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Shoes seem kind of ... optional ... now?

Rejoining Horsey Land after an absence of 25 years. When I rode most recently (in New Jersey, h/j with a slapdash of dressage), shoes were all four, all the time. MAYBE you ran into one horse in a show barn of 30-40 who went without fronts or rears, and often that was temporary. I don’t think I ever knew a full-on shoe-nekkid horse, other than a pasture ornament.

So what’s with the ads I’m seeing lately in this area for horses that are barefoot or front or back only, with assertions that they have no problems as such? I mean, my gosh, wouldn’t that be a dream?

Is it because hoof health is so much improved? Has there been widespread sentiment that historically we’ve shoed when it wasn’t necessary? Are horses running around in boots or such – something that is taking the place of shoes? Or is this no trend at all and I’ve simply been away for far too long?

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Lots and lots and lots of horses have been, and still are, shod for no reason other than they’re in work, or jumping, or {insert reason that doesn’t make sense all on its own}

I also think a lot more attention has been paid the quality of trimming, I can say for sure a LOT more attention has been paid to the quality of diets, as well as the Roger Bannister’s of the horse world showing that barefoot CAN be done under the right conditions.

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This is not a trend. When I started in the horse industry 30 years ago, the average horse owner didn’t know much about hoof care. Now we understand much more, and we trim and shoe horses according to the functional anatomy of the individual horse. Many people get x-rays of their horses’ feet to ensure proper angles. I think most people shoe according to the needs of the horse or the requirements of the discipline, not because “it’s what we do”.

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I don’t think it is a trend but just depends on the quality of your horses feet, how hard you ride and the surfaces you ride on?
It also depends on the way things are done at the barn ( if you board).

When I started out with horses we shod all around, 365. I rode my horses hard , every day and on a variety of surfaces and I never considered not doing it. I lived in a climate where year round riding was doable.

Other horses that followed I did 4 shoes or just fronts during riding months, depending on their need to be comfortable doing what I asked. They all went barefoot during the time off period( winter).

There are some who just shoe because that is what they have always done and I probably would too if I could afford to! My horses good feet were never compromised by wearing shoes. A good foot is a good foot.

Currently I have 2 barefoot and 1 in fronts because it works with how we ride. If a change is needed we will do it. I am so lucky to have an exceptionally skilled farrier.

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I don’t think it’s a trend, I just think we know so much more than we did 25 years ago. If a horse doesn’t need shoes and is happy and sound without them, why change it?

When I bought my gelding, he still had his driving shoes on-toe grabs and all. We took them off with the thought that if he was tender or needed more support, we’d throw fronts on. I’ve had him 2 years now and knocks he’s sound as a bell. Until he needs more support and/or the farrier or vet suggest it, I’m not going to mess with it. He’s got massive, healthy feet!

ETA: A lot of boarding barns either straight up don’t allow hind shoes or they won’t do turnout (esp with other horses) in hinds. I’m sure that contributes to it as well.

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My horse has always been in fronts. We tried him barefoot when I wasn’t going to be riding for at least a month. He was so sore the first few days that we put the shoes back on. There so many options these days. When I bought him he had plain old keg shoes on. His toes were so long and the breakover totally out of whack. We put him in New Balance and New Balance Light. The only quirk is he loses aluminum within 2 weeks.

Several years ago our farrier went to a clinic and came back with an Avanti shoe to try. Horse was 25 or so at the time. He always had occasional stumbles. It totally stopped with the Avanti when the last nail was in the last shoe. It makes the breakover easier without moving it and takes a lot of stress off the soft tissues, for starters. I was amazed a shoe could make such a difference.

The “horses should never wear shoes, ever, come hell or highwater” trim crowd is still around but maybe not as visible? I was looking at barns a few years ago and one of them turned out to be no shoes, no blankets. When I was driving up the driveway to the BO’s house there were several signs on several telephone poles warning me not to drive any closer, or we’ll shoot you. We had a very pleasant conversation. I told the BO he really needs both and it’s not something I would change. Then I departed.

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I see sooo much of this happen around me especially with youngsters. They start barefoot and then they reach 5 and are doing harder work and so they get front shoes, then they reach 6-7 and they are jumping more on different footing so they get hind shoes. That’s it. There is no other reason for it other than age and progression.

