Do you shoe your horse?

[Drummers mum]

Just wondered what the percentage of people who go bare foot/shoe or just do fronts is?

While you are at it have you barefooters got any tips. I keep Drummer barefoot but he chips his feet so they look messy. Mind you you can see the growth since I've had him and YO says it looks tuffer!!:D

[alwaysfallingof]

Hi -
because the horse I share tends to chip his feet quite a lot then I had shoes put on his fronts only, thought that it might be a case of better safe than sorry, but we do no roadwork so didn't see the point in having all 4 done. That suits him great, and stops me from worrying about how much has chipped off!
Could you tell me what you use on Drummer's feet, if anything, cos I would like him to go barefoot eventually once his horn's improved!

[merry_legs]

Merry has shoes and all 4 feet, we tried him with just front soes on as he nocks his back legs but i hack him virtually every day and he feet wore down realy quickly. So now his has all 4 feet shod, but has to wear back boots on while ridden or turned out:(

[Jay.o]

Mysy is barefoot. :)
She had all four when i got her, we took them off and she hasnt had them back on since; and thats been about a year and a half now. Her feet are incredibly tough and they only get trimmed when we think they need it. She went 6 months over the winter :eek:. its been about 5-6 weeks since her last trim but they dont need doing again yet.

Keeping their feet wet help strengthen them a bunch. Forget hoof oil - it ruinsthem. We have a stream and a bog in the fields so they are always moist, but I always walk her through puddles when hacking too :D

[Blossom]

My riding horse is shod all round

[Yann]

As does mine, we do plenty of roadwork and some of our hacking is hard and stony. I work on the principle that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, though I would pull them if she had to have any kind of lengthy layoff.

[shandy84]

I have Bramble unshod and Shandy shod on front. I would like to keep Bramble unshod if her feet permit it Shandy wuld have been but needed shoes to sort out her VERY low heels

I feed mine spillers happy hoof and oil and it seems to have improved their condition

[Wally]

If all our lot could go bare foot I'd be happy, but they can't. It'd save my back and purse if they could.

Sadly the road work they do just is too much and the foot wears faster than the hoof grows.

I cannot risk them going lame.

[Drummers mum]

Thanks for your replies guys. I'm trying hard to keep Drummer barefoot and don't do much road work at the moment so wear isn't a problem.

Could you tell me what you use on Drummer's feet, if anything

He didn't have shoes on when he came as he wasn't being ridden but he has had them in the past. I have kind of let nature take its course but this week I have just bought some cornrercrescine (err thats not the right spelling at all but do you know what I mean?) and I feed Happy Hoof when I've ridden so thats not daily. I just make sure they are clean and disinfect from time to time.

As I said before, you can see the new growth since he came to us and it looks stronger, kind of less thin if! When that hits the floor I shall really know where I am. The grass has alot more nutrients in it here than on Dartmoor which I think is what has made the difference. On the down side though, it makes him fat!! and I have worried about laminitis all spring. Happily he seems fine!:D

Sorry so long I was on a role:D

[Jakes Mum]

Jake goes barefoot, he has never been shod and his feet are very strong and in excellent condition. We did a reasonable amount of roadwork last year and it didn't pose any problems at all.

[notpoodle]

angel has to have shoes at least at the front. since yesterday, the back ones have been removed, and i'll see how it pans out -> any sign of her getting sore, the back shoes will go back on.

julia
x

[Alibi]

None of mine have shoes and their feet couldn't be in better condition. The only little problem i have is that my TB's feet crack in the dry weather, but this is easily controlled by hosing his toes daily. I don't do any road work as the roads are far too busy where i am, so they only ride in the arena or on grass so i think that is a major factor to why they don't have any problems.

I'm hoping that i never have to have shoes on them either, you don't half notice a diffence in the shoeing bill!

[Dales_Lover]

She came with fronts only, had two sets of full and now back to fronts only :) Hopefully I'll be able to get her down to barefoot - that's my long term goal.

To keep the unshod hooves from chipping, round off the corners with a farriers raspy thing, and then they are worn down safely :) Also my farrier has advised me to apply Keratex Hoof Hardner once a week to keep them in tip top condition.

Tarmac believe it or not is supposedly the best surface for unshod feet - the circulation is better without the metal shoes, and so the concussions from the tarmac (as you would have in shoes) is no exisistant. Therefore, with shoes road work is the worst thing you could do - but shoes keep the hoof 'intact' as it were and stop the hoof from growing.

[Drummers mum]

Do you use the raspy thing yourself, like a nail file? Where can I get one from?

The only time I notice Drummer has a broblem barefoot is on really stoney ground where the stones are big hardcore types and the aren't compacted down. It must be a bit like walking down a beach!!

I've thought about keratex, I was going to check with my farrier next time.

