Is it feasable? Barefoot....

[casey]

My youngster will be coming into work this winter. He should make a top class competition horse. (SJing) How feasable is it to leave him barefoot? Potentially through his whole career? Even if he jumps to GP? Would grass cause a problem etc?

His dam had dire feet, so i'm just toying with the idea. Also, as there are few good farriers around, are there just as many bad barefoot trimmers?

Lots of questions sorry:)

[Santi]

Yes you can keep him barefoot.

Try and get an Equine Podiatrist because they will give you all the other tools to keep your horse's feet really up to a high standard. Because shoes hide all kinds of hoof weaknesses you do have to condition his feet so they are up to the work. If he has genetically a poor hoof this is more important. You cannot just leave him with a pasture trim on grass and expect him to be able to cope with tarmac and gravel etc. He might be able to but most horses need to have time on these surfaces before being ridden.
A lot of people put pea gravel in areas of their fields and it is important he can stand on a hard surface (concrete/tarmac) in winter so his feet can dry out a bit and get used to the hard surface.

Simon Earl is the famous racehorse trainer who is keeping his horses barefoot and they all jump on grass at speed and are fine.

Try www.equinepodiatry.net for a trimmer near you.

[No_Angel]

id say that he would most probably be fine, i havent had much problem with slipping with my lot, but if you did needs studs for grass then boots can be put on with studs to give a bit extra grip:)

[MelanieD]

A lot of people do seem to manage to jump very well barefoot, haven't tried anything too huge myself but haven't had any slipping problems so far.

Any idiot can call themselves a barefoot trimmer so you do need to be careful to check what training they have had, if you look for an EP (www.aepauk.org) or an AANCHP trimmer then you should get a good well trained barefoot trimmer.

[Pink's lady]

If you're planing on a jumping career, barefoot might be on of the best things you could do for him - their feet work SOOOOOO much better as shock absorbers barefoot, reducing damage and things like navicular.

If grip is a problem there are some great boots out there that you can put studs in. BUt to be honest they uusually have great grip without.

[Bay Mare]

I can't add anything but can only agree :) Barefoot (correctly done) is much better for most, if not all, horses. It's the owners that can't always cope with it as it IS more work and input than just having a farrier out.

To answer your question re farriers/trimmers. There aren't as many trimmers as farriers anyway so it's difficult to give statistics for good v bad BUT from experience I've come across 4 trimmers (including students) who have all been excellent. I can't say that I've ever come across an excellent farrier, some 'ok' ones and quite a few bad ones.

[Yann]

I'd certainly give it a go if I were you, you stand a much greater chance of success if the horse has never been shod. Judging by what I've read and discussed elsewhere grip on some surfaces eg wet grass can be an issue but this seems to depend on the individual horse to an extent and also how it's ridden. The comments about concussion and foot quality are very true though. Boots and studs are an option, so long as you can find the right boots to suit your horse, this can sometimes be a lottery.

I personally don't think it's fair to say that it's owners that don't cope with barefoot, if the horse is in more than light work it can sometimes take a long time to condition the feet to cope, and if the environment it's kept and / or worked in is less than ideal that may never actually happen. In such circumstances shoeing for the competition season might be the answer. However I'd guess that a showjumper normally works on quite forgiving surfaces and can always be hacked and fittened in boots if necessary.

As the number of specialist trimmers out there increases you're bound to get good ones and less good ones, it's best to go by recommendation although a qualification in a particular trimming method may also help, at least you know where they're coming from, eg. EP / AANHCP. There are two EP's in your local area, their details are on the EE website barefoot forum:)

[casey]

Thanks everyone. You have been a great help.:)