Is your horse barefoot or wears shoes? Why or why not?

Question

Thanks everybody for your comments.

I ride barefoot and love it! I ride for pleasure in the forest, beach and road riding. My pony has pigeon toes and still goes a million times better that he did with shoes.

Our other horse dishes and has cow hocks and he has incredible feet. Infact, going barefoot has made his bad confirmation better!

I love being barefoot.

Answer 1

Two of my horses have shoes, because they are ridden the most.  The areas where they are ridden is rocky and hard on their feet.

The rest of my horses are not shod, because they are not ridden enough to have feet short enough to warrant shoes.

Answer 2

My horse has shoes. She has plastic shoes on currently, because we're trying to give her corrective shoeing. She's an awesome horse, but when we got her I guess she had had a really bad farrier because her feet looked terrible. So, she has shoes on to get her feet back into shape. But if your horse isn't really on roads and such, I wouldn't recommend shoes. They can be a bit of a hassle sometimes =]

Answer 3

All my horses go natural:)  Barefoot to me is best less cracks, not so brittle,  just plain healthier to me.  And no worries with shoes falling off, getting sucked off by the mud, and while riding they don't lose them.  I found in the past they were a pain in the butt, and also with so many years that have passed they are much stronger and healthier.

They get hard as rock, like the wildmustangs, with shoes they stay soft, and they are more tenderhooved.

They naturally wear them to there gait and they don't wear down to fast, shoot my farrier says my girl has the best hoofes she's seen in yrs and also she needs way less trims, and no thrush problems.  Just way better, used to think shoes was best but did alot of reading and research and tried it and love it, never will shoe a horse again.

Answer 4

barefoot. I prefer to leave mine barefoot, not only because it is the natural way, but because I dont believe a horse benefits from wearing shoes, unless it needs them for a specific task. Such as corrective shoes, or extensive riding in harsh ground conditions, like rocks and gravel. The only time I have shoes on a horse, is when I receive them with poorly maintained feet, that can be corrected by shoes. And once they are corrected, I take them off, and let them go barefoot. My horses are happier without shoes.

Answer 5

I keep most of my horses barefoot for several reasons:

1) Because it makes them pay more attention to their feet when trail riding and hacking.

2) Easier to maintain

3) I don't work them over hard enough ground to make it worth it.

I do have two geldings though that no matter what I do with them their hooves crack pretty badly, and then one mare who I jump a lot, so I keep those three shod.

If you're asking because you're trying to decide whether or not to shoe your horse, my advice would be to leave the horse barefoot. It's sort of difficult to allow a horse to go barefoot after having shoes (not that you can't do it) just that your horse goes slightly lame a lot because they're being delicate, they have tendencies to not know where their feet belong, etc.

If your horse starts having problems, then you can switch to shoes.

To prevent problems, you want to keep your horses hooves moist, which is easily acheivable with either Absorbine three or four times a week, or let your water trough run over so the ground around the water trough is wet. The hooves absorb the water, keeping them soft.

Alternatively, if you live in a really wet place, the hooves can get too wet and you'll start having thrush problems.

Alright, that's not what you asked, but there's my answer as if you had. Best of luck.

Answer 6

My horse is shod.

a) He's a reiner and needs slide plates on his back feet to help keep his hooves safe. Shoes support his performance and keep his hindquarters traction right so his joints are protected during the sliding stop, rollback and spin manuevers

b) Working hard five or six days a week, one of which is a trail riding day, means he needs extra protection for his hoof wall and frog, and

c) He is turned out on stone dust to keep his hooves from excess moisture, but he needs shoes to protect his hoof wall, frog and sole from the higher levels of abrasion that might unevenly wear his feet and cause extra stress for his joints.

As with barefoot horses, the most critical aspect of his shoeing is his trim.

Answer 7

my horse has all four shoes beacause 1: he has a bad back so supportive shoes help his back

2: he works almost everyday and does jumping, showing, etc

Answer 8

barefoot, he's a thoroughbred and even on the tracks he didn't wear shoes.. he's 7 now and still hasn't had the need for them, i'm training him for hunters so we'll see if he needs shoes for that, but otherwise his feet are strong and healthy =)

Answer 9

Shoes - my thoroughbreds have soft hooves and all of my horses hooves wear down faster without shoes. But the main reason they are shod is so that I can put studs in them for competitions (so they don't slip/better footing).

Answer 10

My Clydesdale has shoes as he is working alot, my other horses dont wear shoes as I dont ride them all that much and they have good, hard, well conformed feet. Its good if you can have a horse without shoes but because a horse is not in its natural state - ie, being ridden, fenced etc, sometimes you dont have a choice. Try your best to be without shoes unless its going to harm the horse without them I say!!

Great question!!!

Jane.

Answer 11

Our horses are shod in front when they are working only. In the winter all shoes are pulled and the horses live out barefoot.

Answer 12

my mare has shoes on her front feet, but not her back, as i only do some road work with her, and generally she has good strong hard feet  

Answer 13

My horse wears front shoes with borium studs on them....he has really healthy feet, its just because I am starting to show him now (hes 3) and so I am just doing local fall fairs, some have grass rings, so its for traction...

Answer 14

My horses and ponies all wear shoes.  Two of them (the horses) are hurt, so they need help and support from the shoes.  My ponies, however, are frequently shown and are ridden at least 5 times a week, so the shoes prevent them from tearing their feet up.

Answer 15

Mine has 2 shoes on her front. Horses that are used a lot need 4 shoes and horses who don't work as much need either 2 shoes or no shoes.

