks, it’s got hooves! Thanks very much.”

“No, better nail a bit of semicircular metal on. Have you ever had a blowout on a horse doing 70? Yeah…” (mimes horse getting out of control) “Steel radials, that’s what you want, mate! Are those anti-lock hooves?”

“Ooh, I’m not sure…”

It is. Perhaps it’s a big con, they’ve done it very successfully for centuries, but they were just trying with all hoofed animals. “You got any more in your farm? Cows! Bring them in, they’ve got hooves! And pigs and sheep, hooves the lot of them! I’ll put shoes… And your ducks and geese, get the whole bloody farm in! And your next door neighbour. The whole farm for 50 quid…” Ducks going around, going ‘clang, clang, clang…’ (points finger) “Quack!” Swimming out in the water… (mimes swimming and sinking, only to take off horseshoes at the end) They don’t do the breast-stroke, do they, ducks? They just (mimes duck swimming) Any duck doing that is really kind of crap. (moves from breast stroke to crawl) Yes… "

There is a bit more of it too at http://www.auntiemomo.com/cakeordeath/DAtranscript.html#of
 
soloequestrian said:
Presumably no-one would start with hard work anyway because none of the structures of a baby horse are up to it, and if people found that they could actually cope with the more challenging stuff, they wouldn't need to shoe till later. This was kind of what I was getting at in the first post, probably badly put though, that people presume the horse won't cope and so shoe it, rather than seeing what happens. What do you think about developing the digital cushion?
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Barging in to reply when I've only read this far and to agree with this 100%. From what I've learned shoeing at a young age two/three etc. seems to actually slow dramatically (or even stop) the development of horses feet, digital cushion, lateral cartilages etc. etc. WSo a horse shod from two to 20 could have the feet with development equivalent to a three year old and that's apart from any problems that may have been caused by shoeing if it's not done well.

Mta... The point the Farrier makes about decisions and care being down to the owner is a very valid and true one.

When I was a child before I had a pony I used to strap those round tobacco tin lids to my feet so I could sound like a horse!!!!! Imo there is a huge element of shoeing being ingrained in our culture like other aspects of horsemanship such as whips and spurs which are considered as essentials to many with no real thought about why...
 
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amandap said:
From what I've learned shoeing at a young age two/three etc. seems to actually slow dramatically (or even stop) the development of horses feet, digital cushion, lateral cartilages etc. etc. WSo a horse shod from two to 20 could have the feet with development equivalent to a three year old and that's apart from any problems that may have been caused by shoeing if it's not done well.
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Yes, this is what I was getting at. And the horses who do have a break from shoes presumably are often just resting in the field while on the break and so probably don't get much chance to develop these structures further. I wonder how many people who take shoes off for the 'off season' leave the horses unshod until the shoes are absolutely necessary (and yes, that could be argued to be 'never'), so for roadwork etc, rather than putting them on in advance of starting roadwork or faster hacking.
 
On breaking yards where I have worked the all start off with no shoes. This involves stoney paths/cobbles/roads. The do a lot of roaad work and get wear the feet down, when it comes to backing and they can feel their feet they are less likey to explode. When their feet where down they are shod normally after being in work after a couple of weeks, though often only front shoes are put on.
My 3 year old had rock hard feet so was never shod. My other horses are shod.
I don't just put shoes on for the sake of it but I do a lot of roadwork so their feet do where down. That is WHY you have shoes on, the horse working on hard surfaces with no shoes on will go footsore/lame if a lot of work is done. Some horses are better than other etc but people have being shoeing horses for hundreds of years for reason, not just for the sake of it!
All my horses are done by a registered farrier, would NEVER let a barefoot trimmer near my horses.
I have worked for some who used a barefoot trimmer so I have first hand experience of them.
 
Agree with is ^^^
also I have a 6yr old and 13 yr old who have never been shod in their lives and cope fine on the rds etc so would never shoe them but iv got 2 horses shod who just can not cope without shoes and tried for 14 months to get one off them over to bare foot and was doing him more harm than good. After that time he still couldn't walk on roads and any stone he hit he was lame and built his muscles up wrong where he was compensating for not walking properly. Not all horses can cope without shoes. I would never use a bare foot trimmer at all , farriers have under gone long hard training and would also trust them more.
 
Please don't start the barefoot trimmer bashing/ farrier bashing debate that happens so often on here - I think we could all agree that there are good and poor in both worlds. I do wonder though why farriers aren't getting more into hoof boots - or perhaps some are? The horse that went through a 14 month barefoot rehab which then failed would presumably have been sound with boots and pads?
 
I too agree with the poster , and have been wondering this for many years ,but the same applys to rugging and stabling .why if it's unnessuary .
But to original question I had this talk with my farrier who is a very down to earth and will tell you or not if horse needs shoes
He actually said alot of farriers will encourage owners to put shoes on not for the welfare of horses feet or benefit but for the benefit of there pockits
My youngsters will go bare foot inless foot sore and on the advice of my farrier
 
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