barefoot-riding on roads

[drewpoo22]

Do you think it's ok for me to ride my horse on the roads without shoes? Her hooves are healthy and strong but I'm just not sure about how much riding on the roads barefoot.

[KateWooten]

Yes. Last year, my two were barefoot, with a regular trim, and I knew very little about the 'barefoot' movement. I was thinking in terms of my old ideas from 30 years ago, where only someone's outgrown pony was kept barefoot, and he only ever walked a hundred yards around the paddock with a toddler. I thought I had to severely limit the amount of roadwork, for fear of wearing their feet too fast.

Now I know a little more ... and it's the exact opposite ! The more abrasion the feet get - the faster they'll grow. And they grow in tougher too. Now, mine can't get enough road, and gravel, and rough surface work.

Having their natural hoofs on the blacktop provides much better grip. You'll find riding down hills a lot safer - they don't tend to slip as much, and it's less strain on their knees. Trotting also is less jolting for the horse.

You do have to have a good trimmer, and you may want to invest in boots to allow you more flexibility in the work you can do as their hooves are adjusting. I bought boots, but I have to admit, I used them twice. I really didn't need them at all... simply adjusting the amount of work to keep pace with foot growth worked out fine for me.

[EnduranceAli]

I have Frayne barefoot and she is fine with regards to hoof growth, and is also comfortable on grass/tarmac - BUT - she is very 'footy' on stone/gravel. She will literally try to walk in a hedge to avoid these surfaces - and that is with me walking with her (I have only ridden her on grass and smooth tarmac so far) :rolleyes: Most people say I will have to get her shod once I am doing more miles on the mixed terrain around here. What do you all think? Plus, is it ok to keep with your normal farrier? He does a good job with her feet for £15 - whilst the only 'Trimmer' I have found within a reasonable distance (still over 1 hour drive for her to get to us) charges £50 per hour :eek:

Ali xx

[coss]

i used to ride my mare occassionally on the road barefoot. she is now much older and doesn't grow her hooves to the same extent (if at all) so i don't anymore. If her feet are strong and they grow there shouldn't be too much problems. Some horse will get used to stone/gravel and will stop being footy, some will not. My mare couldn't care less now on the terrain, her feet just don't grow but she did before she was shod (she's barefoot again now.
I would stick to your normal farrier, he/she will know her feet and its cheaper.

[Yann]

Riding on roads is very good for unshod feet but it's important to build it up slowly and keep an eye on how much the feet are wearing all the time.

A horse will be footy on stones if the internal structures of the feet are weak, they are flared or if infection is present somewhere and compromising foot function. It's made worse if the foot is constantly waterlogged too, typical of this time of year.

Is a barefoot trim better than a farrier trim? Often it would appear it is, many farriers don't properly address things like flare when they do a trim. They can also take the foot too short for comfort as the trim they learn is not designed for a working horse but to keep one ready for reshoeing at grass.

Are barefoot trimmers expensive? Undoubtedly, though the trim is more detailed, seems to take a lot longer to do, and they'll advise on what you need to be doing in between trims. They do tend to cover a far wider area geographically than farriers though so might see a lot fewer clients per day than a farrier can.

[coss]

Is a barefoot trim better than a farrier trim? Often it would appear it is, many farriers don't properly address things like flare when they do a trim. They can also take the foot too short for comfort as the trim they learn is not designed for a working horse but to keep one ready for reshoeing at grass.

Are barefoot trimmers expensive? Undoubtedly, though the trim is more detailed, seems to take a lot longer to do, and they'll advise on what you need to be doing in between trims. They do tend to cover a far wider area geographically than farriers though so might see a lot fewer clients per day than a farrier can.

My farrier does everything you say a barefoot trimmer does, unfortunately he is emigrating :rolleyes: my farrier addresses flare, balance and always asks whether i'm working the horse or not so he can adjust how much hoof is taken off. I don't have mine shod (did have my mare shod over summer) so there was no reshoing type of trimming

[Cochise]

Mines been "barefoot" for two years in April 2007, as in hasn't worn shoes. You guys know how much road work I do and I've not had a problem. But the thing is, he just has a bog standard grass trim. I suppose each horse is an individual though!

[Stella2]

My mare has been barefoot since having her shoes removed in September 2005 - aside from one set of shoes in April 06, when coming back into work. It was a remedial shoeing, one set lasted, the second set didn't stay on (very wide-webbed and out behind, so they caught on things). The decision to keep her barefoot was taken between my Farrier (it was his suggestion), my Vet and me. She has what my farrier calls a standard trim, which I think is a paddock trim with squared-off toes, and she is doing very well. All for £15! She was a bit footy on stoney ground, but this is hardly noticable now, and she is fine on the roads.

