260 miles barefoot, can it be done?

newforest

newforest

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2008
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PUBLICITY RIDE
Two horses, two riders, 260 miles,
no shoes!
The authors plan to ride their horses barefoot
from North Wales to Devon, between 18 July
and 3rd August. The 17-day ride will raise
money for charity. Follow their route and
progress on

www.ridebare.com

So what do you guys reckon, i know of endurance horses that have competed barefoot.
 
Oo, sounds great:D

They will have a lovely ride over the Shropshire hills, I did that last year (barefoot- no boots) and it's very stoney.
 
I heard the other day that Sarah was going to do this, if someone was going to be able to do it she will. thanks for the link so we can track how they are doing.

Liz
 
I think most of route will be nice. Trying to think how far I've gone in one day barefoot. Possibly only 5 miles.
 
It can almost definatley be done providing the horses have had adequate experience without shoes and are on the correct diet. The horses I work with are all barefoot (have been since birth), are fed a high-fibre diet and do approximatley 12miles per hack with no problems whatsoever.
 
Of course it can be done. Its not so far really. Horses can do 20/30 miles a day on very tough ground. The biggest issue is not getting killed on the road (if there is any).

There are horses out there doing 100 miles in a day barefoot over worse ground.
 
A similar long distance has just has been done recently by someone known to my trimmer - had planned to do half the ride in boots but didnt need to in the end. Wish my boys feet were that tough, but I guess Id need to work on it rather more than I do at the moment.:)
 
No reason why it cant be done, after all, horses in the wild etc etc.


A horses hoof is only as good as the person who trims it. Pasture trim, forget it, it does not allow nor encourage enough callousing to happen to the bars/frog to give the hoof the encouragement it needs to naturally concave. A good barefoot trimmer who works towards naturally correcting and in sympathy with the pedal bone, providing you give your horse enough mixed surface & ample concussion to encourage growth of strong hoof, can give you a horse capable of any terrain within 8 months. But only if you do your part between 4 weekly twims.
 
I used to do endurance riding back in the 70's. Folk thought I was mad. I had to get a letter from my vet to say my horse was up to being ridden barefoot on 40 mile rides. ...and 20 mile ones.

I got comments from the farriers at the shoe check that they'd see me at 10 miles in lame......I had to present my horse at the end for a shoe check and there was many a farrier scratch his head and exclaim as we were sound and not a chip.

This was done on nothing more than an ordinary trim, done by a shoeing blacksmith of the old variety.

If a horse has the feet they will perform. If not there ain't a trim in the world that will do it.
 
It's not the trim, it's the way the horses are kept. The horses doing this ride would probably manage it whatever the trim assuming it wasn't too invasive. They're both kept in optimum conditions and I would suspect genetics are on their side too. I hope it gets the attention it deserves, stuff like this is great for challenging people's preconceptions.
 
brilliant- love the video. those horses have hardcore feet!! trotting over those gravely bits like they were sand! good on them and hope they do it. :D
 
Trim has a place on it all to, but yep, the way the horses are kept has a huge amount to do with it. Feet will never callus well if they are constantly on soft ground. Free access to rough & hard ground builds good tootsies.


Didnt make my husband any keener when I asked him to dump 10tonn of hardcore onto our dug out pathway in the field and roller it off for me.
 
You can only really make the best of what nature has given you. Some horses regardless of trim cannot go barefoot. Yes horses in the wild are barefoot but they don't get asked to carry us, which is why i think if your barefoot you need a balanced horse as well.

I changed to the barefoot podiatry trim two years ago from the grass trim, but i went for boots on the fronts. I gave up the boots 3 weeks ago. We are transitioning which includes work over all terrain and inhand walking. I do get odd looks for this from my shod friends. it's amazing how the daily walkies have kicked the feet in to action and hopefully his immune system is being helped by supplements. (complex chap!)

The trim will help surely as the foot is concave and doesn't have the flare on it as the grass trim would do. My friend's horses just been trimmed and she still has noticable flare on them, and will get stretch as the wall is still too long.

I find though that some people like the idea of barefoot but don't have an interest in looking after the foot themselves in between or at best learning about it. It's not a cheaper option, it's an alternative.
 
I find though that some people like the idea of barefoot but don't have an interest in looking after the foot themselves in between or at best learning about it. It's not a cheaper option, it's an alternative.[/QUOTE]

9 out of 10 times these are then the folk who go on to say that barefoot doesnt work for them.

Whats it take to look after them & keep the trim going ? 30 mins an eve every week.

I have 3, I maintain 2 feet on one pony every week (rotate front and back) and have a week off. everyones trim is kept going, flare is rasped out, flaked sole is scraped out, heal/bar/frog trimmed as and when needed. takes me 2 to 3 mins per hoof. Little longer than it takes to pick and wash.
 
newrider.com
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