going barefoot?

[anna15]

just wondering, my farrier is always saying how good my ponies hoofs are, as usually horses with white hoofs are quite brittle. its just occured to me to think about going barefoot, if i didnt have to pay for shoes it would mean i would have more money to spend on other things she needs (which i dont have allot of!)
what would i need to do etc.? is it a good idea?
thanks :)

[SmokinPRanch]

First don't believe the white hoof-black hoof thing. It's about as old as the horse itself. Doug Butler, world famous farrier, did studies and could find no differences between black and white. Actually he said there will be more differences in individual horses no matter what color feet they have. We own Paints and Quarter Horses and I'll put the white hoofs up against anyones black hoofs.

Also, don't start looking to buy a summer home with the money you'll save. It's not really any less expensive in the long run. Shoes can hide a lot things and folks tend to let the farrier work stretch a little longer between visits. You'll find that each visit will be a little less money but the visits will be more frequent in most cases.

As to whether you should do it or not has been debated a million times a day it seems. Think I'll sit this one out and let others chime in.

[pineapple]

if you horse takes to being barefoot its great. in the 2 years my mare was barefoot she never saw a farrier once, her hooves wore down on the tarmac and she was fine, she only had shoes back on so she could do long distance rides(20km).
also, she has a one white foot and it was no differnt to the others. shes back bare foot again now, again no problem.

[lachlanandmarcu]

Agree with the white foot myth being just that and so does our farrier - theyre no different in his view.

whether you save ££ will depend on the circumstances. My pony rarely has a trim as she wears her hooves fine doing work and they dont grow v fast. And it is cheap for a quick trim (usually free) as farrier is there shoeing my other horse (who is shod).

You may need to buy hoof boots for use on hard ground or during transition - couple of 00s.

But overall, Ive def saved money to date (the young girlie has never been shod) and Im much happier starting off unshod and only shoeing if absol necess.

What I dont know is whether you can really save money if you are moving from shod to unshod - would imagine more than a simple farrier trim involved then

[MelanieD]

Since she has basically good feet then you might get away with just needing to cut the work back a bit while she gets used to being without shoes. It usually takes 1-2 months to get the worst of the nail holes out of the way and get some decent inner wall starting to grow and about 6 months to grow in a whole new foot, some horses show a big improvement as the new growth reaches the ground if the old growth was a bit weak. Some horses hardly notice the shoes are gone. You can always try it and put shoes back on if it doesn't work out.

Having white feet won't make any difference barefoot, they rely more on inner wall anyway which isn't pigmented whatever colour the outer wall is. I've got stripey footed horses and there doesn't seem to be any difference at all between the white and black bits apart from colour.

If you have a farrier that can do a good trim then you should save some money, even if you need boots - they can be bought on ebay pretty cheap sometimes and they last really well.

If you go down the route of getting a special barefoot trimmer out then you probably won't save money at least at first, but long term it can be worth it. I actually spent more at first than I had been spending on shoes since trimming was done more often and I needed to buy boots.. by now I pretty much get free hoofcare since I do it myself and do a few friends horses to cover the cost of the tools I need.

[Tatooed Lady]

Personally, I'd try barefoot. It allows the hoof to spread and flex as nature intended (so long as it's properly trimmed). There are a long list of reasons that "barefoot is better", and if it works on your horse, why not?
I've got a 3 1/2 year old Percheron that's never worn a shoe in her life, her feet were strong but cracked when I got her. She's got no pain, is very sound out on trails, in arenas, etc. I'm keeping her barefoot as long as possible (for her entire life, if I can), and simply working on preventive maintenance to keep the cracks from getting any worse than they are. Given proper trimming, nutrition and time, I'm sure they'll be even better than they are now. :)

***SOME horses require shoes, I know. In those cases, there's a long list of reaons to keep them shod.

[anna15]

thanks for all the replys, do i need to buy hoof boots, as shes only in light work through winter anyway really gets ridden 2-3 days a week on light hacks, however it is all roadwork.

[Yann]

Your horse will let you know on that one. Watch out for excessive wear early on, the feet tend to grow more slowly at this time of year and the horn will softer straight out of shoes.

I honestly think the thing that makes all the difference isn't the trim but diet. Many barefooters supplement magnesium in the diet and there may well be some benefit in feeding a hoof or biotin supplement, and cutting out cereals and mollassed chops. Grazing can cause sensitivity too, but hopefully that shouldn't be an issue at this time of year.

Another thing to bear in mind is that there's often a bit of infection in the white line under the shoes, so regular soaks and scrubs using borax, milton or hibiscrub can be useful.

Last thing I would say is read up as much as you can on the subject, there's tonnes of good stuff on line, just take anything that mentions Strasser with a pinch of salt though.