In case anyone is a giant nerd like me, I found this to answer my question about mass produced shoes:
https://www.shsu.edu/dotAsset/ebc07c4b-327f-43c2-be78-6889f4c841f9.ukn
In case you don’t feel like checking out the slides, mass produced shoes and nails could be purchased by the end of 19th century.
I would bet the automobile also changed farrier work considerably, as I imagined it removed any remaining need for the farrier to have their own shop.
The nails were most definitely the problem in his case because he was shod in glue ons with no issues. This was something that happened with multiple farriers, one of them being one of the best farriers in the western USA… it was actually on his advice that we went barefoot as he had seen it a few times before where a horse couldn’t tolerate nails.
It was pretty amazing. He went from not being sound enough for turnout to jumping 3ft in a matter of months.
Nice to meet another nerd.
The farrier at my barn hot shoes using a little furness in the back of his truck.
Nerds unite!
I think just about every farrier hot shoes out of a furnace in their truck or trailer these days. Very few have shops anymore!
But my train of thought was that before manufactured shoes, you rode your horse to the blacksmith shop to be shod.
Then we developed manufactured shoes, which made cold shoeing possible and practical.
Then came the automobile which meant the farrier could come to you a whole lot easier than before.
I don’t know when “mobile furnaces” came into the picture. They’ve certainly been here much (all?) of my life. But not every farrier uses one.
ETA: I believe you are in Great Britain? In which case I think you would be shocked to see what passes as acceptable shoeing here in the US. While we have some very good farriers, we have just as many that will make you go 
There are plenty of terrible farriers in Great Britain, and also where I am now, in Germany. I’ve also lived in the US. Farriers in all 3 places have made me go it’s quite bad in my current area. When I was in the US, we were quite lucky with a few good ones around.
I had my horses shoes pulled in Sept after almost a 2 year battle with quarter cracks, that even bled at one point. All sorts of fancy shoes and pads. We pulled all 4 shoes and pads on the front and started with a barefoot trimmer.
My horse has thrived. Transitioned quickly and so well. Quarter cracks grew right out within 9 months. He’s been sound the entire time. He handles gravel very well. I often steer in toward the grass, but he’s cool with being on the gravel. Which is weird, but ok 
I kept him moving and slowly introduced varying terrain to him. He has awesome hoof quality. Should’ve never been shod in the first place 
but you never read or hear anything about going unshod and growing quarter cracks.
He’s hacked and schooled at 3rd (with some 4th) level dressage.
Many people around here just slap shoes on. Horse getting ready to be started under saddle? Shoes
15 year old sound with nice hooves but new owner wants to jump (horse has jumped for years sound and unshod)? Shoes
Literally some people just like the way they sound. Ffs. It’s really odd. Or that they look better. Someone said all unshod horses have thrush…right.
Really odd attitudes. I’ll shoe a horse if they need it, but I think many don’t. Especially interesting because those that ride on soft surfaces want the horse shod all around, meanwhile those that go over varying terrain and ride outside of the sandbox, often have unshod horses.
It’s cool to see horses unshod at the very upper levels of the sport.
Farriery is one of the tightest monopolies in the UK. A vet may pull shoes, and an owner may in an emergency, but only a fully trained farrier (or apprentice under supervision) may put shoes on a horse. While there are poor workmen to be found in any craft, a trainee farrier has a 4 years practical apprenticeship under a qualified, registered training farrier so, on the whole, most UK farriers are very competent.
I admit that I have winced at some of the videos I’ve seen of American farriers at work.
Interestingly, [warning: very high geekiness level] farriers were once the people who treated all horse ailments. It was only with the establishment of vet schools in Europe in the last decade of the 18th century that vets and farriers separated off into a profession and a craft. In the UK they remained totally separate until Simon Curtis, from a 4 generation family of farriers in Newmarket [HQ of racing], obtained a PhD and now is the only farrier with Associate Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, thereby bringing the two strands back together. Look him up: he is a top man.
I have had many conversations about barefoot with my farrier. My horse came to me barefoot and everyone admired his beautiful, strong, well-shaped feet. I initially used a very well regarded barefoot trimmer who had worked on him in his previous home. Then he came up lame and required shoeing per Vet as diagnosed by MRI.
So current farrier started working on him. This farrier shoes everything from backyard horses to GP horses in Wellington and at Spruce Meadows(pre-Covid). He has also been paid to go to European competitions and a Pan Am Games! Anyway, he commiserated with me that shoes were required for such outwardly lovely feet. He also said he had several upper level jumpers that he maintained barefoot and that interest in doing this had increased. I bet he will get even more interest now!
For Sweden:
The barefoot King Edward jumped clear in every.single.round. The only horse to compete in every single round and jump off without a penalty!
The barefoot H&M All In should basically earn a spot as Swedish royalty now. He earned individual silver in Rio, then came back five years later… barefoot… earned another individual silver medal, then stole the gold medal out of the hands of USA. The first horse in over 100 years to win a medal at back to back games. He’s only had a single rail in two Olympic games.
I still feel like a lot of people read this and go, “yeah, good for them, but my Dobbin could never go barefoot.” These horses each jumped six 1.65M rounds this week! Six!!! It doesn’t get much more high performance than that.
This is exactly what I was trying to get across here!
The message of
‘If these horses can do it, maybe yours can too.’
Listen to endurance riders.
They too have their barefoot horses that spend their lives barefoot and performing at the top of their careers, for long time.
