Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to put hind shoes on your horse?
My mare has poor quality feet that abscess easily or tear up when we do fast trail riding, especially on rocky ground. Even if we stopped trail riding the wet weather season kills my riding, despite correct diet, trim, and additional supplements.
Leaving my horse barefoot behind was not an option as riding in the sand arena wears his hind hooves down to nubs. I don’t want to chance him getting sore behind.
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Because his hind feet were wearing down faster than they were growing.
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why did you decide NOT to put hind shoes on- OP-
assuming from your question you have decided to put front shoes on
otherwise you would b asking a different question
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plenty of reasons to do and not to do - for my own guy, he went from barefoot and comfortable to NEEDING four shoes and pads because of, quite frankly, my farrier.
for lots of horses, an increase in work will increase the amount of “shear” in their hooves - hard surfaces, rocky trails, roads, all of these will shear off the sole/wall and some horses need the shoe for protection to keep their hooves from being, quite simply, chipped to pieces by the demands of work. for other horses the constant concussion can really impact their sole and cause mild inflammation (mechanical laminitis) and having a shoe helps create a “barrier”.
but there are many, many reasons to not want shoes behind - my own reason for pulling them off my current gelding was because he can and does kick out at other horses - a kick from a shod horse can kill a horse… it happened to one of my geldings while he was on lease and he had to be PTS because of it. several barns do not allow horses shod behind to be in group/shared turnout for this reason.
Both of my horses have excellent feet, and I have an excellent farrier.
My mare wears shoes all around most of the time (sometimes I pull them in winter, depending on workload), because she needs traction and support while jumping.
My youngster wears no shoes at all and, knocking on wood like crazy, seems perfectly fine with that. He is in full flat work now, and I hack him about once a week down dirt roads. I paint his soles and the lowest 1/4 inch of his walls with sugardine once a week when the ground is really hard (ice or dry summer pastures). I find this really reduces wear and breakage.
I put fronts on my horse at 2 1/2 because he abscessed five or six freakin times that spring in the fronts. He doesn’t currently have hind shoes but now I’m considering putting them on because of a huge abscess a few weeks ago. My only hesitation is that he’s turned out with my herd. The wet weather in the PNW paired with riding out on the rocky trails (we hack once a week usually) just doesn’t mix well. I’ve had more fungus issues this year, despite having newly rehabbed gravel paddocks for winter. I guess when you’re setting records for most rain in 122 years it just doesn’t even matter.
I pull shoes on all of my ponies in the fall and they stay barefoot until the spring. This has worked for me for many years with no issues with my 4 guys whatsoever. I would love to keep them barefoot, but because of the work they do, it is not ideal. I do keep my younger guys barefoot until they need it, which is pretty much once I start driving them and showing them in harness.
When in work I do put shoes on all around because of the workload/competitions and footing. I find they can get a bit foot sore when working on hard surfaces and some shows we are crossing roads, traveling down gravel pathways/roads and we do a lot of our competition on grass - at high speeds. I like to put studs in the shoes all around as well, depending on the footing/conditions.
The carriage at times can push the pony (when doing a sharp turn, going down hills etc), so I would prefer the best “grip” possible.
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Only 1 of 4 has hinds. He had very underrun heels and thin hoof walls where he couldn’t hold a shoe. We spent a very long time barefoot with very frequent trims, various kinds of boots to protect, etc., so we could get his hooves in better shape. He was doing well except when it rained, but started getting abscesses in the toe of his left hind if we worked on extended trot. At that point the EasyShoe Nail Ons became available, and we felt his hooves were finally in good enough shape to be able to hold a shoe. It’s been almost a year with shoes, and his hooves actually seem to be improving which is hard to do while on a 6-8 week schedule. My mare just got her first set of front shoes, because our weather has been really hard on hooves having been wet for months then switching to rock hard and dry, so she was not always seeming as comfortable as we wanted in front. Should she seem to need more support behind she’ll get shoes behind, too. Until this spring she was comfortable barefoot on all kinds of terrain.
To eliminate excessive wear from working on sand, stonedust, and gravel. My horse lasted over 2 years barefoot, but when the workload went up, her feet started wearing too much between trims.
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low heels
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Extra traction & grip. On the lunge it was pretty clear she just could never get her hind feet “grippy” enough - she always looked like she was scrambling to find her hind end, along with some cross cantering here and there. Hind shoes fixed both of those problems almost overnight.
On the upper level horses, traction and grip.
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My vet wanted to put hind shoes on my mare due to balance and stifle issues. She’s a kicker (sometimes no warning) and I don’t want her turned out on her own, so hind shoes are not an option. She flares a bit on the inside so the farrier trims for the imbalance.
Because my PPE vet and farrier said he would always need shoes all around - very thin soles. This year, with a new farrier, I decided to take the rear ones off to see what happens. He did not have a moment of soreness, and is doing great. However, we are not currently jumping or doing demanding work. If I see he needs them later for traction or other reasons, I’ll put them back on.
I put shoes on when the horse tells me s/he needs shoes. I don’t enjoy the cost!
My current horse goes on granite/sand footing, and it wears his feet without shoes. His hind leg conformation is such that he’ll develop flares on the outside if he isn’t shod.
This is exactly what I’ve found too! I’ve had several young horses with great feet. But once they start doing roughly 2nd level work the sand just grinds their feet down faster then they grow Imagine working on sandpaper 4 or 5 days a week. Nice to have a little protection
I put hinds on to try and help with stability. I found they make for a lot more power in the extensions, especially after a fresh trim. They do help with some stability in the pirouettes. They also make him a lot more comfortable on the trails when we have to ride over rocks.
I was reluctantly convinced by the farrier to leave them this winter (usually pull them) because he was going so well and we were schooling hard. I was very worried about traction in turnout and we got an insane amount of ice this winter. He actually had more traction with shoes and tiny studs than barefoot.
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Yep, I’m a once they’re on they’re on type. Winter adjustments include caulks and snow rim pads. I’m always happy to get into summer sneakers though, I hate caulks.
