will it do them any harm? barefoot for a few weeks

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showjump2003

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Won't bore you with it all but had huge difficulties with my farrier. Have just phoned a new farrier who can just about squeeze me in for next saturday but doesn't think he will have time to shoe both. My horses have always been shod and never been bare foot before. If he just took their shoes off and trimmed them then left them for a few weeks, would it do their feet any harm? Don't want to leave the shoes off for a week or two only for them to crack/get damaged? Sorry for sounding dim, not done barefeet before!
 
my farrier always seems pleased when I plan to have mine barefoot for a few weeks. He says it does their feet the world of good obviously providing your not hammering them on roads for the two weeks they are barefoot.
 
won't do them any harm, in fact I think its great to give the hoof a break, however they will be footsore for about two weeks, I'd advise keratex hoof hardener as my boy found it very painful to be barefoot for a few weeks after having been shod for years.
 
No, they aren't in work at the moment, won't be for a few weeks. They are turned out in the day and in on rubber mats at night.
 
Whenever ours are out of work the shoes come straight off. They are generally off for about 6 months, and the ones which have been here a while have no problems.
However, if we buy a new one, which has probably never had the shoes off since being broken they do get very sore. They will be verging on lame for a couple of weeks, and generally always get an abcess - have known a couple to have 3.
 
I never thought Hannah would cope without shoes (neither did my farrier, he was on about using plastic ones once the foal appears) because she has very flat feet. But she has really surprised both me and the farrier. I put her on Hoof Power Plus a few weeks before her shoes came off, and both he and I cannot believe how well her feet are looking.

I think it does them some good having shoes off, it gives the nail holes a chance to grow out.
 
If they were going to be out of work for a few months I would take them off but because they are coming back in to full work in 3/4 weeks time I don't want to take the shoes off now and risk them getting sore.
 
I'd think they'd be fine if they are out in the field or in on mats. Mr D has his shoes off for about three months over winter when he's schooled and not hacked out. Farrier always says it does him the world of good and is not a problem. This year he had them off but was having to walk in on a few hundred yards of road and he was foot sore on the road but fine in the school. I had his shoes put back on last month as i wanted to start hacking out again.
 
I did the same with my SJ stallion (anglo-arab) - always shoe less in winter (about 4 months) as due to the weather and a set up at the time I only schooled & jumped him in an indoor school on a good surface and he was turned out 5 hours a day. Never had any problems while barefoot despite being shod since he was 3 years old and always in shoes otherwise. He was however trimmed every 3.5 weeks while barefoot.
 
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