Barefoot all the way Abi unless there is a well thought out and viable reason for shoes :-)

yes barefoot - horses aren't born with shoes on & as long as you increase work gradually, the hoof growth will grow accordingly.

I have ponderd about the barefoot thing ! It depends on the work expected for the horse. I know of barefoot preferenced horse owners that rode their horses lame and still refused to acknowledge that they were the cause of the problem. In certain circumstances it will be neccessary to shoe. so i would keep all options open. What we ask of a horse is not what a horse will ask of itself. In the wild they have the choice between soft an hard ground, the choose to wear down long hooves. In the field environment we have given an unnatural enclosure so we have to intervene to ensure a healthy pain free life, if you are working your horse and entering endurance, trec, or doing a lot of road work etc then you will need to shoe during the competition season, barefoot can in the rest periods in the winter. Like I say keep your options open and be prepared to change your views, the horses welfare comes before barefoot principles, i have seen lame horses due to the pig headed actions from barefoot onwers.

they must be very ignorant barefoot owners then!!!!
The point is, you have to take it at the pace of the horse, not the rider!
As you rightly point out, some horses sometimes need shoes if they are suddenly doing a lot more work like endurance IF they haven't done the lead up training beforehand, they may also need them if the ground is very wet if the hooves have softened & so are not as hardy as they would be in dry weather.
The road is not a problem & barefoot horses should be ridden over a variety of surfaces, not restricted to only soft grass Or tracks.

Like NightHawk I think it is best to keep an open mind on this one and do what suits you and your horse best. This will depend on the shape and nature of your horses hooves, the nature of your riding and the type of surface you are riding on. There is no way my thoroughbred mare, Nicky, could go barefoot. Her hooves have very flat soles, common to thoroughbreds, and her hoof walls are very brittle and crack easily I also do a lot of riding on gravel roads with her. My quarter horse, Uggs, has good shaped hooves with nice thick walls which do not crack. He has only had shoes on twice in his life of 16 years and is fine unshod. However he does get sore hooves if he is ridden a pebbly ménage surface for any length of time. My young mare, Tricka, has good hooves but I shoe her front hooves as she too gets very sore quickly on the pebbly surface of our adult riding area. So an open mind is best and each to their own here. There should be no pressure imposed to either go barefoot or go shod - the horse owner needs to assess their own situation for the best outcome for their horses being mindful of the nature and shape of their horses hooves and the type of riding they do.

Just an add on - I think that it may also depend somewhat on the country you live on or at least the nature of the land in your area. In Australia it is very hot and dry in summer and in my area it is quite rocky. In addition most of the road surfaces I ride on are gravel ie. mostly made up of some clay but mostly sharp small rocks. The surface of our adult riding area is also small pebbles which are very hard on the horses hooves. It is difficult for horses even with good hooves to go barefoot on these surfaces for any length of time. The thought of riding barefoot on gravel roads makes me think of the book Black Beauty which I cried over as a child.

Yes MaggieF, indeed you have to assess the individuals hooves to see if they are suitable for barefoot, they do need naturally good thick soles. Some TB's can go barefoot, but some have very thin soles indeed & will feel the tiniest bit of gravel; in this case, they are not able to go barefoot.
The best way to start them off barefoot is to start work on a soft surface such as grass, don't expect a horse thats been shod to be able to cope with stony ground straight after the shoes come off & then gradually introduce short times on other surfaces.
I found it odd that your school surface is gravel, that would be difficult for anything to cope wit i'd have thought. In the UK it is often sand, sand & rubber mix, rubber on it's own, sand mixed with a fibre to give it a more stable surface that i know of. it's interesting to hear how other countries do things.

Thanks Beryl I think that generally your surfaces in UK would be more suitable for barefoot than in Australia. You are totally correct in suggesting that horses that have been shod need to be introduced to harder ground slowly but some don't adjust due to the make up and shape of their hooves. Most menages in Australia are either sand or a combination of sand and rubber mix too but some years ago all the riding and show jumping arenas at our local riding club were re-surfaced with a small pebble mix not gravel. The pebbles are about a centimetre in diameter and are extremely hard on unshod horses. The club did try to re-surface some arenas with sand but removing the pebbles proved too expensive so the sand was laid on top and it wasn't long until the pebbles re-emerged. Other clubs in the area have sand arenas but this is my closest club and all the other facilities are too good to move away from including a very large cross country area where you can ride your horse safely away from traffic.

