was it the same person shoeing him, as trimming him?
I ask because I see so many situations where shoes get blamed, but the changes were because they simply got a competent farrier or trimmer, vs an incompetent farrier putting shoes on top of a poor trim.
Heck I’d take it even further and say a LOT of farriers 
I transitioned my horse to barefoot a little over a year ago. He’s the horse who “has terrible feet.” He was in full time training while we were getting our farmette in order and dealing with a cancer diagnosis in the family. He was pulling shoes left and right and his feet were asymmetical. He came home and I had to have unexpected invasive surgery just before winter so I decided to take the opportunity to pull shoes and let his feet come back in naturally so I could get him more balanced in the Spring. I havent even thought of putting shoes back on. His foot is 10x heathier and has gone from a 0 to almost a sixe 3 (if he were shod). This is the first time since I’ve owned him he has not gotten thrush or had regular abscesses. He’s moving beautifully, too. Obviously I changed his diet/nutrition as well, but my point is that it can be done and very beneficial.
We’re still not perfect (had to fire a farrier along the way…) but its such a huge improvement. We live in PA where the weather is eventful lol and ground conditions are almost as inconsistent. We do still have ouchy days, so i just throw his cavallos on him. He’s bootless 99.9% of the time however.
I pulled shoes off my gelding in August of 2020. He was only 3, but had some driving training earlier that year and came with borium shoes all around. He was completely fine in the sand arena but was touchy on gravel (to be expected). I got Scoot Boots for him to use on trails and off we went! Also worth noting, he is an easy keeper and was only on pasture/hay up until I got him. Around that same time, I put him on California Trace to make sure he was getting all the good stuff. (We are on Vermont Blend Pro now).
In spring of 2021, he had mild laminitis from the spring grass (no rotation) so that set us back a bit.I noticed towards the end of 2022, he had no ouchie steps on the driveway gravel and has been solid with that ever since. I do still use boots on trails for extra protection.
I gave myself at least a year for him to really make a call on how solid is he is barefoot. The laminitis spell did set that back a bit, but it does need to be given ample time to grow the a new hoof. Im really happy with where he is now!
Loved working with Dr. Taylor. She and my farrier worked well together on one of my horses to get him barefoot sound.
I pulled my mare’s shoes this winter because she was recovering from a suspensory injury and we were still just handwalking. She spent her time in her stall and her in/out paddock, which is about 15x30 and has 3/4 minus gravel.
Once we got to the point of doing more work, my vet suggested putting her back in shoes to give the suspensory more support, so she’s in the Denoix shoes behind. What was interesting to me is that my farrier remarked that her heels on her front feet had contracted while she was barefoot. I always thought it was supposed to be the other way around, but in hindsight I had been asking myself the same question all winter - don’t her heels look WORSE instead of better?
I live on the west coast of BC. When I went barefoot, I had to get rid of the hug fuel footing and mud in their paddocks. Stone dust base with pea gravel helped the footing to dry out after raining. Stone dust base with gravel allowed for drying as well. Paddocks were also graded so the water would run off. Agree that the horse needs to able to move around at will to get the proper stimulation for hoof growth. Boarding does not usually allow you to make the lifestyle changes that many horses need to make the change to being barefoot successful.
It all depends on the trim. But in your mare’s case, confinement and limited movement probably caused the outcome you experienced. Movement is critical to healthy feet. Laid up horses almost always have some degree of hoof contraction.
That’s awesome. I have only listened to some of her talks and read some of her articles. I would love for her to consult on my horses.
Truth. I was trying to be diplomatic. 
But hooves are tricky because it takes so long to see results. Farrier A does XYZ to the horse, but you don’t see the impact of that for several trimming cycles, which makes it really easy for people to attribute the changes to other, more immediate factors like a muddy season.
My farrier has his horses stabled across from mine and one of his went barefoot the same time as mine. I asked and he said he would, but it was going to be at the right time, on the right day, with the right weather forecast and my horse would merely get tidied and not trimmed for some time after shoes were removed. Zero issues from shoes on to riding barefoot over gravel the same day.
