Completely barefoot 7 yr old endurance horse
No boots, don;t’ even own a pair.
The terrain he lives and works on is mountainous glacial (Interior B.C.)
clay/granite/shale. Muddy and slick running in the rain, like concrete in the dry weather.
I have two that have never worn shoes. The 10 year old has done a 25 mile LD completely barefoot and could have done more if not for an injury. Nothing to do with his feet. The 4 year old is in training for next year. And so far so good on keeping him barefoot.
[QUOTE=Apollos;4103675]
I have two that have never worn shoes. The 10 year old has done a 25 mile LD completely barefoot and could have done more if not for an injury. Nothing to do with his feet. The 4 year old is in training for next year. And so far so good on keeping him barefoot.[/QUOTE]
My racking mare has been barefoot for almost 3 years, my TWH gelding for over two years. They have been ridden over clay, asphalt, grass, sand, some gravel and rocks. Longest rides say 15-18 miles. The mare likes to amble and drags her toes a bit, so she wears them off funny, but no issues with gait, no lameness, and she pretty much marches over anything, but will be a little more careful over big sharp gravel (like railroad ballast) sometimes. The gelding has huge dinnerplate feet and seems impervious to rocks. They get trimmed every 6-7 weeks, are out on a sandy/loam pasture 24/7/365 with a run-in shed. I’m a heavyweight at 190 lbs and they are both maybe a hair over 15 hands. Neither has taken a lame step since I got them, both were shod in their previous lives. They get bermuda hay in our short winters, and a half pound of cheapo pellleted feed once a day.
Conny never wore shoes, and Casper hasn’t yet.
If Casper needs shoes to compete, he’ll get them. Otherwise, I’m going to keep him barefooted.
If there’s no real reason to put shoes on a horse, I can’t see wasting the money.
[QUOTE=arabhorse2;4107276]
If there’s no real reason to put shoes on a horse, I can’t see wasting the money.[/QUOTE]
I agree. Mare has been barefoot most of her life. Was in front shoes from June-October in 2007. Went back to bare right after that as I wasn’t happy with the way her hooves were looking shod. Got to wondering recently if she would feel different in shoes vs boots so I had her shod again (different farrier) in front 5 weeks ago. She has Vettec Equibuild/Equipac CS as pour in pads to ground level on both fronts. I like this package, however, the combo of shoes/padding costs over $200! The benefit does not outweigh the cost when booting is an option for the 10% of the time we need that kind of protection.
She feels no different in shoes than she does working in her boots. She moves the same in both and the bare/boot method is much cheaper!
I do my own trimming, so next week the shoes are coming off and she’s going back to bare/boots and being managed by me.
Barefoot, she can work in arena footing and on turf. For rocks we need boots. I’m also going to try Soleguard. It would be super if Soleguard could take the place of boots during foxhunting season.
Losing a boot in the middle of a hunt is most unfortunate! :eek:
Thanks everyone for your stories. It’s always interesting to hear about what people do to keep their horses sound and happy over difficult terrain (or I think so, anyway, but I’m kind of a horse nerd! :lol:)
I’ve got 5 TWH/SSH all are barefoot. My only issue with soundness is thrush… grrrrr.
Their hooves are rock hard, just this nasty rainy season we get kills the frogs. Only really one horse get’s ouchy enough to need boots, the others are OK. But I see the thrush and it bothers me…
I’m lucky in that my horses are housed on the same terrain as we ride, so no issues there. I guess that’s the only benifit to living on the side of a mountain rolls eyes
It’s nice to see everyone’s horses doing so well!
[QUOTE=rainechyldes;4103110]
Completely barefoot 7 yr old endurance horse
No boots, don;t’ even own a pair.
The terrain he lives and works on is mountainous glacial (Interior B.C.)
clay/granite/shale. Muddy and slick running in the rain, like concrete in the dry weather.[/QUOTE]
How many miles are you riding in competition ? DH has a very sucessful endurance rider client who’s horses were doing fine completely bare in CO and other out west rocky terrain in the 50’s or multi day rides.He suggested that since she is now doing 100’s that she boot as a precaution. She is currently using the Easy Boot Glove and continues to do great.