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Absolutely this has changed since I was a kid. Part of the picture is excellent hoof boots that you can use to supplement bare foot horses for trail riding.

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There are still plenty of horses shod just because “that’s how we do things”.

My riding horse is barefoot and we did podiatry films recently to ensure his trim is up to snuff. Otoh, my retiree is shod with pads up front. Both are, knocking on wood, sound for their lifestyle.

I’m from a different area but one of the changes I’ve seen in hoof care is frequency of farrier work. Gone is the idea that the farrier comes every other month. My horses get done every 4 weeks at most.

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25 years ago I was a H/J kid in SE PA, not far from NJ…

And our horses wore shoes just because. If the horse was in regular work, he got shoes. It was practically a status symbol.

Thank goodness we have become more thoughtful in our shoeing decisions, though I would say a lot of people still believe a horse in work needs shoes no matter what.

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Are farriers the most incredible people or what. Talk about a calling. It’s such an odd profession, with such demanding schooling. Weird work environment, in hot and cold. A demand to stay in shape physically. A real possibility of injury in so many ways. Specialty equipment, specialty truck.

Probably the job can be enormously Zen. But how often can you endure a bunch of chatterboxes lining up and asking you how long you’ve been doing this, and where did you learn and blah, blah, blah. (I’d be asking for hoof abscess stories.) And the fans include crazy JRTs knocking you over to grab the keratin chunks. Weasels.

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25 years ago we also rode more TBs in the USA in h/j land. And we had shows with grass rings where you were likely to need studs behind at least, as they were more like let’s just chuck some temporary arena fencing out in this field a lot of the time versus manicured surfaces.

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Avanti PLRs are a wonderful, well balanced shoe. I use them on my guy.

My horse has worn fronts on and off throughout his life, depending on what we were doing with him. Then, when he was about 18 years old, he came up slightly unsound on one front foot. We x-rayed, had a few different farriers out to try a few things, but nothing seemed to fix it. The second we pulled the shoe, he was sound. The minute the shoe was back on, he was off. We witnessed this a few times over a few months before my farrier finally said “we can’t figure out what’s going on here, but he clearly has it under control when he’s barefoot, so let’s never put shoes on him again.” Now he’s 28 years old and still doing very well barefoot. My farrier still laughs about the mystery we never solved.

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Like many things in the horse world, there is a long tradition. Four feet always shod became standard when horses worked for their living, doing hours on city streets, pounding down roads in front of wagons and coaches, patrolling long distances in the army, when horses “died in harness” and were knackered after eight or so years. Even in the 19th century, foxhunters were turned out to summer grass barefoot, in grass tips or fronts only. Now the majority of horses are leisure animals, doing maybe as little as an hour a day on a forgiving synthetic surface. How and when horses are shod still depends on work type, environmental conditions, availability of good farriers, hoof and leg conformation and other variables. What has changed over the past couple of decades is the knowledge and view of owners. Farriers have always done “barefoot trimming” before putting on the shoes.

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There is nothing wrong with shoeing a horse because the owner/ trainer believes they should be shod. Even if they can hold up fine barefoot you are not doing any damage. The biggest issue is if you can’t keep a shoe on ( as happens with some horses) and hoof damage is possible.

This^^^ shows it is a personal preference with any option. I would 100% shoe over messing around with boots anyday anytime.

At least we have several options to choose from.

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I know people who think boots are too much work but are fine taking time for polo wraps, brushing boots, bell boots, etc :slight_smile: all of which are as much or more bother than my Scoot boots. Especially if folks also pick out the feet before riding.

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How do you get the boots on as the foot grows( possibly widens as well) between farrier visits?

Usually they fit to about week 5. I rasp a bit if needed. Also sometimes later in the trim cycle horsey doesn’t need boots or a ride in sand gravel barefoot takes off a bit of toe and the boot fits.

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Locally my observations are that horses that just show and school in arenas mostly wear shoes. Trail riders and endurance riders even are more likely to be barefoot. And then use boots. This has always been a bit ironic to me.

As a teen we had our horses all cold shoed and typically wore the shoes right out in 6 weeks, was never able to re set a shoe. Lots of rocky trails in the mountains!

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