shoeing

[gruss80]

Hi everyone ...I really enjoy reading posts....everyone is so very helpful....I have a ? about whether to shoe my horse or not...I would really appreciate some ideas...thanks a bunch...

[galadriel]

Well, what does your farrier think? It's worth taking his advice into account.

If your horse has good strong feet, and you're not riding so long & hard that you wear the feet down quickly, he may not need shoes.

If he has weak or shelly feet, then having shoes may help his feet hold together.

If he has soft feet, and they wear down quickly, then shoes will protect them from wearing down too quickly.

"Wally" on this forum has mentioned, I believe, that she's ridden 50...mile? km? endurance rides with a barefoot horse, but that when the distance doubled he needed shoes.

I have a Morgan with extremely impressive feet--I tidied them up a bit when I got her, and I about bruised my palms trying to use the nippers. She has REALLY thick, strong hoof wall. I don't know if there's anything that would make her need shoes.

[Drummers mum]

I keep Drummer barefoot for the moment. We are seeing how we go. Hes got tough little hooves and I have him trimmed about every 8 weeks. The farrier says hes fine but we don't do alot of road work, probably only once a month!

My advice would be to see how it goes and closely monitor how your horses hooves grow. and echo Galadriel, ask your farriers advice.

[jinglejoys]

What are shoes? (:0) --Mule owner)

[Drummers mum]

:D

[lawgirl]

Gruss,

Whether or not you decide what is best for you horse, I always look at all the possiblities. Here is a very informative site on barefoot. Thought if nothing else you might enjoy reading this.

www.ironfreehoof.com/index.htm

Wendy

[gruss80]

Thanks for the posts....lawgirl I tagged on to that web site and it is very informative thanks....my p.c. is runnung very slow these days...very annoying..

[rusk]

My new horse did not have shoes on and apparently hadn't for quite a while, so I had a wee chat with the farrier who decided to just trim the feet for the time being. That was two months ago and apart from being a bit low heeled, he seems to manage perfectly well without shoes. So unless the heels can't be corrected unless he's shod, I think we will leave him bare footed just now.