Do you shoe you horse or let them go barefoot?

Question

I was just wondering how many people shoe their horses and who don't? and what kind of riding do you do with them?

Answer 1

Well I am right in the middle with that - I have 2 that are shod at the front only, 1 that is shod all around and 1 that is barefoot.

They all do approximately the same amount of work - a lot of that is roads and hard packed trails, some gravel,, some mud, some grass. We also do a bit of jumping here and there.

Edit> My farrier comes around every 7 weeks

Answer 2

My off the track thoroughbred doens't need shoes..well so far

he's raced and never needed shoes, he can walk and trot on gravel just fine!

havn't cantered him on gravel yet

and does pavement well!

never been shoed in his life and he has better feet than alot of Qh's i ride with, and he's the only TB i've seen so far with such good feet,  i dunno if it's breeding or what...he has man o war lines... maybe man o war had good feet too???

i'm training him for jumping so we'll see if his "hooves of steel" reputation will hold up!

Answer 3

My Haflinger gelding is barefoot.  Well, he was barefoot, then his previous owners put fronts on, but he's back to barefoot.  He's got nice strong feet, and we do loads of trails.  Most of the footing is fairly soft, but we've crossed roads, and harder-packed dirt, and he's as agile as a mountain goat crossing rocks.  I'm definitely pleased with him, I've considered boots, but so far they haven't been necessary.

Answer 4

yes, my horse gets all four feet shod (much to the dismay of the checkbook....)

i event with my horse, mostly dressage, and LOTS of riding out it a grass field/track

At first he only had his front feet done but then a serious fall (right over sideways with me on him) prompted us to do his back feet also for the extra grip, and to help with jumping.

He does have really nice feet though, only cracked once (a little tiny one) in the time I've known him because the ground was so dry.. he probably could go barefoot but in general we do better shod.

Answer 5

I don't shoe any of my horses. They do just fine. Some never even need their hooves trimmed. I ride them on all kinds of surfaces, including gravel roads. They are less likely to slip on paved roads when barefoot than when shod. From studies if wild horses and unshod domesticated horses, it has been found that barefoot horse have stronger and healthier hooves.

Answer 6

my cob gets shod every 6 weeks.

he gets ridden 6days per week for about an hour a day.

my old pony has very good black feet. she started of bare foot but she became very footsore on her fronts so she has fronts every 6 weeks and just her back trimmed.

i spose it all depends on the type of surfaces you are riding on and how good your horses feet are :)

Answer 7

One of my horses needed shod, the other didn't. Both were used as trail horses, but Candy's hooves were much softer than Kody's. Candy got all four hooves trimmed and shod, but Kody only needed a trim. Candy was also a western gaming horse as well as trail ride. Kody was used to work cattle and trail ride.

Answer 8

it all depends on the size of horse and what ur doing with the horse

Answer 9

A lot of the horses at my barn go barefoot, especially the school ponies that are usually just ridden in casual lessons. Most of the show horses/ponies that jump often have shoes, though.

Answer 10

My pony is shoed.  He was barefoot for a while when he was injured and not jumping like we usually do, (because they werent necessary because he wasn't working) But now he's back and to be safe he has shoes again.

If you do and hard working or eventing your horsie should have shoes =] keeps their hoofs from cracking and worse.

Answer 11

i dont cause he acts better without shoes and jumps way better he has great feet and is 23 years old and has only once wore shoes for a day and he has no joint problens

Answer 12

Well all mine are currently barefoot. I usualy try and keep them as natural as possible. If i do put shoes on, it is sliders and they go on the reining horses that are going to be shown

Answer 13

If your are gonna ride a horse then yes they need to be shoed and if you dont ride a horse then no they dont have to be shoed but its good to shoe them. =))

Answer 14

Both my horses are barefoot for now, but one of my horses gets shoes on for showing

-I don't ride the one that goes barefoot all the time

- the one that sometimes has shoes on, currently just gets trotted around for 10-20 minuets when I feel like getting on her. But she will be doing dressage when I move her over to a different barn, and will continue to go barefoot as I'm not showing her this year.

Answer 15

i have a barefoot horse. she does just about everything on anything... i have a special barefoot farrier who has spent three years on some horses fixing their hooves because shoes are horrible for their hooves.. in time any horse can go solidly without shoes... they just break down the hooves.

Answer 16

I agree with what you are doing.....why put shoes on unless the farrier determines it is necessary?  They are way better off without them unless there is a problem to address.

Answer 17

it is really important to put horse shoes on the horse because it protects their hooves from damage and injury, but you have to take them off and put other ones on i think about once every year... i'll have look into that. hope this helps!

Answer 18

both of my horses are barefoot because i ride on trails or dirt roads. Usually you shoe your horse when you want to ride on pavement.

Answer 19

Mine has all 4 feet shod. Rocky, hard ground = bad for my horse's foot if left bare. I do 3-day eventing on him, and ride him around 4-6 times a week right now. If I left him barefooted, he'd be sprouting flares and chips everywhere =P

Answer 20

I do both. On horses that are being worked quite a bit. The horses that are not being worked very much then they go barefoot.

Answer 21

About half of our horses have at least their front feed shod. None of the ponies are shod. They are all used pretty lightly for therapy. The ones used more often for REAL riding have all four hooves shod. And the vast majority of those horses are TB crosses, so they have pretty crappy hooves to start with. They all walk at least a little bit on pavement, but most of the time they are ridden on trails or in the indoor or outdoor rings with okay footing. It's been pretty wet here recently, so the big guys have been having trouble with losing shoes and their hooves cracking as a result. A couple of them have had their hooves built up with a polymer, because their hooves are too brittle to hold shoeing nails.

With 36 horses, the farrier ends up coming out about twice a week, so it's no big deal if someone loses a shoe or needs a trim.

Answer 22

BAREFOOT all the way...I'm glad you asked because most people think if they show then they need horse shoes,I used to think this too until I read a few articles so I'll share what I learned...a horses hoof expands upon impact allowing for a cushy landing...almost like gel inserts in sneakers...a horse shoe restricts this...many people think that as horses age joint etc. problems are normal well not necesslairy, a study was recently done and to make things short the horse with bare feet had very minimal jiont issues...think of it like this horse shoes and barefeet are the difference of working in high heels and sneakers...

Answer 23

One of mine is barefoot, the other is full hot shod because she cracks and chips out if not done, even when just turned out.  Both are ridden in an arena and on trails, lightly.

Answer 24

It will varyupon the circumstance. There are three reasons to shoe a horse with a normal sound hoof.

  1. To keep it's hoof from wearing away faster than it grows.

2. To give it traction .

  3. To animate it's gait.

  Let's examine case #1. If your'e riding on gravel or asphalt I

would highly reccomend it.

  Now on to case #2. If your horse needs traction, whether because he is slipping, or he is a performance horse he will need to be shod.

  Point #3. Certain horses, mainly society horses need to be shod to animate their gait.