That said, the first real trim led to a bit of tenderness which hoof hardener and boots took care of in about a week.
No not the same person and that could be. But there’s such a shortage of farriers and trimmers in my area, let alone good ones that I’m reluctant to play farrier roulette. I’m having a hard enough time with trimmers and at least barefoot I can keep a real close eye on things and do it myself when needed.
Yup. I thought my last trimmer was ok but not great. Stopped using them a couple of months ago and am only now realizing things went more off track than I initially thought.
We were where you are. Gave up. Moved north, now in the rainshadow of the coastal mountains. Much drier here. We tried redoing paddocks with sand and stone dust on the coast. Barn was on the top of a hill. Full drainage system in place in the paddocks. Paddocks still flooded. Horses marooned in their stalls, because it was 100% water outside in their paddocks. Water deep enough to flood stalls. Rain for days and nights, non stop. Everything soaked all the time. High humidity always. Got tired of fighting the weather on the coast.
When cold weather hit, which is sometimes does down there, we were in trouble. Frozen water lines. Frozen horses in stalls, paddocks unable to be used. Humid cold. We evacuated/escaped.! dji_fly_20220920_172210_9_1663880408080_photo_optimized18779|690x388 We sold out to a guy who thought he wanted to own a big boarding/training stable there LOL. Now we get dry cold, and my horses are outdoors year round. No mud. “Horse country” here.!
dji_fly_20220920_172126_8_1663880409102_photo_optimized18777|690x388 Now we also grow our own hay, and no longer need to use shoes on horses LOL!!! Water comes out of the ground instead of out of the sky. Dry cold, powdery dry snow in winter.
This is a FABULOUS webinar. She pulls all shoes on horses coming in for foot/leg rehab.
She has another webinar on Wendy’s Surefoot about nutrition - a critical component to healthy feet.
When my big WB (I mention big because his feet were 6"x6") ruptured his peronious tertius tendon, and at that point in his life I had been his trimmer for several years, he was on strict stall rest for 2 weeks to get through the acute phase of the injury. He’d previously been on full time turnout.
I was astonished at how quickly his heels started contracting in the absence of movement
It isn’t a barefoot vs shod thing, assuming everything is done properly. It’s a movement thing.
West coast is not the ideal horse habitat. I also tried sand and stone dust and it does not work. It became soup when it’s raining. I agree the lower mainland is challenging to keep the mud at bay. I found sand mixed into my clay fields worked wonders to keep the slippery clay from being a skating rink or a shoe sucking monster. Since I built my barn the waterlines are dug deep, have hydrants and insulated walls in the tack room where the inside waterlines/pump are located, so luckily I have never had to deal with frozen water. Some of my horses have to wear blankets since they’re clipped and can’t say any have been found shivering or frozen. Happy to hear you are happy with your move to a more horse friendly habitat.
I’m going to disagree that every horse in work doesn’t need to be shod.
I’m going to disagree with most of this post.
All of my horses started out barefoot but needed shoes for the work. WHO exactly WANTS to pay for shoes? I’ve relied on vets and farriers to say that the horses needed shoes based on body work and hoof conformation with work.
No,none of these horses were living in bad environments. They needed shoes for actual training and work.
Agreed. If someone is pulling shoes on a pasture bound horse or a horse in low level work or largely arena bound, more than likely, the horse will be fine. However, saying every horse can go barefoot at GP or even first flight fox hunting for example is a huge stretch. I’ve known horses with excellent hooves to need shoes with road work because the asphalt ate away too much hoof. Also, not every horse or situation is a great match for hoof boots.
And as Nancy said, it also entirely depends on the environment. This is largely why I do not miss living on the coast. It caused issues with both shod and unshod horses.
The only reason mine was shod was exactly that. She was never tender, but the gravel roads and stone dust track where we put our fitness miles on were keeping up with her trims just a little too close for comfort. Back to UNshod now because she lives on a paved road (no thank you for hacking on it, it’s busy) and there is no stone dust training track at the current facility.
Edited to catch a typo. Horse is unshod now.
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