I’ve wondered if anyone is doing those huge distances competely bare.Great thread btw, so glad you didn’t put it up in Horse Care :lol:
Horse 1 : Arab, bare since 2005, can go anywhere in any terrain for many miles and never booted although DH would like me to as the horse still has a bit of contracted heels from years of shoeing.Looks like I’m in the same area as Clip Clop.BTW, that is a very nice foot.
Horse 2: 5 year old Trakehener, never shod, ridden in the same area ( I do have an arena that is road base and sand, horses are usually ridden there and then hacked out on the acreage ) fabulous feet, never booted and never takes an ouchy step.
Horse 3 : 5 year old AQHA , never shod, bought knowing he had laminitis. DH fixed that and the horse is sound on the same terrain , have not had him out on trails that much untill recently when I’ve had him out a bunch. He is doing wonderfully. I’m taking him to MT. Margaret for the second time this weekend and to Ft. Robinson later this month. So far so good and no boots needed.
2 boarder horses, a half Arab and another AQHA. Barefoot, never booted and sound here, or any where around here that they have gone.
OP, if you are still in my area, you are welcome to visit, see the horses and their feet and haul out and ride too if you like. DH’s has many, many client’s with similar sucess that we could put you in touch with if you want to find more people that are riding barefoot without boots.they would be happy to share their stories. He is actually giving a clinic today at a barn near Longmont.He is usually
happy to talk feet anytime.
[QUOTE=AZ Native;4111251]
I’ve wondered if anyone is doing those huge distances competely bare.Great thread btw, so glad you didn’t put it up in Horse Care :lol:[/QUOTE]
I thought about it but I’ve been around long enough to know better. 
Besides, the distances and tough terrain are what I wonder about. I don’t think it’s any big feat to keep most horses sound barefoot in the arena.
I guess I should contribute to my own thread. All of mine are barefoot and I don’t use hoof boots on any of them, but only one is doing significant distances. We routinely go on 1-3 hour rides, with sometimes 7-8 hour rides on weekends. I’d be hard pressed to estimate how many miles we cover but we do mostly walking and trotting with some cantering. We ride in high desert and the Rocky Mountains.
My others go out on trail rides as well but with them I tend to stick to the washes which are less rocky. They’re also a bit easier to ride in and since the others are either pretty old or pretty young that’s good.
AZ Native, I forgot to add, I’m not in your area anymore, just moved a couple of months ago. I’m back up there visiting pretty often though so I’ll have to try to remember to get in touch. I’d love to see your horses. :yes:
I guess I can weigh in since I let my guys go barefoot periodically. 
Disclaimer: I do my own shoeing - learned in the late 1970’s. Still learning every chance I get from the best endurance farriers and endurance vets. That said, I still like to let my main endurance guy “air his tooties” at least 2 months during the year, just to give the foot some healthy downtime. He is generally shod in aluminum with pads, so there is no appreciable weight on his foot during training and endurance rides (50 miles and up). But when on vacation and barefoot we stick to the grass, fields, woodland, and non-rocky areas. Distances can be anywhere from 6-15 miles, but only about 1x a week. If I take him up the mountain, he’ll be booted (classic easyboot) due to the rocks. He twists off the Gloves.
Second one (7 year old) is currently working barefoot - 6-8 miles every other day. W/T/C I pulled his shoes midway through his EPM treatment. I had all four shod - the shoes were configured to stop/eliminate the EPM stumbling behind and freer moving up front. Post therapy, I just haven’t bothered putting shoes back on. The rain in this part of VA has softened the ground considerable and makes it easy for a barefooted horse to move happily and freely, so we’re just cruising for now. HOWEVER, as soon as we step up the work to start racking up the miles, and the ground hardens up, he’ll be shod all around. He does NOT do well in boots. He trips and stumbles because he’s a daisy clipper and there may be residual damage from the EPM that affects his ability to “feel” where his feet are in relation to the ground. He will be going to his first endurance ride (50 miles) this fall, so come June he’ll be back in shoes. He can go farther, faster, longer, and with greater comfort and protection in the aluminum shoes.
