For those who keep their horses barefoot, how do you manage to keep them in full work without the need of shoes? I have a 5 years old quarter horse that has been barefoot and in full work. Lately i see him short striding, hé works 5 days a week. When do you know it might be thé moment to put shoes on?
1 Like
Lameness would certainly be an indication that more protection is needed in some form, shoes or boots or something.
Not every horse can handle a full workload totally barefoot. Most, maybe. It sounds like your guy needs something more.
If you don’t want to shoe him, there’s such a broad variety of boots that you can use when you ride.
5 Likes
Yes, I have found Scoot Boots to fill that gap very nicely.
4 Likes
What do you mean gap? When you feel footy your horse you ride with the scoot boots in thé arena? Mine is slightly short in thé arena.
Before you jump to shoes, I would first have a full lameness exam with a good performance vet. Short striding might have absolutely nothing to do with lack of shoes. What if, for examples, his stifles are sore?
I much prefer to keep my horse barefoot when they are able. I do a lot of different things with them, but I do also rodeo a bit. Talk about running on different types of grounds, and not to mention having to warm-up in less than ideal locations sometimes. My main mare right now is barefoot. When we haul, I do my best to stay off the gravel and be accommodating to her, and she’s fine. She can run on hard ground or deep ground (or muddy ground) and nothing bothers her, but she travels balanced and is light on her feet.
My older (now retired) barrel horse wears front shoes with wedges because he has navicular. For a time in his younger days, I put rim shoes on his hind legs because if I would run him somewhere with deep sandy ground, he would have trouble slipping. So that’s what he needed. Later on, I was a lot more selective where I ran him so he no longer needed the hind shoes because I just chose to run him in arenas that he liked and did well at.
It boils down to what the horse needs for the tasks you want it to do.
9 Likes
The horses I’ve had that didn’t wear shoes never had any issues, except maybe occasionally walking over something really rocky. It wasn’t anything special I had to do to keep them sound, the most I ever do is rasp off chips to keep the edges smoother. I would think if you’re noticing unsoundness, especially in a ring, something is going on and either treatment or shoes are needed.
6 Likes
But do you have horses that are footy even in arena?
My theory has always been very basic - if the horse is sound and happy doing work with out shoes, they get to stay barefoot. If the horse is not sound and happy doing work with out shoes, they get shoes.
It sounds like after you make sure the short strides are because of sore feet, it is likely time to look into shoes or boots (like others have said).
9 Likes
Yes maybe try with boots for some days and see if hé improves but i never had a horse footy on soft ground.
1 Like
It might be worth having the vet out to see what is going on.
Or start with your farrier first.
1 Like
Same here.
I am also very cautious about my barefoot horses diet. I’ve noticed when there’s more sugar in his diet (mainly from grass) he can get a wee bit footy on some harder surfaces.
Generally riding in an arena shouldn’t have a huge impact, unless it’s very abrasive footing and the hooves are wearing down quickly.
IMO you have 3 main options here, OP:
Get the vet out to make sure it’s his feet, and perhaps get an idea as to why/why now.
Try boots and see if that helps.
Shoe the horse and see if that helps.
3 Likes
I did. It was a very dry summer and the ground got very hard. My horse’s sole cup got shallower on the hard flat ground, and the extra sole pressure in the looser arena footing made him uncomfortable. He was quite happy doing everything out on the hard grass ring, and fine in turnout.
2 Likes
I agree 100% with those who say you first need to diagnose the problem. Is the soreness in the feet or somewhere else? Is it just one foot or more than one? And why is it a problem now and not before? Have your vet come do a lameness exam to determine what’s going on.
If your vet thinks your horse just needs foot protection, I would try boots first unless there’s a problem that requires therapeutic shoeing, because I think that barefoot is healthier for the hoof if the horse is sound. It’s also nice to not have to worry about losing a shoe or getting an abscess from a hot nail. I’m not a barefoot fanatic though. Some horses need shoes, either always or temporarily to resolve a problem. And boots won’t work well for some disciplines.
