Barefoot - Pros and Cons

[Ptaty70]

Hi

Am about to embark upon a new life of 'barefootedness' this week. Reasons are; not in heavy work, have soft ground to ride out on, no competition work, good strong feet, native X pony.

I have been reading about thrush in barefoots on another thread but was wondering if there are any other pros/cons that you can put my way for me to evaluate.

The farrier thought it was a good idea for my horse and strangely enough, said he liked to see barefoot horses! He will have the back shoes taken off this week and unless any of you come up with a compelling reason why not, will take the front ones off in the next shoeing.

Also, any reason to keep the fronts on and the backs off?

Would really appreciate your comments.

Many thanks

Kate

[CurlyWurlyRach]

my TB/WB is barefoot and happy. Shes not got the best feet but IMHO a good supplement is cheaper then shoes! :D
i like it as its more 'normal' for her and shes also has alot of strain on her joints before i got her and no shoes reduce the concussion.

so its a thumbs up from the barefoot corner!

[sheryl]

I am all for giving barefoot a go.

After having my old pony fully shod for 20 years, I decided to get his backs off as he wasn't doing much. He was an Arab x Welsh. I was really wary at first. I was convinced he would be immediately foot sore. To my complete surprise though, he was never foot sore once! However, I never quite plucked up the courage to go completely bare foot, and 2 years later he was P.T.S., so I never found out.

Now I have a T/BX colt. I know T/B's are meant to have bad feet, but so far so good. I have backed him lightly this summer, now he's turned away for the winter. I'm going to do all I can though not to put shoes on him. I think probably I'll end up putting fronts on him, but I'll be happy with just no backs:)

I think anything that is more natural, has to be better. I have seen lots of reports to suggest some horses feet have actually been better without shoes, so all you can do is give it a go.

By the way, the reason why some people just have fronts is because the horse carries most of its weight on the front. 60% front, 40% back. Even higher percentage on the front with a rider.

[Guest]

I went barefoot about 2 months ago and have got on really well with it.

I've not had a days lameness and I use barefoot boots to help me out with the roads.

I hope that eventually I won't need them at all.

The only really annoying thing for me has been the thrush but apart from that I've been really happy.

[Maddison's girl]

tbh I havent had a problem with thrush in Snowman who has been barefoot for 16 years, whereas Maddison who is shod always seems to have thrush.

The only problem I had with Snowmans feet was in the summer in the dry weather they had a few cracks in but nothing major.

[domane]

Chez was only shod on the fronts and these were removed 3 weeks ago and she is just fine. No lameness, no ouchies, which I have been really surprised about. No thrush or fungus as far as I can see. She has a stoney surface round the gate of her field that she has to negotiate but other than that she is either on grass or tarmac and these are both brill for barefooters... I say go for it... :)

[Ptaty70]

Great! thanks for all your replies. It definately backs up what I thought. After reading your comments though, i think I may go longer than just 6 weeks with the fronts on due to the weight bearing issue and see how we go.

Thanks again. I shall certainly be watching out for the thrush as has been advised over and over again regarding barefoot!!!

Many thanks!!

[beckyboo]

hi kate its a good idea to let your horses not wear shoes for a while but remember horses are front heavy so i wud like i do with mine keep the fronts on take the back off stones also cause more problems on the front feet due to front heavyness where the back feet are not as likely to become bruised. hope this has been some help

[Ptaty70]

Thanks Becky. I think i shall be keeping the front ones on after hearing everyone's advice. I can re-evaluate further down the line and see how he is going.

thanks for your reply!
Kate

[Jaimee]

Go barefoot!

My 3yo has never seen a shoe and never will, she has perfect feet and is never ouchie. She is 1/2 TB. That to me says that horses shouldnt need shoes. I have seen too many TB's screwed up by being shod as 2yolds.

I also have a 7yo TB that raced until he was 6. He is barefoot and doing well although his feet arent yet right. He still has some old flared wall to grow down, a bit ouchie on stones- doesnt slow him down though.:D

Most of all do lots of reading esp on the net, theres heaps of info out there. Arguments for both sides, I made up my own mind this way. And hey at the end of the day there are some excellent hoof boots for while they are transitioning. So there really is no excuse for leaving those bits of steel on there:p

[MelanieD]

The only sort of cons I can think of are it's more work for me and sometimes have to think about whether the feet can cope with a particular ride or if I need to faff about with booties. Maybe the tendancy to turn into a hoofpick sniffing hoof anorak could be considered a con :D

Pros - healthier feet, far less hoof problems than when shod, can spot and treat and problems straight away because there's no shoe in the way, less concussion on roads, less slipping on roads - very useful when i have a horse that doesn't believe me that jogging down steep tarmac hills is not clever. Spotted laminitis and treated it much earlier than would have been possible with shoes so may have really helped avoid a disaster, much faster recovery of the feet from the flaring and white line disease resulting from laminitis as well.

