To Shoe or not to shoe??

ploddycob

ploddycob

I love chunky cobs!
Sep 6, 2005
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Teeside
i have a 14.3 M/W cob (connor). The farrier is coming out tomorrow to do his feet but i'm in a bit of a quandry on what would be best, shoes or no shoes?

I was going to do 4 new shoes, but YO and other liveries have said he doesn't need shoes as he a strong cob. He wont be doig much road work, but will be hacked out over bridle ways quite a bit...

What do you guys currently do with your ponies? any advice appreciated...

:)
 
Pink's barefoot and always has been. I know quite a few others who are too.

It would defintly be worth trying. You'll need to do it slowly though. Get his back shoes off first and let him get used to it. Once he's totally happy, you could get his front shoes off.

Some horses can't manage without shoes but most can. The benifits of barefoot are huge, the main being the dramatic inprovement in blood circulation in a barefoot.
 
Mine is barefoot and I'd never go back to shoes unless she really had to have them (would do it if it helped her, but not just for my convenience).

Cobs do tend to have good feet, but not all do, mine appears to think she's a TB :rolleyes: so ask your farrier's opinion before deciding. Odd advice from me considering I ignored my farrier's opinion and did it anyway!

Bear in mind that not all farriers are good at keeping horses working barefoot (some do things with the trim that don't help at all) so if you are keen to try it and it's not working with a farrier trim then it's worth trying a barefoot trimmer such as an EP but more expensive.

If he's had shoes on for a long time then you might have to build up the work slowly while his feet adapt to being without them again. OTOH some horses hardly seem to notice the shoes are gone.
 
I have three - all barefoot.
A 10 year old Thoroughbred that always had troublesome feet and now has beautiful feet due to barefoot
An 11 year old Quarterhorse that always had strong feet but bad confromation
And a 1 year old Percheron cross.
I am so excited that the yearling will never, ever wear shoes. Her hooves will be able to develop into beautiful healthy feet without any restraints like the others had (The TB was shod and racing from a very young age)

If you have the resoucres (time and money) to do barefoot right, then go for it. People often say that 'good feet' are a criteria but I would actually say I started off with bad feet on the TB and got good feet as a result. :)
 
We have 5 horses. None of them have ever been had shoes, and none of our previous horses have ever had shoes. We use our horses for trail rides, and there isn't a need for shoes. Plus there is a creek running through their pasture, and if they would have shoes on, they would lose them in the mud.
 
Cheeks has been barefoot since April. I've just upped his roadwork even more and he seems to be coping very well. I'm watching his feet like a hawk. It's going to depend on ground conditions this summer to see whether I shoe him or not. But his feet were a mess last summer, it was very wet in shoes. I'll just keep watching them.
 
I was also previously an advocate of barefoot-ness, and honestly, after trying the shoeing-thing, I still am. After noticing that the front hoofs suddenly started to get cracky, I decided to try to shoe the front. Our shoe-history lastedd for two weeks, when one day the horse mysteriously managed to bend and damage one shoe (lucky he did not tear it off with half of the hoof), and it was the evening before competition.. luckily we had an emergency farrier to take the shoes off in the morning, so it all went well, but I'd rather spare myself the stress and shoe management problems, and not to mention the costs, better to be invested in some biotin containing food suplements.
 
Do you trust your farrier? Ask him what is best for your horse, considering his feet and the work you will be doing and the terrain you will be riding over.

Dont dismiss either, because other people do theirs one way, your farrier is the best person to ask.
 
I was thinking about going barefoot with my chap,he's a cob but when he throws a shoe he starts limping like a 90 yr old man when I take him over stoney ground like down a bridleway or something when he's missing a front shoe(never throws his back ones!), so I have always thought he wouldn't be able to cope with bare feet, or would he get used to it??
 
I agree with MelanieD and MeMe, it would be best to speak to your farrier. If you do decide to let him go barefoot and he doesn't like it or he gets footsore, it won't take 2 long to get the farrier back out and pop him some shoes on.

A bit off topic here but regading what Karinus said about her TB going barefoot, i wish i could get my TB barefoot, she also acts like an old woman if she loses a shoe, or even if she steps on a stone! :rolleyes: Silly mare! :D
 
tbtess said:
A bit off topic here but regading what Karinus said about her TB going barefoot, i wish i could get my TB barefoot, she also acts like an old woman if she loses a shoe, or even if she steps on a stone! :rolleyes: Silly mare! :D
Click to expand...

It takes time and good care, guys. ;) When DJ used to lose a show I would duct tape a piece of rubber flooring to his foot because otherwise he would limp and the hoof wall would deteriorate so bad that it would be tough for the farrier to put another shoe on. :(
The neat thing about abrefoot is that you can put sole protection on whenever needed.
On trails and on the road (especially in the beginning) we are using BoaBoots. They are fabulous and very easy to get on and off. But while turned out his hooves have a chance to regenerate and get better.
He doesn't have any cracking anymore and his hoof is better aligned with his leg, much less underslung, etc.
It's a process with a gret reward at the end. It's not their fault that their feet are often shod so young and therefore need longer to rehab. :)
 
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