Barefoot driving?

[carolinem]

I mean the horse, not me! Is there anyone out there who drives with a barefoot pony? I've worked hard over the last 18 months to get my loan pony's hooves right and am about to start learning to drive with him. Does he need to be shod or can I get away with it? He's likely to drive once or twice a week at most and mainly on the road. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[tazzle22]

yes its possible caroline, we been doing it for 5 years with only occasional use of boots ..... but thats only really when gee gees been overwintered on the yard with hardstanding trimming feet as well,

having said that it will depend also on the milage you do , but if you only going out 1-2 times week prob wont be fit enough to do loads and loads miles anyway ?

my take on it is I have decided that barefoot is best for my horse then if I choose to work her more than her feet can comfortably take than I will keep to the choice and put boots on for the few hours she needs them rather than shoes 24/7.


I know that wally does a lot more miles than I do ( well her ponies do :rolleyes: ) and she chooses the shoe route.


its possible, just try it and see.

keep us informed as to how you get on with driving as well :)

[Alfies-slave]

I drive my horses barefoot and have no problems. It is much better than shod, less jarring, better grip etc. Sometimes I use boots like in the summer when I drive a lot every day to keep them fit for HDT.

[Chip]

We drive 2 unshod and one shod. It all depends on the amount you do and the strength of the hooves. I'd advise go unshod until/unless the feet require shoes.

[Gill]

I drive Eriskay barefoot too. We have boots in reserve but mostly she is fine and stots along on the smooth tarmac. We do a few miles usually. I'm always intending to up the mileage but getting time is the only problem.

[jinglejoys]

Never driven with shoes so wouldn't know:D

[sabreig]

Although I'm just taking up driving again the only horse I've had to shoe in the last 10 years was a tb who had a 'pigs trotter' hoof when I got him as it was split down the middle so I always had him shod to try and keep the hoof together, that was more for a medical reason, if the hoof had been fine then he wouldhave been barefoot too but other than that no shoes. The people who have one of my shetties on loan decided they wanted to have him shod, well his hooves were that tough that the nails bent and the farrier could'nt get the shoe on :p My welsh x mare who is 1/2 way through being broken to drive has always been barefoot with me, and she used to do up to 14 mile rides up steep rocky hills and on roads etc and I'm not 7 stone wet through either (I wish :rolleyes: ) My farrier says she has the best hooves out of them all. The key is to look after the hooves well. My horses are done every 6 - 10 weeks. Each horse is different. My old girl has to be done every 6 weeks and my welsh x mare every 8 weeks. The shetlands only every 10 weeks. Long as you're sensible and you don't find the horse foot sore or stumbling and your farrier is happy with the hooves then you should be fine. I know not ewveryone does this, but examine the hooves every day, preferbly twice a day, even on days off. Muck them out, make sure there is no heat or bad bruising. When your farrier comes don't talk about the weather actually try and have a peek at what he's doing, ask how each indervidual hoof is, and how they are looking, if the farrier thinks they could do with a supplement for hooves etc. My welsh x mare has a 'quatering' on one of the back hooves, so small you can hardly see it. Everytime he comes I get him to check it closely. He says to me if her hooves weren't trimmed regularly and she was'nt looked after right it would grow into a big bulging section and eventually split but as she's looked after well it won't but I always keep an eye on it. So just talk to your farrier ;) and be sensible, you know your own horse he'll tell you if barefoot isn't for him.

[carolinem]

Thank you all for your help. I've been using a barefoot farrier for a couple of years now and she's taught me a huge amount. However, she's now given up, for personal reasons. Pog was fully shod when I had him but we took shoes off straight away and he's had no real problems since. I've been using him for light hacking and a friend's daughter takes him to riding club every week. The only shadow on the horizon is the distant school holidays. I have 3 young kids and the only chance I'll have to use Pog is if I involve them and I can't take them all out riding. As Pog is broken to drive the logical solution seemed to be to learn to drive. We also recently acquired a lovely old governess cart, which is exactly the right size so it all seems meant to be!

As he had always been shod when driving my main concern was whether he'd cope barefoot but the response seems to be a resounding yes, or at least a porobably!

[Alfies-slave]

I don't want to put the fear of god in to you, but if your horse has had time out from driving and is a bit rusty, or you are a novice driver, a Governess cart is not the cart to start with. YOu or your groom can not make a swift exit. To drive a governess cart the horse and driver must be 110%

[Wally]

If you can ride him barefoot, and he's coping there is no reason why he won;t cope driving.

Just echo what Alfie-slave says. Be careful with a governess cart, if he's spooky. If he knows what he's doing you'll be fine.

Make sure you sit at the back on the left hand seat, with all the kids in front of you or opposite. This way you can see what they are up to, see the traffic, and balance the vehicle.

[zola2000]

i drive my boy barefoot his so much better and can get better grip on the roads. but his also a nitemare to shoe so gave it up as a bad lost:rolleyes:

[Wally]

I drive barefoot and shod though.

The ones that only go out once or twice a week on the roads don't get shoes, it's bad enought shoeing what I have to!

Had a dirty great cob to shoe today as a "favour" to a friend. JEEEEEZ, dinner plates, Mind you he's such a heavy weight I'd be surprised if he could go barefoot with the amount of roadwork he does.

NEVER whinge about paying the farrier, he earns every penny!

[klebert]

Please have a read of this article, written my my O/H who is a farrier and DAEP and hopefully it can shed some more light on it all! :)

http://www.equineonline.net/france/equestrian_articles/driving_horses_shoeless.htm

Also... I back up what everyone has said about the governess cart.