One of mine is half TB and has better feet than my coblet, her mother who was full TB had really good feet when barefoot but they were horrible when she was shod.

Both of mine and quite a few others I've known have had more problems with excess wear on the backs rather than fronts but more obvious footyness when landing on a big pointy stone in the fronts. If you're only riding on soft ground then no horse with healthy feet should need shoes.

[Shadowlark]

Always have been barefoot, will try to always be barefoot :) That included my eventers, they always seemed to do sooo well. I now do my guys myself after considerable training from a Barefoot farrier, and am thrilled with how they are all going :) I ride on gravel etc, actually I tunr out on gravel to keep their feet good and tough, they all look great :)

[appaloosahoney]

My girl has abysmal feet, been barefoot now for 7 months with no problems. I use Boa boots for any roadwork, trouble is they seem to take longer to put on that all my tack - I seem to be forever faffing around trying to make sure they are on straight and the liner things (cant remember correct word) havent slipped, anyone got any tips?

[Bay Mare]

Saffy has been barefoot for almost 18 months now and is doing brilliantly. She's happy to work on all kinds of ground, hacks out for a couple of hours at a stretch without any issues and her paws look great.

The only cons that I can think of are the time that you spend looking at, photographing, faffing with and sniffing hooves and the fact that you become so obsessed that you talk about practically nothing else and can see how crappy the feet in the 'farriers formula' ads are :p

[EnduranceAli]

Frayne is barefoot and always has been. She is only being exercised inhand at the moment due to no saddle (and having to earn the money before I can get the treeless saddle I really want) and her feet have improved since she has been doing regular work on roads/tracks. She is a bit ouchy on sharp stones, and will always walk on grass if it is there - but hopefully she will be able to stay barefoot when we progress on to longer pleasure rides.

[Ptaty70]

HI
Thanks for all your responses. The farrier will indeed be whipping off the back ones tomorrow and then the front ones at the next visit so he can acclimatise. He's going to miss his regular manicures as he LOVES his farrier.

I just wanted to check if indeed everyone is also using farriers formula or supplements. If so, any recommendations?

Many thanks!
Kate

[Yann]

I give both mine Topspec, a lot of people with barefoot horses use it and find it's sufficient. I did also use the Feelgood 30 hoof supplement for Tess when she wasn't in need of much feed in the summer, but no idea if it's any good :D

Just to add that I found Keratex hoof hardener useful too when wear was exceeding growth, but it's best to use it on the soles only rather than the walls too as it can make them brittle.

[valiant]

Are your gravel turnouts loose stones/gravel or tar? And what size stones do you find best? I have read somewhere that it is very good to put the water bucket eg in a gravel area to force the horses to walk on gravel every day.

[Mary Poppins]

My pony (shire x cob) has front shoes only. His back feet are as hard as nails and I have never had a problem with thrush or him being footsore. He doesn't like to walk through puddles but I don't think that I can blame him being barefoot on his back feet for that.

My friends Clydesdale x had his back shoes removed and within a week his feet were a right state with huge chuncks falling off. His shoes went back on after 4 weeks and took ages to recover properly. I guess that it depends on the horse.

[PaulaqhMax]

My friends Clydesdale x had his back shoes removed and within a week his feet were a right state with huge chuncks falling off. His shoes went back on after 4 weeks and took ages to recover properly. I guess that it depends on the horse.

These feet were self trimming, no problem with being bare, just a problem with the trim.

If your pony/horse is getting a correct trim there is no reason why they can't go bare.

[Bay Mare]

My friends Clydesdale x had his back shoes removed and within a week his feet were a right state with huge chuncks falling off. His shoes went back on after 4 weeks and took ages to recover properly. I guess that it depends on the horse.


Hiya :)

That's what happens to a lot at first. I was lucky in that I saw someone ahead of me in the transition period so knew what to expect. A couple of trims in, though, and you'd never have known how horrific they looked at first.

You do need to get a good trim, though, with properly balanced feet etc. If you can bear going through the initial period it's definitely worth it :)


I just wanted to check if indeed everyone is also using farriers formula or supplements. If so, any recommendations?

Topspec Anti-Lam has good feedback though I don't use it myself (or for my horse ;) ).

[Gill]

Mine are barefoot too. They still see the farrier about every four weeks to keep them right though.
I have some easyboot bares which just pop on the fronts for driving if we are going out for a while and its all hard surface.
My farrier swears by magnesium for feet, which I have started to feed a few weeks ago.
Good luck!

