Shoeing front two feet only!?!

[love4horses]

Will this be okay?

We are going to get some corrective shoeing done to Baylee. And Mystery's front feet split easy in the summer. Farrier said he could do it, and they wouldn't need back shoes... do you think that it will be okay?

[mayS]

Front only / no back shoes is common. Some boarding barns actually will not allow rear feet shod (because they do so much more damage if a shod foot kicks)

Whether your horse needs any shoes, I don't know. Small cracking or little chipping of unshod feet isnt terrible. Larger cracks *might* be a sign the foot is imbalanced and/or has gone far too long between trims.

[Wally]

I do this a lot, no problem at all.

[cvb]

my mare is shod like this at the moment - just had a remove, trim, and replace on the fronts and a trim at the back after the first 6 weeks.

The front shoes are "remedial" with support on the outside. Farrier was in two minds about whether she needed help at the back as well, but for now she is barefoot at the back.

The things I would say are:

- manage the transition. Is the horse shod or barefoot right now ? Which ever the change is - to or from shoes - just keep an eye on their comfort level, how they are coping etc

(as my mare was lame at the time, she wasn't being worked so had time to adjust before carrying any weight.)

- be aware of your hoof care. Again we were lucky that the weather was mild, with no extremes of dry, wet etc when she went barefoot ... but bear in mind what effect the weather may have and add appropriate "support" i.e. add moisture if you need to, remove mud if you need to etc

Fi was fully barefoot the day after she first went lame - and the wear on the outside of the fronts showed up quite quickly - which is when the fronts got reshod...

so it is a case of watching and monitoring and adjust what you do to what they need. We're only riding on sand - if we did any more, she might need backs shod again. It was interesting to see the difference in how much the fronts needed trimming vs the backs (hardly anything at all - just tidying up)

[becs]

Our cob went from shod all round, to straight bars (heel support) on his fores only for 6 months, then unshod now. He's been fine. He's semi-retired but stll charges around like a 2 year old (the skid marks on the field make me shudder - no ABS) and does road work on slow hacks.

Many at our local RS are shod on fores only.

[MelanieD]

If they are already unshod and fine then they should be fine at least at the same level of work they are already doing. Have known quite a few horses who seem to wear their back feet more than fronts though so fronts only isn't always a good plan when they are used to shoes. Curious though what corrective shoeing they need and why your farrier isn't able to correct the problem with just correct trimming? Cracking and chipping in summer can usually be sorted very easily without shoes as long as the person doing the trimming and advising the owner knows how.

[love4horses]

We are getting Baylee's feet shoed because her feet are almost "clubbed". One of the fronts she is walking more on the inside of her foot. For Mystery, I just wanted her shoed for less chipping, Get her trained for gaiting and riding on rough terrain.