[notpoodle]

angels feet (the unshod ones at the back) look okay, there is a little bit of chipping round the edges though (not much though!). have been advised to use naaf hoofmoist, which i am doing at the moment because it's pretty dry weather. if they chip anymore, the back shoes will come back on though!

julia
x

[Drummers mum]

My biggest trouble is I'm confused by all these different products! I've got some hoof moist but don't really use it. Like I said earlier I've started using cornucrescine as this promotes healthy horn growth but I'm going to ask my farrier about keratex.

[OlavS]

My horse in Portugal is shod all round, but the horse I have the most lessons on over here is barefoot. His feet are adjusted very lightly a few times a week.

[Bebe]

Bebe has front shoes on at the moment, no hinds. She manages the amount of roadwork I do with her easily with no hind shoes. At this time of year the edges of the hoof wall do chip a bit so I round the edges with a rasp once every couple of weeks, I really left it too late this time and they looked a bit of a mess ( not that Bebe cared). Farrier came yesterday and has done a nice job of tidying them up.

I also pull Bebe's front shoes, or rather my farrier does, in winter. Last winter as the first time we'd done this and it was an attempt to let her hooves heal themselves after a bad shoeing experience in the Spring that was still causing problems. After the intial soreness which lasted for only 2-3 days, Bebe was fine and with the help of hoof boots we did the same amount of riding as I had done in previous years with shoes on. I had to put front shoes back on in March when we had a wet/dry/wet spell which made her sore and I was having trouble with finding large enough boots by then. The shoes will come off again this year and if we're lucky they'll be able to stay off for longer this time around as her hooves are better in general.

I use Keratex Hoof Hardener on the soles once a week, and Keratex Hoof Gel on the walls (just started this). Hoof Moist has been having no effect and I've been told by some knowledgeable barefooters that wetting the hoof then putting the Keratex gel on should do the trick. so we'll see.

[nat17]

Mine are barefoot, and will continue to be, I am very lucky that they have excellent feet;)

[martini55]

Shoes all round. Martini has quite sensitive feet and is always a bit lame if she loses a shoe, esp a front one.

[Sarah B]

Just thought you might appreciate some thoughts from the KC La Pierre barefoot trimmer who did my horse the other day:


Cornucresine (sp?) - promotes growth of the outer hoof wall, but when the horse is barefoot it is the inner wall that is weight bearing, so the last thing you want is a difference in growth rates between the inner and outer hoof walls as this will cause a separation of the laminae which hold the 2 together

Biotin also promotes the growth of the outer hoof wall, so if you are rim shoeing it is a good thing, if you are barefoot it is not as you want to promote the growth of the inner weight-bearing wall, which can only be done by percussion (walking them in hand on hard surface)

Keratex hoof hardener - only use on the sole, not the wall or frog. I think he said that it was to do with the length of the tubules which form the hoof - and because these are very short in the sole Keratex hardens the whole structure whereas on the walls (where they are longer) it only hardens the end, causing there to be a break point where the effect of the hardener stops, which will be some way into the hoof

Hoof moist - recommended not using this (but to be honest I can't remember the whole reason why!) - something to do with upsetting the balance of moisture in the hoof as anything we paint on the wall only effects the immediate bit it comes into contact with, not the whole hoof. If you want to moisturise your horses hoof, stand him in a stream, puddle or, if you can trust him, put his foot in a bucket and let it soak! However, he did not recomend doing so for any of the horses at our yard

They all (except the very worst footed horse) got recommended 10 mins road walking each day, in hand, with Keratex hoof hardener applied to the sole only 3 times a week, for 3 weeks then twice a week for 2 weeks. If you are going barefoot it really does help to have a barefoot specialist if you can find one - most farriers in the UK anyway, are really only aware of a Pasture trim (ie suitable for a horse not being worked and left in the pasture!). We had a gap when one barefoot specialist moved out of our area and we had not been able to find a new barefoot specialist, so got a normal farrier in - who managed to make Red footsore over hard surfaces and gravel for about 4 weeks - Thank goodness we have found a barefoot specialist!

Sorry - long rambling post!!:D

[Cheko]

I dont have my boy shod at all. We dont do roadwork as the roads round where I keep him are horrendously busy and populated by the most inconsiderate drivers you can imagine. I only ride (and walk him in hand) round the farm where I keep him. They also have an all weather school.

[Marengo]

My horse is shod all round, as we do quite a bit of a roadwork and hunt aswell.

[MelanieD]

Fatty has a full set on. She has really good feet in most ways, don't wear down too fast and she walks over stones with no problems even when she's lost a shoe. Unfortunatly she has a huge crack on one back foot that means that foot has to have a shoe so she has a full set even when she's stood in a field doing nothing.

[farm-girl]

I ride parelli, so my horse has no shoes, but hes a light horse so we need to rinse his feet evry day.