[Ptaty70]

hi baymare. So is it to be expected that his feet may go crumbly whilst they are getting used to it? (just in case)

ooo, he will be 'bare' when I go up tonight... will actually miss the clip/clop I think... better for his tootsies though, so shall just have to go for hacks with shod horses to get my clip clop fix!

Thanks again!
Kate

[coss]

i have only just converted to shoes on the other side of the coin.
My first pony was a connemara x something and her feet were strong and fine barefoot. i then had a welsh cob type and an arab mare (who i still have) both of which were barefoot and fine although they had previously had shoes due the high amount of roadwork they did. I now own and arab gelding who has never been shod and i don't plan to shoe him as he has lovely feet although did have a small hoof absess last year, it sorted itself out. My mare on the otherhand is 29 and her feet have just stopped growing except for once during the summer when the farrier had something to trim off. other than that i have had shoes put on as the wear was greatly exceeding the growth and i wanted to do roadwork. also, because the wear was exceeding the growth it ment she was walking on her soles more and this gave her a foot absess that didn't sort itself out. since being shod she has been so much better and happier. she was regularly going lame because she was foot sore and she is much better now.

Overall i would go for barefoot (its cheaper too) but there are a few horses that i know that just can't cope without shoes.

My RI has a 16hh warmblood who must be shod every 6 weeks and she wouldn't be able to go bare foot as he has a false quarter from an old injury so there are horses that need shoes but i am one for trying to stay barefoot.

I'm sure you'll be fine once you're used to the lack of clip/clop :)

[Ptaty70]

Thanks Coss. Cobweb is a Connie X too and has strong boxy feet so is hopefully not much of a risk, hence why I want to go ahead with it. I just wanted to know the potential pitfalls.

Now that everyone has left their feedback I am looking forward to a hopefully successful, happy - yet clopless - pony

Another quick question (sorry, now that I have all you 'barefooters' in one place, I feel the need to needle...), If you use equiboots at specific times, which would you recommend. A friend had some when her horse was recovering from some bad farriery and they seemed to come off all the time.

Again, muchly appreciated..........!

[coss]

yes, a connie cross should be fine, black feet? they tend to be stronger.

i haven't used boots but i know someone (don't particularly like them but that's another matter) that used mac boots. good on front feet but if your horse is at all close behind then they can rotate round the hoof and horse stands on buckle... you see the point :eek: The person who uses these boots thinks that because they are meant to reduce concussion that they are suitable for cantering on the road and she does quite regularly to show off :mad: don't know if that was what caused boots to rotate or whether its just one of those things.
My farrier recommends them and uses them on his horses so i suppose they must be good

[Ptaty70]

feet are a mixture of black and 'pink' but he's only ever lost a shoe once in the 8 years I've had him which tells me they are nice and strong/sturdy!

What an idiot that girl is... reduces concussion? madness...

He is a little close behind and it was a Mac boot that came off my friend's horse, so any feedback of other boots would be good too.

Cheers!

[Gill]

Easyboot bares are great just get them fitted properly. My farrier fitted these.

[Spotty_Pony]

Ok, my mum and I made our horses go barefoot, but my pony didn't cope very well; after about 3 months he was still hobbleing and became quite nappy. My mum's horse on the other hand, loved barefoot! He has strong blue feet (He's percheronX) but we put shoes back on both of them, my mum's horse keeps throwing his shoes and my pony is the best he's ever been! So, it suits different horses, no reason why you shouldn't try it though!

Apparently, having shoes on their feet restricts their frog from pumping blood to the heart- that's why you sometimes hear of horses randomly dropping down dead with a heart attack!

And, horses put 2/3 of their weight on their front feet- that's why your farrier has put shoes on just the fronts at first, you may decide to keep it that way...

Hope this helped!:D
SP

[appaloosahoney]

I'd recommend Boa boots. Old Mac and Boa are made by the same company but Old Mac have more agressive traction which in some horses can alter their way of going and put strain on the joints. If you think about it the natural hoof doesnt have a lot of natural traction (drag or rub). The very new Old Macs have been changed to lighten the amount of traction they offer but I did a lot of research before buying mine, and for general hacking rather than competition or endurance, I think the Boa's are the best.

[appaloosahoney]

Forgot to actually answer the question... Doh! I use my boots only for hacking out a couple of times a week. When schooling or lungeing I use hooves. They have never come off or spun. This may be cos they take so bloody long to put on!! lol

[MelanieD]

Old macs have very good grip on the sole but claim to allow some slip inside the boots so the traction doesn't affect the joints. On many surfaces G2s have better grip than originals. Boas can be really slippery on muddy ground and I had problems with mine rubbing so they got ebayed pretty quickly. I used original old macs, don't need boots anymore, and never had any problems at all with them coming off or twisting and no slipping even when fatty decided to test the grip by doing really stupid things on wet mud.