Answer 16

well mine has shoes because you have to ride on the roads for a bit b4 u get to the bridle paths

horses dont actually need shoes on they dont have them on in the wild so they dont technically need them as domistacted animals

but if they are on hard ground alot then shoes do need to b worn  

Answer 17

My horse wears shoes on all 4. If we pull them or he loses one his hooves start to break and he gets really sore. Hes my show horse so he cant be sore in the summer.

Answer 18

My cob is barefoot and has never been shod, the farrier says he has the strongest feet he has ever seen :o)

my competition mare has always had awful feet combined with the ability to lose shoes almost daily !..we have tried every supplement, remedial shoeing, bonded on lightweights...you name it ! . my farrier has been great but is relieved that I have  just retired her , shoes off and in the paddock , booked to stud next spring !

I think barefoot is great, but only if the horse can cope....conformation of foot wise and terrain you are riding on .

Answer 19

shoes.  the reason varies - some of them just have precious feet (not that i mean they are worth alot but the hooves break up very quickly), others do alot of hcking on rougher tracks and road work, others have shoes designed to help their way of going eg - one fjord trips ove his toes so he has rolled toes and the clydies have shoes on the back designed to help keep their hocks together.

Answer 20

My horse is barefoot. Just because he is always on soft ground, he's either in the stall, paddock or ring. We go on trails occasionally but I always check the footing first.

Answer 21

Well the only reason that my appaloosa has shoes is that he has had them his whole life and now that he is 20, we decided it would be a shock for him to change them.

~2htoohorse~

Answer 22

Shoes are just there to make the horse more comfortible, my horse wears shoes in the summer because the gound gets very hard and it makes his feet sore.

Answer 23

My horse just got on her first pair of shoes about a month ago- aluminum horseshoes on her front feet. The reason for this was that her frogs and the sole of her hoof were getting sore from being ridden on the hardening summer ground and gravel roads. The pain all of a sudden struck her and she started acting up whenever we were not in the indoor ring, which has great footing. So my trainer was riding her while I was away and she called in the vet, who recommended shoes. So my pony had shoes before I came home the next week. :)

Answer 24

none of my horses have eva had shoes. we have fairly soft ground and arent on roads or gravel much and the breeds of horse i have dont really need shoes, they are too expensive to buy and maintain anyways. horses are born without shoes, they can live without shoes.

Answer 25

Barefoot,bc  its natural she is not on hard unnatural surfaces, and she has a healthy diet and strong healthy hooves.

Answer 26

my horse is barefooted and will always stay barefooted if I can help it.

Not only is barefoot cheaper, BUT it's healthier for their legs....EVEN while being ridden alot. I ride my horse a good 2-3 hours a day and normally 4-6 days a week....and i"m not asking him for easy stuff. I ride on gravel, on rocks, and everything else you can think of....pavement also. And his feet are perfectly fine.

Shoes have no give to it like a hoof does, making it uncomfortable for the horse. Also having studs on makes it worse. A horse's naturally slides a tiny little bit when putting their foot down...by adding the studs it prevents that, making the horse have to brace his leg...realllly bad for joints.

Horses that have shoes on are so much more brittle, that's why most people say that they shoe their horse because they have soft, tender hooves....well that's due to him BEING shod....if they took the shoes off, and got a good barefoot trimmer, the horse could be ridden on all types of surfaces.

I think there are only one reason at the moment where I'd be okay with shoeing a horse....a friend owns a QH that has small feet compared to the rest of her (VERY small feet) and has to be shod to give her more support.

Answer 27

My little mare has shoes on her front feet. She needs them, not only because she does a fair bit of roadwork, but due to a very severe attack of laminitis in her front feet last summer, she had a rotation in the pedal bone of 9 degrees, which I'm told is not at all good. The front of her hooves were cut back and she then had to have corrective shoeing. It all worked to get her pedal bone back in place though and she's made a full recovery, and is happily hacking with me!

Her feet have near-enough grown back, but she still has very brittle and soft front hooves. They would simply split if she was barefoot on the front. On the occasion she's lost a shoe she was extremely footsore and couldn't be ridden without them. Her back feet are barefoot though and they are in beautiful condition.

Answer 28

Currently my horse is barefoot. My reasoning is that...

1. He's extremely sure footed.

2. Despite being an eventer I'm hardly ever faced with terrible footing.

3. Where I'm boarding for the summer horses are pulling shoes like a dentist pulls teeth.. it's insane!

Answer 29

All my horses are barefoot.  It is just more natural.  The hoof is not designed to have hunks of metal nailed to them.  My horses stay in a grassy pasture or in the barn all the time.  When I ride them, especially if we are going into rough or rocky terrain I put hoof boots on them to protect their feet.  Unless someone can convince me that there is a good therapeudic reason to shoe my horse they will remain barefoot all the time.  Hoof boots and a farrier who knows how to trim a barefoot horse are a perfect alternative.

Answer 30

The stallion i ride is barefoot as he has a stud season comeing up soon. I manley ride stud horses so they have to be barefoot becouse they are breeding horses as well.

Answer 31

My horses are barefoot.  My eight year old mare has had shoes on her front feet for 4 weeks one time.  My 4 year old gelding has never had shoes on.  I use my horses primarily for trail riding.  They get ridden on pavement, gravel, soft dirt and rocky mountain trails.  My mare has real tough feet and  as long as I'm keeping her trimmed properly I have no problems.  I have even done a 40 mile pack trip over three days in rocky terrain with no problems.  My gelding is a real pain to trim so I tend to neglect his feet a little.  Due to the neglect his feet don't do as well on rocky surfaces and gravel.  I have some Boa hoof boots I put on his fronts, and he is good.

I have learned a lot about barefoot trimming and my favorite resource is listed  below under the hoofrehab link.  Pete Ramey is good and always learning more and sharing his knowledge.  Based on what I have learned, most any horse can go barefoot and be sound.