Hi all, I bought a TB/Welsh little dude this past winter, and I’m wondering how common it is for a horse to stay barefoot while in light work? When I bought him he was barefoot and ridden on grass, and has seemed comfortable being lunged a couple times a week indoors and ridden occasionally as I searched for a saddle to fit him. Now that I have a good saddle for him, I can start riding more regularly. The plan is light flatwork with weekly dressage lessons- we are working on very basic, training-level dressage, so nothing fancy in that department. Might he be able to stay barefoot for these activities? I’ve never had a horse that didn’t need at least front shoes, so the idea of no shoes is new to me.
Meh 
I Evented (low level, but schooled Training) my TB barefoot & did a little infrequent riding on asphalt < Walk only.
He’d been shod pretty much since birth - ponied at the track after he failed his Speed Test, then showed Hunters w/me.
When I went barefoot, he was LassieComeHome gimpy on hard surfaces for a while. But not for long.
Your guy s/b fine, but let him tell you how he feels about being unshod.
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Many horses are just fine barefoot. I’m in barefoot world, so to speak, and we just use hoof boots as needed when we go on longer trail rides or horses seem sensitive to gravel. A horse should not need shoes to be comfortable on arena footing at lower level work.
You could read up on barefoot best practices via Pete Ramey books and online.
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Okay, that makes sense. I’ll keep an eye on him and see how it goes.
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Is there a brand of hoof boot you prefer? I might try one, just to have the option as needed.
I really like Scoot Boots. You do need a good balanced barefoot trim and some help getting the right size. If his heel is run forward they won’t fit.
farrier here - about of 80% of my clients are barefoot, they are mostly low level horses - english, endurance and western. A few wear shoes year round for therapeutic reasons, most of the shod ones are shod for the summer/fall due to riding on gravel roads or corks for jumping. Quite reasonable for a horse with no soundness issues to remain barefoot for arena work and trails.
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My Friesian x QH has been sound barefoot for 11 years (his whole life). He jogs sound over gravel, has been in full work, gone to shows etc no problem. My old TB wears front shoes, frog support pads and pour in just to stay pasture sound as a retiree. So it depends on the horse is my opinion
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Lots of horses work just fine barefoot.
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My TB is barefoot and was for years before we needed shoes at a barn with so. much. gravel. We showed hunters. No problems, even on trails.
Friend’s pony had a full workload (riding wtc 5x week, plus jumping lessons), and showed on the circuit barefoot. No problems at any venue, just packed his feet overnight at shows.
Plenty of horses go barefoot, but not ALL can. Depends on how much hard ground or gravel you have, your nutrition and your farrier’s skills. Just listen to the horse, and learn all you can!
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I am able to keep my horses barefoot, in fairly light work. Arena work, h/j, and light trail riding on decent trails (not over top of rocky mountainsides for 12 hours at at time). The environment plays a huge role in success with this. Our semi arid conditions and herd environment make a huge difference, I find. When we lived on the “Wet Coast”, the constant rain and high humidity made hooves soft, and most horses did need shoes for the same sort of work that we now do barefoot. I have TB and TBX horses. Listen to your horse.
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The horses at my place live on a 2 mile long surfaced track 24/7 - so walking barefoot on stone, sand & dirt - their feet still grow and are trimmed to balance, so the hooves are fully transitioned and able to accommodate the wear from constant abrasion.
I’ve had 52 horses here in the last 8 years for rehab, training or just to live / retire, all transitioned to bare or were already bare or bare but compromised, there’s not been one yet that didn’t build a hoof that worked as it should - even if they aren’t pretty they’re functional!
I’ve hunted, jumped, XC’d, dressage and hacked for many miles on barefoot horses so the level of work you’re looking to ask for should be easily doable @Whinny_the_Pooh
I’ve got a couple who currently want booting - mostly against concussion, rather than wear as one has ringbone, the other sidebone. There’s one who does 2 hours hacking per day (mostly in trot) 5 days a week, never booted.
Get the diet, environment, general health and hoof balance all nicely lined up and a horse should be capable of pretty much any level of work without shoes.
Which boots suit your horse depends entirely on the solar measurements, heel height and wall angle - plus what you want to do with them. Some boots are better suited to off-road work than others, some are grippier, some are more flexible.
If they are longer than wide you have the most options available, round hooves there still a good number of options and if wider than long less so, but there’s a few.
Congrats on your lovely boy and good luck in your barefoot journey
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My mare is BF but I find that by spring, she needs boots to not wear excessively (summer is very dry and arid here). I am not against shoes but early in her life, this mare was just a bitch to shoe (last shoe job was when she was 6. She turned 21 last month). I thought I would give BF a try and it has worked fine. 18 years later, she is comfortably BF with the help of boots for excessive wear protection.
Susan
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Once you start really working you can’t know what the horse will need. If you just watch your horse closely it shouldn’t be difficult to see if they need shoes.
I rode my mare daily for years on grass, dirt and gravel and she was fine barefoot and never took an ouchy step.
She is older with a few issues and has fronts now.
There are horses jumping 1.60 barefoot. The vast majority of horses are totally fine barefoot for low level work.
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Well, the last world cup show jumping winner, Olympic team gold medal and individual silver was won by a barefoot horse (All In and King Edward), so I’d say there’s a lot of grace between where you are and where they are. The horse will absolutely tell you what he needs and it’s always a good plan to start with less until they need more.
I’ve got a fjord pony whose starting his 5th year in combined driving, and if I had listened to the conventional wisdom I would have shod him to add studs for marathon years ago. But honestly, he always seemed surefooted in good, bad, hard, gravel, grass, wet, slick or sloppy footing, so he’s still barefoot. The only day I doubted myself was in this one hazard that was tight, technical and a slick of clay over hard footing due to a short, hard rain that hadn’t soaked in just before we went on course. It was slippery and I couldn’t go balls to the walls on turns like I had planned. So I was like, this is it, time for studs (and shoes). That was until I heard all the drivers WITH shoes/studs had the same issue. Well alrighty then.
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Both of mine are barefoot. My appendix mare wears Scoot Boots on fronts if the footing is hard or rocky. She has jumped up to 3’6" with the boots no problem, and also schools second level dressage. It seems like there is always a horse at my barn that is off because it’s thrown a shoe and the farrier can’t get out for a few days. We have no such issues.
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True, the only shoes I have to worry about losing in the mud are my own!