[Iron Maiden]

Hi Ptaty, jumping back up the thread - my horse was probably the one Bay Mare was talking about with the feet that looked awful. His feet had been allowed to get very overgrown & flared, massive chunks of outer wall came off when he first was barefoot but it was nearly all excess hoof that should have been trimmed off by the farrier anyway. His feet looked like he'd been in a fight with a crocodile but he was never even footy, let alone lame. My youngster, however, didn't have any chunks fall off her feet when her shoes were removed, even though her feet were also badly overgrown. I suspect it depends on lots of things but if your horse's feet do appear to disintegrate - especially where they have been weakened by the nail holes - don't panic, if the horse seems comfortable & is sound it's unlikely to be anything other than the hoof chucking off what it doesn't need.

[Megans mum]

I agree with the last poster' you have to give the feet chance to ajust' a week is not long enough' my heavy lads feet chipped for a long time but they are wonderful now and he goes over anything no problem's. all mine are bare foot and the youngster has white legs and feet and she has never had shoe's, as for front feet being worse to go bare foot I dont agree, a horse was not born with shoes on and it is only because their feet have been shod that they get problems ajusting to bare foot' think about it, iff we tried to go bare foot then we would be tender till our feet hardend and got used to going without shoes' the horse is no different, when you first take shoes off then they feel for the first time, and it is different so they are what we call footy but often they are not sore at all'

[Ptaty70]

Great, thank you all again for your time answering my questions. it certainly helps to go into a new area being more up to speed with the realities. Can I assume from what you are saying that it may not be necessary to have boots? and should I just get them for the days when he is 'footy' or it's hard/rocky? or do you think he will just get used to it. As I mentioned, I can take routes that are sandy/soft/muddy to avoid stones.

Feel free to be fed up with my neverending questions!!!

Kate

[CurlyWurlyRach]

ive been barefoot for a year (well curly has :p) and ive never used boots.
Ive taken her up the roads, down the gallops, to shows on wet grass and she's not slipped once.
Her feet arnt the nicest to look at (and i miss the clipclop!) but she does just great (and it saves money ;)). i gave her biotin at first to help strong horn growth and i rub cornucresent in and oil her feet. now i rarely do this and just pick them out daily and give her the feel good 30 general supplement - it has magnesium and biotin in it.

[Ptaty70]

thanks for the biotin tip! note to self, must dash off to buy some asap!

[MonBeauCheval]

Biotin needs methionine to be off any benefit so make sure you look for that while choosing a supplement.

[Spotty_Pony]

Forgot to actually answer the question... Doh! I use my boots only for hacking out a couple of times a week. When schooling or lungeing I use hooves. They have never come off or spun. This may be cos they take so bloody long to put on!! lol

OMG! I reckon! When my pony had no shoes it took SO long! And my 10min ride turned in to a 30min ride simply because they took so long to put on! However, if you want to go barefeet, boa or old macs are almost a nessesity lol!:p

[CurlyWurlyRach]

have just seen my new farrier today and he told me Curly had great feet so i must have got something right! (and ive never even SEEN a horse boot!)

tape the clipclip then play back when you ride :p (mmm business idea 'clip clip tapes for barefooters!' ill be rich!)

[Ptaty70]

... or horses munching hay for us horsey girls to go to sleep to! patent those ideas! we're onto a winner!

Well the shoes came off today (got the wrong day and thought it was yesterday, doh). His feet look quite short without the shoes on and will probably take some time for them to grow out. I may well invest in some boots as more likely than not he will become foot sore on a Sunday.

Just have the 'clip' at the moment. no more 'clop'.. Just to be sure, i think i shall keep the front ones on for one more shoeing to make sure his back ones have grown out a bit and he is potentially more comfy.

Monbeaucheval, thanks for the tip!

[Ptaty70]

Hi

I would just like to revisit the original thread to thank all of you for your input. This weekend, I rode CW out for the first time since his back shoes came off and he was completely fine. I really expected him to have some sort of ooo aaaaaaa like when we walk over a stony beach, but he was just as forward as ever and didn't seem to mind the tracks (admittedly I stuck to softer ground, but did hit some stones).

I see that there are a good few threads on barefoot ponies, so I hope that looking at others advice on this thread will also help. It certainly alerted me to potential pitfalls but also to the (i'm hoping) joys of a barefoot pony! I look forward to taking the front ones off in a few months time.

Thanks again - invaluable!

Kate

[coss]

good luck with the fronts but it sounds like your pony will be fine :)