Barefoot questions?

[Heather Danis]

Hey everyone out there. i was just wondering what peoples thoughts on barehooves were?

[Mary]

I prefore my horses to have barefeet but it really depends on the horses hooves and what kind of ground the horse lives on. All my horses have good hooves and the ground where I live is soft and sandy so all of them have barefeet.

[Heather Danis]

my horse has never had shoes and my moms horse had shoes when he was on the track (hes a retired race horse) but has been barefoot for many years now. we live in northern newhampshire so its rocky and chellenging ground that they live on. i ride my horse over paved roads, trails, everything basically and the only times he is soar is like in spring when its been really muddy and soft out and we get on a rocky road then hes a bit tender but other than that ive never had a problem. im glad to find someone else who likes barefeet. why put holes in something right?

[MegPerdizzle]

Barefoot works for a lot of people and horses, and can turn out to be a great way to save money (you don't have to pay for the shoes), although some horses have thin soles (normally some thoroughbreds) so they need shoes to protect their hooves, there are a lot of situations in where it would be better to shoe you horse, and a lot of situations where your horse can be left barefoot, it really depends on the environment and the horse. In your situation if barefoot works for you well then why not keep your horses barefoot (:

[Heather Danis]

yeah, going barefoot does save on money. i have seen many thoroughbreds (off the trackies) come through my bosses barn that we turn around. when they come off the track we take the shoes off them, let them in a small paddock by themselves till they get used to being a real horse. the change comes pretty wuick for most but there are quite a few that need a little help. horse boot can help them get over the worst of the soarness. no matter what environment they live on. when you first take the shoes off or take them over hard ground that they are not used to then obviously they will be soar, its like you taking your shoes off and running barefoot over a dirt road. its gonna hurt at first but if you kept doing it over time you would build up caluses right. its the time that catches peeople. many are not willing to let their horses have the time it takes to change.

[♥Meghan♥]

well, it all depends on your horse! if your horse walks on gravel roads a lot and doesnt seem to really have a problem with it, then you really dont need shoes on your horse. my horse doesnt have shoes because he doesnt show any sign of his hooves being tender on gravel roads or paved roads, so i dont waste my money on putting shoes on him when he really doesnt need them! if you show a lot, shoes maybe a good idea but only if your horse shows signs of his hooves being tender on any surfaces. i show quite a bit but as i said before, my horse doesnt have any problem when he walks over gravel or any rocky surface so it really all depends on your horse! you may want to pay attention to him when your going over gravel or a hard surface to see if its really hurting him that much...hope i helped some! :)

[Heather Danis]

personaly i don't think there is a horse out there that really NEEDS shoes. of course any horse would be soar if you just took the shoes off them because they aren't used to the contact. itd be like you taking your shoes off and running down a dirt road. its gonna be soar at first and the amount of soarness would depend on the person right? its the same with horses. if given the time that they need to make the change any horse can live barefoot. my boss own a farm where they rescue racehorses that are unwanted and resell them. all the horses that come through the farm have their shoes taken off within a few weeks of their arrival. many of tehm are indeed soar for a while but we use horse boots and pads to help them with the change, slowly weaning them off the amount of padding and then the boot altogether, the key is that we let it take as long as it needs and many people are unwilling to wait that long before theit horses are completely sound.

[Kat]

Both my guys are barefoot. One handles it better than the other. My one gelding just has really crappy feet. He's thin soled and grows next to no wall, and they're always cracked, and chipped, and just all around awful lookin. He used to have shoes on his fronts, but his feet were never any better. He just won the genetic lottery for awesome feet. =/ His hind feet fair better, but they're still not that great. But he's basically retired, so there's no real need for him to have shoes (also cos there's nothin to nail em to haha). He manages just fine. My other horse, has been barefoot all his life, and has feet tough as nails (thank GOD! I don't need 2 with bad feet). He can get a bit tender on some rocks, but otherwise, he's hunky dory. =D I have no intention to put shoes on him, ever. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Heather Danis]

That's great! my boy is usually fine as well since he has never has shoes before. coming out of cpring though he is a little tender on gravel and such because hes been so used to the soft ground. we just put boots on him. i love those things.

[Shea Johnson]

we keep 7 of our horses barefoot and it saves a lot of money the horses that are barefoot have good feet and they are never tender i show my horses a lot but being barefoot doesnt effect them my farrier actually recomends keeping horses barefoot, but my arabian gelding Valentino needs shoes because his feet chip up really bad and then he gets sore and his full sister has corrective shoeing which helps keep her sound, my trainers grand prix dressage horse only has front shoes during show season and in the winter and the summer she is kept barefoot, i would say it just depends on the horse

[Heather Danis]

personally i think that with time (emphasis on this) any horse can go without shoes. they wewn't born with them after all and there are other options. my guy has never has shoes but that doesn't mean he doesn't get soar. he gets tender coming out of spring since the ground is soft and if we go on gravel its like you running down a dirt road barefoot. the first couple times its gonna hurt but over time you would buold up caluses right. when my horse gets tender i just put boots on him. they are great.

[MegPerdizzle]

Well I do agree that time helps to callous the horses hoof, although not any horse can go without shoes IF they are being worked on an abrasive surface. My sister's horse was being worked on grit, with some sand and going barefoot for a while, although he got very sore feet eventually due to the surface so the shoes helped protect his foot from hitting the surface directly. Also, heather you mentioned that horses were not born with, shoes, well of course that is true, but because we ride our horses regularly that puts more wear and tear on their hooves, where as a horse that is wild, simply grazes the majority of the time which isn't nearly as hard on the horses hooves as working them regularly on an abrasive surface is. In summary I believe that a majority of horses can with time go barefoot, but it depends a lot on the amount they are ridden, the surface they are ridden on, and sometimes even the horses breed.

[Heather Danis]

i see were you are going but there are other options besides falling back on shoes. at the farm i used to work at before i moved they used to retrain ex-racehorses. they would bring them home and let them settle in for a while but after a few weeks one of the first things we would do is take off the shoes. we wouldn't just turn the out bare of curse we put pads and boot on them at first and as their feet changed and toughened up we weaned them off the boots. we did the same thing through their retraining. if they got soar again because of the work we would use the boots for a while and eventually they wouldn't need them anymore. it was a lot cheeper and healthier than the shoes had been.