I love reading about the successes of horses that can compete barefooted. Some horses are really amazing – my #1 endurance horse could probably have been among them. I originally trained him barefoot for endurance, and he could cruise over the worst terrain and not even blink an eye. His feet were IRON!! It was me that was whimpy and too afraid of stone bruises, et al.
Frankly, I have only rarely seen any barefoot (no boots) horses at endurance rides here in the east. I remember two in one ride – I passed (later in the ride) and they both looked sore and were not happy. Of course, I also saw the same “sore and unhappy” with horses that were booted. I remember one barefoot entry (in the Doncaster ride several years back) that was refusing to go any faster than a very very very slow walk. (I was with another rider at the time when our trail re-traced an earlier loop that this rider was on). We actually stopped to talk to the rider to see if she wanted us to send for the horse ambulance. She wanted to tough it out, so we offered her our emergency easy boots. Turns out she already had two – I guess the aghasted looks we gave her made her feel a bit guilty because she decided she would put her boots on her mare. We stayed with her while she put them on, and then we cruised off. She was pulled at the next check – poor mare was already too sore even with the boots on.
When I endurance ride, I ride to complete, and to top ten if the conditions are in my favor. Right now my goals are to rack up the miles – which means every ride is ridden to succeed with every tool available to me. And that means super light shoes and pads. But, for me, shoes are not an appreciable expense. A set of aluminum shoes and impact pads cost me about $20 in material. Labor is free. So, I could go bare or shod as I feel like it, changing from one to the other in a matter of a few minutes (I just pulled all four shoes off my endurance horse this morning and he’ll be running around barefooted until July, then shod/padded in front until September when I’ll do him in shoes and pads all around).
That means my decisions to barefoot/shoe are based upon the amount of work the guys are doing, what the terrain is, and what goals I have set for them. Not my pocketbook.
But, boy, if I could compete barefoot – and not worry every step of the way – I’d be in heaven.
If yours are and you could give me an idea of the general type of riding that you do and the terrain it is on, I would appreciate it. I’m doing my own informal study here. I’d also be interested in any problems or improvements you have noticed since you’ve stopped using shoes or boots.
Horse#1- 17.3 hh WB ridden on sand ring only and pastured or walk paddock on gravel/dirt. previously shod all round for upper level dressage work. Shoes initially removed after a suspensory injury and never went back to them as we found he didn’t need them for ringwork and he is not a trail horse.
Horse#2- 16 hh appaloosa- has never been shod. Sound for up to 3 hours on trails, surface is mostly small gravel meant for cyclists, or else dirt trails or asphalt. Ring work on sand, paddock and pasture as above.
Horse#3- 15.2 hh appaloosa- previously shod fronts only for long trail rides(>3 hours) on gravel trails. Used to get a little ouchy after 3 hours, but we never ride that long anymore. perfectly fine for current trail and ringwork.
Horse#4-15 hh SB. Feet hard as rocks and rarely need trimming- farrier comes and look at her every 8 weeks and sometimes trims a little. She likes to “stall walk” in her mostly sand paddock, so she keeps them worn down.
The main benefit of not shoeing for us has been on my pocketbook. If it were free, I would probably shoe all the trailhorses and the big guy too, but at nearly $200/set of custom made warmblood shoes in size extra large, that is not happening anytime soon. When he injured his suspensory, the vet recommended not shoeing because the weight of the shoe can promote slipping and torquing, both of which could have re-injured him.