[Maddison's girl]

Snowman has been barefoot for 15 years! He does plently of road work and just has a trim by my farrier, he has no problems.

He copes a lot better than Maddison (who has shoes) on slippy bits of roads.

[jeano]

My two have been barefoot since early summer of this year, one is a little ouchy on gravel but this seemingly is something she adjusts to in only a few minutes, probably by being a little more careful about where she walks....they are ridden mostly on sand. My older mare had terrible hoofs when I got her, big deep cracks on her fores, we had to leave her in shoes longer than the younger mare in order to let the worst of the cracks grow out. Then she had a hoof abcess, then somehow got a chunk/splinter of wood in the opening at the top of her hoof from where the abcess broke, the opening healed over with the wood inside, this festered for a while and started draining again, farrier carved a hole easily 1/2" diameter to find the trouble, got the splinter out, and the hole is now about mid way down her hoof wall--but here's the deal, except for about a week during the original abcess, she has not taken one lame step and is ridden regularly. My farrier is careful to balance the hoofs but does not subscribe to any strasser like methods, just trims the horses every six weeks. The other mare is gaited and gaits just beautifully, BTW. Neither horse seems at all perturbed by hard surfaced roads. I cringe to think of the bad old days in my former horseowning life when routinely rode on hard pavement and subjected my horses to shoes with borium that were repeatedly reset until worn out.... I now know I was doing them no favors!

[puzzles]

he is certainly more than capable - ask yor farrier for any advice/opinions, but there is no reason whatsoever that you shouldn't, so go for it!

[mu0ljk]

Sorry to jump in here :o but how much roadwork do you guys actually do with barefoot horses? For example would 45 minutes a day on roads be too much or should they still cope fine? Plus do you trot on the roads?

I'm becoming more and more interested barefoot horses and I think I am almost at the stage where I am going to have a proper look into it.

Thanks!

[Yann]

Not enough in our case as the roads are at least half an hour's riding away unless you ride up a footpath along the side of Sheffield ring road :) Once her feet were up to it I did 10-15 minutes at least once a week and she managed up to 1.5 hours in one go without suffering ill effects on a one off basis. In boots I've done hacks where we've trotted for half a mile without any problem at all :)

[mayoguinness]

Defanatly! As long as the horse is sound you shouldn't have a problem!

[hackedoff]

Just to say my barefoot Shetland driving pony used to do 8- mile drives exclusively on roads at least twice a week with no probs :)

[Chip]

I have only ever had one horse shod. All the rest have remained "unshod". All have done roadwork and rough tracks with no problems. I have done an hour roadwork every day, with no problems. My farrier is also perfectly capable of doing a workable trim, after all he did spend five years training!

[Iron Maiden]

I'm not doing roadwork with P at the moment, but my old cob used to go on the roads a lot barefoot. The only problem we had was if we did a lot of downhill roadwork, he used to scuff his heels behind & took too much off them so I put Boas on him. He was fine in front though, never took his feet down too much & there was no sign of footiness (mind you he was never footy behind, even when he had no heels!). I'd go for it if I were you, barefoot is so much better for them!

[Bay Mare]

My farrier is also perfectly capable of doing a workable trim, after all he did spend five years training!

They SHOULD be capable of doing a correct trim but unfortunately not all are. I certainly wouldn't trust the farriers that I know in my area to do the same quality of job that my EP does. If you have a good farrier then hang onto them as they're certainly worth hanging onto :)

Their 4 years training isn't 4 years learning to trim, someone worked it out and farriers spend approximately the same amount of time learning about trimming that the KC La Pierre trimmers spend in the classroom! Farriers spend 23 weeks in college over the 4 years, the rest of the time is spent with their ATFs so their competence at the end is very much down to the guy that they're apprenticed to.


Do you think it's ok for me to ride my horse on the roads without shoes? Her hooves are healthy and strong but I'm just not sure about how much riding on the roads barefoot.

Yes :) and what the others have said :)

[Wally]

It depends upon what the raods are surfaces with, the gait you are going and how long and how much work you do on the roads.

I cannot have my horses go brefoot on the roads while carriage driving as we go too far and too fast to allow for any kind hof hoof regrowth.

[xxxkristinaxxx]

I know of around 30 horses which are barefoot. Most of them had to ride on roads for 40mins a day, their hooves were fine!