Shoes VS No shoes!!!!!!!

[Chloe95]

Rencently i have moved my 6yo 14.2hh gelding yo a new yard which is absolutley fantastic! although most of the hacking is on hard ground and he doesnt have shoes on. he seems okay and happy unless we ride for more than hour when hacking i was wondering whether to put fronts on him as my YO and other liveries say to do. but then i asked my farrier and he said he'll have a look next time he comes. i said to my mum that he probably will need some on. but what are your opinions?

[Wally]

If it is spoiling his, and your enjoyment, and you cannot spend all the time and hassle going through transition, whatever that is, then put fronts on him. If you only ever want to ride for an hour at a time then leave him as he is. Your situation is unique, only you and your horse, farrier and vet can make an informed decision.

Speak to the farrier, ask his opinion.

[Yann]

Like Wally says it's up to you to do what's best for your situation. However if he's not being over trimmed and you build up the work he does gradually to give his feet time to toughen then you may well not need to shoe. Most farriers will tell you horses are better off without shoes if the horse can manage, they stay a better shape and there's far less concussion.

Wally, a transition is the process where a horse starts with crap feet and ends up with much better ones ;)

[Afellpony]

Mine has never had shoes and he seems ok.

[Wally]

Well the fight I have jsut had with two certain gentleman makes me think that barefoot is a good idea!

For some reason Charlie was a little brat, and Andy who is usually emotional and stupid was well behaved.

Someone invent me a thing for putting Shetlands on to shoe them!

[Grace O'Malley]

Alternatively, you could try hoof boots to keep him comfortable for longer rides.

[LauraLou]

I know how you feel! I have just moved to a new yard where there is quite a lot of work on roads, and I think she may need front shoes on...going to discuss with farrier on Friday! :rolleyes:

[mayoguinness]

If you feel you need anything, I would reccomend trying hoof boots first rarther than nailing shoes on..........can you tell I'm a barefot person;)

[Chloe95]

Yeah i suppose i could try some hoof boots on... but he will look uterly supid!:D

My farrier isn't coming for another 5 weeks [he only came last moday]!
i suppose i'll try to stick to grass verges where i can lol!

thanks for the replies...

[lachlanandmarcu]

I cant imagine why you say he'll look stupid with hoof boots - My Haflinger has them and she looks great....:)

.....ok no all right then she looks like the picture book with the piccy of the centipede with wellingtons on:eek:

No only do they look like nasty cheap black trainers, cos of her blonde little feathers they also look from a distance as though theyre all half off her feet......:mad:

but they are helping and so have decided I dont care:D

[puzzles]

ditto all. :-)
x

[Yann]

Depends which boot you use as to whether they look clumpy or not, I think easyboots look rather neat and slinky even if G2's and Boas dont :D

Regardless of that the feet are far better off in them and have better protection than any shoe can provide.

[coss]

well after the trouble i had with shoes i would say no shoes and hoof boots would maybe be better. you will have to ask your farrier but if you are only thinking about front shoes and it is only if you do over the hour i would say hoof boots might be better. some horses seem to need shoes to be sound on all surfaces, some just need it as the growth of the hoof doesn't exceed or balance with the rate of wear. my horse didn't grow her hooves fast enough so the farrier ran out of room for the nail holes :eek: she was also very unhappy about the shoing process and sat on the farrier. i put hoof boots on if i think the ground has dried out suddenly causing more grit or if i was to hack i would use them. because i'm not regularly out and about hoof boots are better for me but your case may be different :)

[CurlyWurlyRach]

ive done both. My horse is currently shod on all 4 as she was struggling on all the hard ground, come winter she will have naked feet again!

[MelanieD]

Is the problem that he's wearing the feet down a bit too much or just generally not happy over stones etc and getting sore because of it?

Boots are a good solution for both problems and not all of them look daft, though I think most of them look quite cute :) They actually protect the feet better than shoes but can be more of pain in the backside to deal with in some situations.

If its just a bit too much wear then you might be able to sort that out by adding a hoof supplement to make sure the feet have the best chance of keeping up, I like NAF Biotin (has other goodies in as well as biotin). Might even let you get away without needing booties :)

Building up the work gradually and using boots when needed should get you to the point where he can do well over an hour comfortably. But if you don't want to faff about with boots etc and the feet don't have anything wrong with them that's going to be made much worse by shoes then shoes could be the ideal thing to let you enjoy riding your horse as much as you want :)

[Wally]

Who cares what you look like so long as you are comfy, healthy and happy! :D

I always say, a good pair of shoes and a good bra, you are set up to succeed! Same with the horse I suppose ;) :D :D