Yes, i do agree, NOT all horses are capable of going barefoot, i'm not suggesting that at all; if they are unsuitable, then they must be shod, i'm certainly not one of those that says that barefoot is the only way - what suits the horse is the right way for that horse.
i understand what you mean by pebbles as opposed to gravel, the difference is the size; what a shame for you, that was a costly mistake for your club & as you say, it's very expensive to clear the whole surface & start again.

EquiAbi the best people to ask if your horse is suitable to try barefoot are your vet & farrier.

Don't get me wrong i would only shoe a horse if its is neccessary to do so. But there are fanatics here in europe that have horses that will compete in competitions distance and orientering, twice a month from spring until late autumn, and when metioned late in the summer that reason his horse was lame was the fact that he had been ridden barefoot to the point that he needed a rest to allow growth, told everyone he knew better and refused any advice or help. There is a lot of road work involved in these competitions, and sometime there are no soft grass verges to use. My young stallion has good hard thick hooves, there is no reason to shoe him for the amount of work he does atm, but when i begin endurance with him he will most probably need shoes or boots after the first couple of competitions in the year. It depends on the terrain. Interesting thread... its great to learn.

Hi Abi,

I have a 9yr old haflinger (who has been shod since he was 3) & have been pondering over going barefoot with him for a years or so now. His feet have not been great whilst shod & he pulls shoes off for fun - often taking half his foot with it. So I have been thinking - perhaps its the shoes causing the problems. His feet always chip & crack as far a the nail holes. So...... After much reading up on the subject & consulting with my farrier I finally took the plunge & took him Barefoot in November just gone. I chose this time of year because of the dark cold wet winter evenings I would generally hack out much less over winter so chose now as the more suitable time of year for us. That was over 10 weeks ago now & So far he is doing great. Having done lots of reading up I am fully prepared for it to take as long as it takes for the transition. He was a little sore on the cobbled yard for the 1st 2-3 weeks but in the menage & the field he was perfectly fine. I am still riding him in the menage but have not taken him out for a hack yet. I am waiting for his soles & frogs to fully harden up - we are getting there but they are all different & take thier own time to transition. The rides out that we do have a nice mixture of surfaces to choose from - Tarmac, grass, wood chip bridle paths, shale/shingle paths so the we can start trying the different surfaces when I feel he is ready. I will be introducing a little road work 1st as the tarmac is a nice smooth hard surface to start with for conditioning his feet. Hoof boots are also something I have considered ..... if we get to a stage where he needs them then we will address that if & when it arises.
I am not against shoes at all, each set of circumstance is different - so long as you are taking everything into account ie- work load of horse, the surfaces he will be expected to work on & for how long, what you are feeding him, his living conditions etc - the list goes on but basicaly my view is that if it is in the best interest of the horse & you are prepared to give it everything you can & it takes as long as it takes & not expect miracles overnight then give it a try. I have & am very pleased so far.
As NightHawk said above this is an interesting tread & I`m sure many people will have their own (sometimes very strong) views. It takes all sorts & the world would be quite dull if we were all the same. I love to read stuff like this as it`s a great learning tool.
Take Care. Jilly. xx

Hi Harveyab - you have chosen the right time of the year to go unshod. Quite often in winter I give all my horses a rest from shoes as I do not ride them as often and the surfaces are softer. You are lucky as all the surfaces you have mentioned that you ride over should be fine for barefoot. The only surface that could cause some problems would be the shale so hopefully you will not have to ride on that too often. Best to keep him on the softer surfaces immediately after he is trimmed as their hoof walls are softest then and they get sore easily.

hi NightHawk - thats just the sort of "ignorant" barefoot owner i was talking about, totally pig headed & selfish!
the horses needs come first - always!!!

One of The most important things about going barefoot is correct nutrition, so the body has sufficient building blocks in order to grow the hoof in the first place, so correct levels of vitamins & minerals is vital for it to be a success.
If you feed a fibre diet, then the easiest way is to feed a feed balancer; my 2 are both laminitics & i feed top spec Antilam which is a specialised supplement, they do many other balancers for different needs.

Hi Harveyab - you have chosen the right time of the year to go unshod. Quite often in winter I give all my horses a rest from shoes as I do not ride them as often and the surfaces are softer. You are lucky as all the surfaces you have mentioned that you ride over should be fine for barefoot. The only surface that could cause some problems would be the shale so hopefully you will not have to ride on that too often. Best to keep him on the softer surfaces immediately after he is trimmed as their hoof walls are softest then and they get sore easily.