Both of my horses are barefoot. My riding horse wears boots when we’re trail riding (Scoots now, but he has worn Cavallos), but he’s sound barefoot in an arena or on pasture. Ten years ago he had a laminitis attack, and he had therapeutic shoeing for almost a year when he was recovering from that. When he had grown new feet he went barefoot again, with the vet’s and farrier’s blessings.
Obviously it depends on the arena, but IME a sound horse should not be tender on properly maintained arena footing whether sand or hogfuel. I have certainly seen lower end arenas with hard patches or just hardened dirt so that’s different. I also expect a sound horse to go fine on turf barefoot like racing around a pasture
I use boots for two reasons. The main one is so horse feels comfortable striding out trails with gravel or rocks on hard ground. The other is to keep her wear patterns a bit more even and help her pronation wear behind, which is very idiosyncratic to her
2 Likes
- Lameness check. Make sure that the source of the problem is the feet.
- When the feet can’t be maintained properly (wearing too quickly for example) or provide enough comfort to the horse.
If the source is the feet just being too sensitive and you’d like to try to get the horse to a point that it’s ok to continue barefoot there are a few things that can be done and you may end up having to do them more than once. For my horse, it was two trials about a year apart. She had been barefoot in full work but with a change in footing her feet just wore too quickly so she went in shoes. A couple of years on she foundered. A couple years after the founder I tried barefoot again. That was an easy transition until we changed farms and the footing everywhere was rocky. Back in shoes. Another couple of years on I tried again but made the transition with boots, Venice Turpentine, AND during a dry spell so the feet would not be soft. Knock on wood, that worked.
Is this the horse that refused to eat or drink after deworming? Are you sure he’s not laminitic?
When a horse that’s been comfortable with the work is suddenly not comfortable with the work, and not much had changed, the answer is often a veterinary issue.
Sure, horses in work often need some sort of hoof protection. But that doesn’t usually present as a horse that’s going well and then suddenly not. At the very least, investigation is warranted to rule out some other causes.
7 Likes
Like others said: first rule out any other reason for the short stride.
Then ask your vet if shoes will fix whatever & if possible, have vet consult w/shoer.
FWIW:
My TB was shod when I got him as an unraced 6yo. I kept him in keg shoes for the next 12yrs.
Then pulled shoes & he transitioned fine after an initial Lassie Come Home gimpiness on hard ground or gravel.
After his soles toughened I rode him anywhere barefoot, even Evented. He was never shod again until a killer abcess had him in glue-ons for 3mos when he was 23. Back to barefoot after that & never a problem.
3 Likes
I use boots in the summer…I don’t wait for her to get ‘footy’. It is very dry here and even in a groomed arena, she will wear excessively without the boots and I like them simply for protection. One barn I boarded at had less than great footing (rocky). I use the boots usually April/May to October/November…depends on the rains. Historically, she has been a bitch to shoe. She hasn’t had shoes since she was 6…she will be 23 this year.
I do arena work and trails with her…all in the boots. I used to show dressage and never had footing that made her sore for the duration of a show since boots are not allowed 
…she handled it fine but I did boot her for all work outside of the shows.
I would get a vet exam…maybe x-rays to look at sole depth and balance. I would do that before spending a bunch of $$ on boots. He may need shoes?
1 Like
That’s what I was going to say. And has the trimmer been taking sole?
Can we get pics of these feet?
1 Like
Boots are important transition tools for almost all horses. I tried to take mine barefoot this summer. The x rays showed great depth, perfect angles, etc but she wasn’t as comfortable without shoes. Either, I could do boots and see if we could get her settled and happy to work or we could go back to shoes. Boots behind are tricky and she’s super base narrow so I felt going back into shoes was best. I don’t feel it is fair to let a horse be “footy” on anything except for random pretty extreme footing. Letting them “tough it out” isn’t fair and also can create compensatory issues throughout the body. Ouchy on soft footing would be a red flag and would make me want x rays to check sole depth and make sure there isn’t something worse going on.
3 Likes
