No hoof, no horse...

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

I'm curious (yeah, yeah, and nosey). I was wondering how everyone keeps their horse/s feet?

Mine are both barefoot (or shoe-less depending on your terminology). The reason behind this? When I first got Cedar, he was shod - but the shoes didn't fit his feet properly. I got a farrier in to take them off and he put new ones on for me. This was all good... for a couple of weeks until Cedar threw a shoe. I had the farrier come back and fix the shoe. Cedar once again threw the shoe.

After this had happened over and over again, I got the farrier to remove them all. But every time the farrier came out after that, I'd have to wait a day or two after before I could ride as his feet were trimmed as though shoes were going on - which meant they were uncomfortable until he got used to them.

I did like the thought of my baby being in any form of discomfort so I went online and started searching horses and their hooves and I found barefoot trimming. It took me forever to find someone local that did barefoot trimming. I did however and I'd never go back.

They still get their feet done every 6-8 weeks, but it's no biggy if life gets on top of me and I can't fit the farrier in until after that time. Their feet grow naturally, I can show them and there's no chance of metal shoes slipping on wet grass or them hitting a stone and creating a spark - we get really dry here in summer and grass fires are always a high risk (and they spread like anything).

[emmaandfudge]

Lewiss has all 4 with shoes its expensive since it £50 every 4-8 weeks but he can't work at all without his shoes since before i brought him off the Y/O he had tried Lew without being shod and he was a nightmare apparently so the shoes must stay

[dia]

My mare usually has to keep shoes on all four hooves unless I'm not riding, but I'm transitioning her to just front shoes because I can't afford paying the farrier one hundred and ten dollars for both of my horses... (lol). We've tried going barefoot, but my girl just can't do it. According to the vet, her soles are extremely close to the ground and as such, she had to have her front hooves elevated some to ide comfortably (though her backs are good).


I kept my gleding barefoot until a few months ago, as he's just three... I would hve continued to keep him barefoot, but where I ride is really rocky/gravelly and my boy doesn't really like walking on rocks and gravel barefoot, though it doesn't hurt him... he just doesn't want to... So I got fronts put on him and he's fine and dandy.

My farrier doesn't like to trim the hooves, so I trim my horses myself before he comes out. I usually pull my horses shoes, wait two weeks, then trim their hooves and call him out to put new shoes on them. I also tend to let my horses wear their shoes for about two weeks longer than what is acceptable for most people (both my farrier and vet are aware of this and both have said that it's fine unless I notice a lot of hoof growth or unless the shoes are loose or need to come off for some other reason).

[moxi]

Two and half of mine have all four feet shod.

Two and half meaning Kansas cant handle having not having shoes, due to thin soles that easily stone bruise anc cuase her to be lame for three weeks minimum.
During show season, Romeo needs all four and typically during the off season, he's barefoot or only fronts. Yoshi is barefoot all year round, the farrier claims she has the thickest soles he has ever seen on a horse her age.

Rosie has front corrective shoes (she's pigeon toed) and is bare in the back.

[horsesflyifly]

mine's barefoot, he was footsore when we first took his shoes off but now she's as solid as anything going over hard surface.

[catty]

My horses are always barefoot during the winter and only get shoed if im showing (for studs in the shoes) were i live its most common for farriers to do barefoot trimming. :3
In fact, its sometimes hard to find someone to shoe horses! Mind you we do cold shoeing. But thats more common around were i am

[Onzyy]

Toffee was always barefoot. I don't know how she rode with them as I never rode with shoes. I don't think she would have done well with shoes as she had a tendency brush her back legs at anything faster than a walk. Her hooves were trimmed every 8 weeks.

[lottii]

All of ours are barefoot, and pretty much always have been. A couple of horses we have owned came to use with shoes but they adjusted to having them off quickly. The only one who caused problem was a New Forest I used to own who had recurring abscesses in three hooves. She was a nightmare with shoes, pulling them off weekly. She cost a lot of money to keep in shoes! But there was no way she could have gone without.

Chez came to us with front shoes (the yard she came from shod all four feet as general) - but she has handling issues with her back legs. It took her quite a while to adjust. Both the others we currently have were barefoot when we brought them and do fine barefoot.

Now I have a question. When people say barefoot trimming, are we doing something special to these horses' feet, or just keeping them trimmed to a reasonable length as you would do if they were wearing shoes, but without putting the shoes on? I know there is something - I believe it is called natural trimming, or something similar - where you do something different and that receives a lot of bad press. I don't know much about it to have an opinion, but I would be interested if any of you guys know any more.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

With barefoot trimming, their feet aren't trimmed as short as they are for shoes. Farriers get special training on top of their farrier certificate to be able to do a "proper" barefoot trim rather than just trimming the feet without putting shoes on. When I first chose to go barefoot, the farrier I had trimmed their feet as though he were going to shoe them, and then when I got in touch with David Hankin (he's the head of the company I now use, if you google him, and click on the first link it opens his business page) and had him come out, he said I was very lucky that neither of my horses were lame and sore from having to walk on such small unprotected hooves.

[lottii]

Hmm, thank you for the information! As all my horses have been with the same farrier for several years and never been lame due to their feet, I imagine he is certified to do it. I shall have a conversation with him next time he comes to do their feet, in between making the fifty cups of tea he manages to drink