[QUOTE=CatOnLap;4125391]
The main benefit of not shoeing for us has been on my pocketbook. If it were free, I would probably shoe all the trailhorses and the big guy too, but at nearly $200/set of custom made warmblood shoes in size extra large, that is not happening anytime soon. .[/QUOTE]
I think that is the big thing going for barefoot and I can’t blame anyone. Shoing can run almost as expensive as boarding. A friend of mine had a $40 bill last month for replacing lost shoes. That plus the cost of shoing in the first place is starting to rival board.
All my horses are barefoot but the main riding horse is my 6 yr old Arab. I do endurance with her and about 80% of the time she’s completely bare, the other maybe 10% of the time she wears hoof boots. Really doesn’t “need” to but we ride fast and on very rocky trails where we’re far from the trailer/camp, I don’t want to take a chance on a sole bruise and lameness.
Her feet are here:
http://www.hphoofcare.com/rf.jpg
http://www.hphoofcare.com/all4.jpg
http://www.hphoofcare.com/sconcavity.jpg
http://www.hphoofcare.com/sweetsfront.jpg
I have no problems with her, even on rocks.
Her brother has even better feet and I have no doubt that he’ll be the same way once he’s under tack and on the trails later this summer.
I flew out East and did an Epona shoeing course, and feel I have enough knowledge to start experimenting with shoeing, but I don’t really have a need so I’m going to hold off for a while yet.
Since moving to the “rain forest” (Missouri) I’ve had to boot up when I expect to cover a lot of loose rock like a long gravel road. 95% of the time I ride hard packed sand/small gravel trails, dirt single track or a sand arena so I do not boot. Back in Nevada I did not need boots during the dry season and covered many miles of the rocks and gravel that make up the Las Vegas valley. After the rains softened her feet, I used original Easyboots in front. Also did not need boots at all in Florida since it was all sand. I have not had much luck keeping boots on her hinds. The mare is pictured in my profile barefoot in Nevada.
I only learned yesterday that a horse barefoot or wearing boots recovers faster at vet checks then shod horses.:eek:
Got that from the horse care part of this forum
It’s the same the whole world over -
I have arabian siblings 8 & 10. 14.2 -3 hh. They are barefoot. No boots. They live on free draining pumice sand pasture 24/7 and we cover everything from sealed roadways to soft pasture to rocks and boulder strewn rivers on our training rides.
The 10 year old was shod for the first time aged 8 when he was sold and found to have very invasive seedy toe in all hooves. I got him 3 months later and took the shoes off. Wasn’t a pretty sight, and the farrier said that he would always need to be shod, but after 15 months he has healthy hard hooves with good sole elevation and doesn’t seem to feel a thing.
His sister, 8, is my endurance horse and she has been mostly barefoot since she started. I used to have light aluminium shoes on the front, but 18 months ago we missed the farrier’s cycle and so went barefoot doing 80k (50m) X 3 rides over dry mixed terrain at 2 weekly intervals. She had no problem, although did wear her toes down which I found very alarming, but she was never lame or ouchie and they grew back very quickly. Has not been shod since. The only thing that concerns me is that she’s a bit pigeon toed in front which gives her feet a funny shape when looking at the soles. A legacy from her upbringing on steep hill country I guess.
I trim the horses myself, but in reality they pretty much look after themselves.
Having barefoot horses requires a leap of faith sometimes, but so far we’re doing ok.
I’m sure you didn’t believe it, though. Who would? Please don’t derail this thread with bf vs shoes.
My mare had pretty good feet, and I went to front shoes only or pulled altogether in the winter for four years. I rode about an hour a day on dirt/gravel fire roads and paved roads. We had a 100’ pea gravel walk she did at least twice a day. As I said she had pretty nice feet and I never really noticed any difference, but when she was barefoot she would preferentially select the grassy center or edge of a gravel road, so actually I did notice a difference in her way of going when she had no shoes. Summers we were out on the pavement more and would generally wear down her toes so she got shoes.
4 shoes all the time
My fabulous TB has terrible feet. My farrier say I can probably pull his shoes when he retires to a grass pasture.