They are the exception from many that try.
Doing what the individual needs will always be best.
That someone else can do things one way is interesting.
We still have to listen to every horse and do what is best … for that horse.
Most of them use boots for many training rides, and for competitions though.
So, I follow a Swedish farrier on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/zolarunsten/?hl=en) and she had a long post about one of the horses not being as barefoot as some like to think:
“…Peder Fredriksson horse hooves didn’t work well in iron shoes so his farrier Peter Glimberg has made an incredible job of keeping the hooves healthy without them. The horse has instead a glued rim to protect the hooves from excessive wear and tear. Glue that needs to be replaced very often. And he wears boots while walking in between the perfect settings of a jumping arena. Not all people can afford to have the best farrier in the country to come out every second week and put on glue and keep the trim in absolute perfect condition… Not all horses can go completely barefoot. Not even a Olympic gold medalist like this one. A big shout out to all my farrier colleagues that goes outside the box to help horses and their riders to exceed to their full potential.”
Thanks for sharing!
The beauty of glue ons is they completely change the forces on the hooves. I’m over simplifying this, but the hooves flex and expand in a more natural manner.
We have come a long way with adhesives in the past 20 or so years. They aren’t quite as out of reach as they once were and have much wider applications for use. I think the biggest problem is our first generation glue on shoes and boots were tricky to apply and expensive. That causes many owners and farriers to be turned off of them completely.
Hey @Mango20 Here is a blog straight from the horses’ actual farrier painting a more accurate picture of how the horses hooves are managed:
He occasionally applies Vettec Super Fast to them 3mm thick for extra protection during competition. It wears down in days. He says that wasn’t done for Tokyo because of the good footing. Really interesting stuff!
Yeah, but on really really fancy footing. My dobbins are rambling around in their clay-based-soil pastures that are currently rock hard.
We used to pull some racehorses‘ shoes when they ran on a poly track; same concept. They got their shoes back on for dirt track training.
Very interesting.
I wonder, did those top jumping horses got to the top without shoes and are those some of the rare horses that for maximum exertion do well even without shoes helping them?
Or is that a try by some that believe horses should not wear shoes and are doing their level best to prove it by finding ways and places and horses that can perform without shoes?
We know those barefoot or else folks will grab the headlines and run with them.
Which is fine, as long as they also explain that some horses can be managed without shoes is just one more way to manage for some horses, just as shod is.
For 100+ years our horses have mostly been managed barefoot.
Ranch and performance horses have been shod when necessary, for their comfort first.
First there is no question most barefoot horses are ouchy on some footing and go sound with protection, some of that shoes.
Second as protection and traction for the task was enhanced by shoes/pads/whatever method.
Third to help where there is some pathology that requires protecting hooves/changing way of going.
The most important point to remember when talking about how we care for our horse’s feet is, repeating, do what that horse requires at that time, for that situation.
Some times that means barefoot, others with some kind of hoof protection, whatever kind that situation requires.
This discussion doesn’t take any away from the great performance those horses gave, they truly were the best in the world in that place and time, congratulations on an awesome performance!
THIS!!! i would die to have my horse live barefoot but i cant find a good farrier to save my life
In Europe, where a lot of these horses compete throughout the year, some of the big classes run on grass, in which case you’d want to have shoes to be able to use grass studs.
I think that on these new silica / fiber surfaces, being barefoot does probably have some advantages, especially on landing and concussion. But of course the horse needs to also be comfortable the other hours of its day on whatever terrain it lives on. Sounds like the Swedes use boots for hacking, shoes when they have to show on grass, and if on other types of abrasive surfaces, a Vettec barrier on the bottom (similar idea to a composite glue on shoe I guess but more maintenance).
You may see a lot of wide plate shoes in front on some of these top show jumpers. It’s not because they’ve got pathology requiring stability in their feet most of the time. Rather, the farriers make a shoe that acts almost like a slider for the same reasons that barefoot may help on this footing–allows a bit more shear but without having as much maintenance or transition for the feet outside of training/showing on this footing. I saw similar setups at Omaha.
A lot of people on this thread are kind of saying ‘well good for them, but this is why it’s unrealistic for me’.
And that’s fine. You do you. If you feel your horse is good with shoes, do that. If you feel your horse is good barefoot, do that.
I shared and started this thread because for so long anyone with a barefoot horse was told we could not compete at the upper levels like that. Full stop.
And that’s being proven to be not true.
My hope here isn’t to convert every person on COTH to go barefoot. That would be silly. My hope is that next time someone gets a call from the trainer saying “we are putting shoes on your horse” or “come back for a lesson once he is shod”
They say wait, do I need that? If these horses can do it, does dobbin doing the 2’6” need a full set of steels?
Maybe it gives someone confidence to say ‘eh, let’s wait and see if he needs them when we move up’.
That’s what this is about. That’s why it’s a win. Not because we need to pull all the shoes of every horse ever. But because it widens our perspective on what good upper level horse care can look like.
These horses competing barefoot doesn’t negate anyone’s horse care. Just because these horses competed barefoot, it doesn’t mean you need to explain why it’s not an option for you or your horse. We are all just trying to do the best thing for our animals.
I am glad you had an option he could tolerate and that you gave him what he needed to be comfortable.
I am not pro-shoe or pro-barefoot . I try to go barefoot on my horses for cost alone. If they are not comfortable we shoe.
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