When I was riding all the time up to 40 miles a day shoes were the way to go. As my riding tapered off the shoes came off and easy boots were on or carried during trail rides. Now with the once a week outings barefoot is how we go. My new to me 24 year young gelding has transitioned out of the easy boot and he decided to go barefoot on our last 2 1/2 hr outing. We traveled over gravel and packed red clay with no problem. He and my Joey live on decomposed granite with no problem.
Enjoy your adventure and be patient with your horses needs during the transition.

Hi MaggieF. Yes I have chosen winter time on purpose to give my boy the best chance of an easy transition to barefoot. I have been wanting to do it for some time now but kept umming & ahhhing in... "what if he goes really sore... what if his feet are that bad barefoot will never work for him... what if I put him through pain for no reason" etc etc.... All the usual apprehensions about making such a decision. Anyway..... after doing lots of reading & researching & asking lots of questions from lots of people I got brave & did it!! I`m sooooo glad I did - his feet are looking better & better each week. I am fully committed to the barefoot challenge & taking a very holistic approach to it. It will take as long as it takes & what every needs tweeking or changing along the way will happen. I am a big advocate of feeding horses the correct forage instead of concentrated hard feeds so have already had my forage analysed & feed a balancer to make up for the shortfalls in Vits & Mins in my forage so I know he is getting everything he needs to set him up from the inside out! I have also adjusted his excersise accordingly I like to keep him fit so we are working more on school work for the time being - hacking out will be re introduced once I feel his feet are up to the different surfaces. It was my choice to make this change as I feel that it will be better for my horse in the long run. Patience is the one thing I seem to have in abundance for horses...... shame I can`t say the same thing about people tho:)
I am lucky that the hacking near my yard is pretty barefoot friendly. The shale paths are optional so I can totaly avoid them if necessary. I have to admit I have missed hacking out on my boy however all good thing come to those who wait. I`m sure we will be enjoying our Barefoot hacks in no time!
Thanks Guys & Take Care.
Jilly. x

Dear All! I love all your comments - there is a saying in Sweden: Do not go against better judgement - with that said, my thoroughbred has shoes on front legs, my old man has had the Ollov Rubber shoes since 1996 and my Kiger Mustang is barefoot - although that little Kiger needs his Cavallo boots some times and last week of course the ground froze and we had the Ferrier the same day, consequently he was a little sore! A good Ferrier will know and never trim the hooves in a way so that the horse goes sore - after all it is a craftsmanship when it comes to Ferriers and Horsemanship when it comes to owners. Keep Up the good work, Warmest CI Ann Lindberg

Horses are natural animals that live in the wild and you never see wild horses wearing shoes and my horses are barefoot the only time I would put shoes on is when I do dressage or show jumping but I haven't used shoes once in my life yet so keep prefer barefoot.

Mmm..... we need to remember that wild horses through the process of natural selection over many years have strong hooves suitable for going barefoot yet many of our domestic horses -particularly thoroughbreds have been selected for their speed not the shape and nature of their hooves and these horses with flat wide soles and brittle hoof walls will quickly go lame and be up rideable it ridden bare foot on rough stony surfaces. Something for to think about when considering the pros and cons of going barefoot. Check out the nature of your horse's hooves first.

yes indeed, they are all different, what suits one won't suit another one.
Barefoot work must be introduced incrementally & built up gently in line with the growth, starting on soft ground.

I have read all posts and i have lernd from them.
so thank you for this info.

Linda thanks for re-posting this. Re read all our comments again and enjoyed doing so. My big fat warmblood went lame again at the end of winter so I took her shoes off as she could no longer go out on our rough roads. Her hooves have been trimmed and she is on a large flat grassy paddock that has no rocks but even so her hooves have now chipped back so far on the dry hard summer ground that I need to get her shod again before she goes lame. All depends so much on the horse and the type of hooves they have. For those adamant barefoot supporters who seem to believe that our domestic horses can copy the wild horses and return to their natural state then we should remember that we were born without shoes too.

Hi Linda, I am a supporter of barefoot but ONLY if it is appropriate for your horse and your situation. If your horse has the right quality of hooves for barefoot then it will benefit him. So I would encourage you to assess your horse and what you intend to do with him in order come up with the right answer of barefoot versus shod.

We have a number of people who prefer barefoot where it is reasonable to do so and a number of these compete in endurance riding. It is possible to set up your paddock to support the horse to have tougher hooves. Doing things like creating a track to the water supply that is fine gravel so the horses walk a distance on this at least twice daily, not hardfeeding a high sugar diet but rather providing access to natural foraging and many other things. There are lots of good sources of information out there. For me I found http://www.wildabouthooves.com.au/ to be particularly helpful.