Two horses on the Swedish team are unshod, and one, All In, just got silver. King Edward got a strong 4th place.
For years it was said horses couldn’t compete at the high levels without shoes on. Congratulations to the Swedish team for their great individual medals and prioritizing their horses health over what’s easy!
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Kudos for their achievements! I stop short of saying shoeing a horse who needs it is doing what’s easy.
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Love this!
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If a horse needs shoes they definitely should go in shoes. I’m not anti-shoe. But a lot of people put shoes on their horses because it’s just what is done. It’s not questioned as to if the horse actually needs them or if they are beneficial for the horse.
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For sure - given what I pay for a full set ($300), I would hardly call that easy!
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Truth! I’ve had horses who did well barefoot … competitive horses and I’ve had horses who needed shoes for protection and traction. I would LOVE all my horses to be barefoot ! That would be easy. And cheaper and take much less time and angst.
I completely agree. Well put.
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Sorry I don’t know any Conscientious owner who blindly shoes their horse and wouldn’t love them to have lovely barefoot hooves that hold up to the rigors of use/competition. YMMV
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Uh, the Swedish Olympic team was doing just that until covid lockdowns provided them the opportunity to experiment…
I’m not implying owners who use shoes aren’t conscientious. But there’s this big misconception that some horses are born with these brilliant hooves and others aren’t, and that’s just the way it is. Maintaining a barefoot horse isn’t as easy as just pulling their shoes and watching them gallop into the sunset without another worry. But with the right conditions in place, many horses can be kept and used barefoot.
I guess what I’m just trying to say is a lot of people aren’t shown how to correctly try barefoot, so they think it’s not a possibility for them.
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Many people especially in hunterland shoe their horses not because they are necessary but because for years it was thought every horse competing needed shoes.
I was one of those people. My horses were shod because it was what was done. It wasn’t until several years later that I found out it wasn’t necessary and in some cases can be harmful.
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Great for them! I’m talking about the horses I know who are competitive…mine included. I know not a person who would rather shoe than leave a horse barefoot. If a horse needs it it is kinder to go to the trouble and expense.
PS I am in hunterland and If my horse went well barefoot I’d be thrilled! He does not. Past horses have.
Did you even read the article?
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Definitely not cheap, that’s for sure. But this is why I say shoeing is easier;
It’s expected. Many trainers expect a horse to be shod. I’ve been turned away by trainers because my horse was barefoot.
It’s easier to find farriers. Some farriers will refuse to do barefoot horses because it doesn’t pay as well. Others don’t know how to trim a horse properly for being unshod.
You can’t use studs. A barefoot horse may have to withdraw from a competition on poor footing when a shod horse could have put studs in.
Theres sometimes a delay between removing shoes and the horse being comfortable barefoot as the sole rebuilds.
If a horse has foot soreness, it’s easier to put shoes on than to investigate what might be causing it. If your horse is barefoot, sometimes some depth or other underlying causes can be the reason your horse is footsore. Shoeing can cover up that issue.
Barefoot horses can be footsore on gravel.
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Yes I did. Bravo again for them. Just saying not everyone who shoes their horses is doing what’s easy.
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I’m pretty sure no one has said that.
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Okay. Maybe I read things wrong. I also have a hunter background and thankfully whatever was best for the horse be it barefoot (yay!) or shod is what we pursued. Yes diet, diagnostics, hoof health were all addressed. And to me it wasn’t the easy way out. It was simply tending to the individual horse’s needs.
PS my farrier does our large barn about 50:50 barefoot vs shod. Based on what the horses need. He’s married to a vet and an amazing farrier who works with his wife to address each horses hoof health. It’s not so black and white
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I think passions run high in this topic because like you said, people get so black and white about it.
I totally get what @StormyDay was trying to say because raise your hand if you’ve ever been in this situation:
Trainer calls. “We’re going to put shoes on your horse.”
Me: “Ok, why?”
Trainer: “well she’s getting ready to enter her first recognized show so it’s probably a good idea.”
Me: “Ok, why?”
Trainer: “Well we don’t want her to get footsore or have problems.”
Me: “Ok, is she getting footsore or having problems now?”
Trainer: “Well no, but she might…”
Me: “We’re not putting shoes on her.”
If trainer and I weren’t good friends, she probably wouldn’t have tolerated me. 
But for my trainer, she saw that it was easier to put shoes on a horse “to be safe.” She’s not a bad person. Not everyone reasons it like she did, but her reasoning also isn’t uncommon.
That’s all.
(If my horse had needed shoes, I would have been behind it, but she’s one of those “dang she has good feet” types)
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This 1000x.
I’ve had horses shod, barefoot, in glue ons, in steels, all of the above. I do what’s best for my horses. But I truly believe the healthiest option is barefoot. Yet, there are cases where a horse just can’t be barefoot. But I believe that a horse who can’t tolerate being barefoot is a lot less common than the show ring would lead you to believe.
Watch the 2’6” ammy hunters at WEF; the majority of horses will be shod. I can guarantee you that a lot of those horses don’t need those shoes.
You can go back through COTH and find threads about horses competing barefoot at the upper levels, and so many people just didn’t think it could be done.
In the past 5ish years, more and more top riders have started using alternative shoeing methods. Glue ons, composite shoes, etc. But we hadn’t seen a lot of barefoot horses.
Finally we are. I think that’s a great step forward in horse welfare. If your horse doesn’t need shoes, don’t put them on. If they do, then do that. Some horses just got the short end of the stick with genetics and they just don’t do well barefoot. But don’t blindly slap a pair on when they turn 4 just because all the other horses have them.
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