For lower level horses, I definitely prefer barefoot, or 2 shoes on most. We never had a problem with too much wear, even though our arena was crushed bluestone, with some rubber. This is true even for some lower level event horses, but kind of s catch 22, as barefoot traction is better. For higher level horses, the shoes - front and back give them the confidence to step out and down, so improves the gaits/movement/jump.
Interesting about hind foot wear in sand arenas.
For me, with a barefoot horse, the issue has never been too much wear. The issue has been optimizing comfort on gravel surfaces, and working through discomfort in wet springs.
Sheâs more comfortable on gravel later in the trim cycle, but if I let it go too long then she starts getting a bit of mechanical wall separation at the lateral quarters. So more a question of not enough wear, or uneven wear. She does keep her front toes rolled beautifully short, and this has never caused a problem.
I have front boots and my own rasp now 
I was wondering what wearing down too much behind ( or in front) for that matter looked like to you, not chipping or cracking but just wear. Was the horse sore? Asking because of course the examples of mustang hoof wear brought up by the barefoot trimmers show functional hooves worn smooth and hard, they donât look much like domestic feet, and they claim the horse will always grow enough foot to stay sound. But perhaps this is not always true?
I guess my question is, has anyone had a horse actually go ouchy from excessive hind wear in a sand arena, or is it more a proactive move to put shoes on when you see a visible wear pattern?
For my mare, the vet recommended hind shoes when her post-suspensory-surgery rehab stalled out a few years ago. Sheâd been barefoot behind before the surgery. It really did make a difference, and at the vetâs recommendation she will keep her hind shoes as long as she is rideable. He and the farrier both think her hind shoes, and maybe her front shoes, can come off when she is retired. The problem is not her hooves, but her hind leg conformation.
For my horse the sand wasnât so much the issue as the miles on the stonedust track and gravel roads and the increase in work in those areas.
Working through discomfort is BS imo. Why? Why would anyone do that to their horse every single year when there are viable options for keeping them comfortable year round. Sometimes I think we forget that we have to make the right and ethical choices for our horses because they canât. They canât choose, they can only tolerate what we foist upon them.
FWIW, my horse kept her feet in perfect 4 point trim and just needed tidying by the farrier every 6 weeks, but excess wear caused her a small degree of discomfort. Avoidable discomfort. Let me say that again, avoidable discomfort.
Mustang hoof wear and show horses are not the same thing. Period. Barefoot trimmers are full of a lot of BS when it comes to that line about horses always growing enough foot. No. No, they donât all grow enough foot to maintain their comfort day in and day out year round on any footing we work them on.
Yes, they can get ouchy behind from excessive wear, but usually the ouchiness will appear up front first because those are the feet that carry most of the weight in a lower level horse/horse at rest.
Hope that helps give you another point of view. Itâs probably a bit harsh, but I am sick to death of ânaturalâ folks telling people that itâs ok to lame your horse every few weeks. Itâs not ok.
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Thank you, thatâs a good answer to my question!
Iâve not had ouchiness from excessive wear. My experience has been that any sensitivity will be early in the trim cycle on the front feet, and later in the trim cycle she will be very comfortable. Weâve had periods where sheâs kept her feet worn just about right and weâve missed a trim, and she has been very happy to step right out on the gravel. But eventually she does need some attention for uneven wear. Iâve never had ouchiness from increased wear over the trim cycle.
I donât want her uncomfortable either, so I have front boots, which we use as needed.
this is not a horse that tolerates discomfort very well so she certainly lets me know.
Itâs also true that our schooling ring is hogfuel woodchips, not sand, so Iâm not asking her to use herself so much on the sand/gravel, mostly just for big forward trot.
Shoes are used for one (or more) of these three reasons:. protection, correction, traction.
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Youâre welcome
Think about what you said about the point in your cycle that your horse is lame. Right after you trim her. So, if you are giving her a good re-balance, why is she ouchy? Because she hasnât grown enough foot to allow you to balance her without removing too much foot? Because you are trimming too early? Because you are taking off too much foot when you trim? Something is going on that isnât quite right. Just because something has become normal, doesnât make it right.
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But I also think you have to consider the conditions we are keeping our horses - often they are eating a lot more food with higher sugar than wild horses would, which compromises the foot. Many of us have to deal with mud or wet turnouts. And if we limit grazing and turnout in wet/muddy conditions, we arenât providing enough motion to stimulation the best hoof growth.
I also think general domestication and years of selective breeding have removed the traits that would keep a wild horse more comfortable barefoot year round. And - we donât have any way to know that the wild horses are all that comfortable year round on their feet.
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We are indeed actively trying to figure this out. Ongoing. I watch the trims, and the farrier does not take off sole or too much foot. And we are not trimming too early or often, quite the opposite, which has led to some issues with mechanical flaring and separation that have required a bit of resection to grow out, in the pastâŠ
For one, she lives on hogfuel and rides on gravel, so doesnât have the time on dry hard surfaces that would be ideal for hoof hardening (though less ideal for napping in the sun).
We had a very good run of barefoot soundness through the summer, fall, and into our surprisingly snowy winter (well, except for a bruise from the ice). She was fine after trims The wet spring weather, as in every year, makes her less resilient to the gravel. Her feet get softer.
I wouldnât say she is lame exactly after she is trimmed. We had a couple of trims in the summer and fall that had no impact on her at all. I would say that in wet weather itâs not that sheâs lame, just that sheâs more tentative at the trot on gravel. Ouchy or sensitive, not lame. Indeed, this happens whether she is trimmed or not, trimmed on time or trimmed late, during the spring season.
In dry weather (hot or cold) her feet look different, more concave, drier, more sole callous in the right places. In prolonged wet spring weather, the soles are a bit flatter, the frog a bit rattier, Not thrush, not an infection by any means, just a softer foot.
I think that the gravel trails are just at her outer level of what she can adapt to at some points of the year, given that she lives on hogfuel, which is why I have the boots for periods when she doesnât seem fully comfortable trotting fast out there,
Anyhow, I have the boots. I now have a rasp so I can keep her feet a little better balanced and able to fit into the boots. Iodine for the soft soles, and a can of Venice Turpentine that I am getting up the courage to open (I will make a mess, guaranteed).
i was thinking during the winter that she had achieved Gravel Crunching Hooves, but with the return of the rain it looks more like we can hope only for seasonal gravel crunching hooves.
I donât think itâs ok to make your horse uncomfortable and not do something about it. I also donât think shoes are the only option, depending on the horse. I think if your horse is only uncomfortable when ridden on gravel, you put on boots to protect when you ride on gravel - assuming of course your horse is fine in the boots. Ultimately, it is healthiest for a horse to be barefoot as long as you can keep that horse from being uncomfortable.
I absolutely hated having my gelding barefoot because he wasnât always comfortable. He was also getting teenie tiny trims every 2 weeks to work on getting his hooves back to a decent condition before he could even hold shoes again. Boots helped and most of the time he was comfortable, even on hard and rocky surfaces, except when it rained. Or he just took a wrong step. And then he started developing enough power to cause abscesses in his hind toe. Once he was finally at a state he could hold shoes, I was SO thrilled to be able to put them on. But knowing how he was, I canât imagine choosing to have the horse be uncomfortable on a regular basis just because. Itâs why my mare now has front shoes - because this spring the long wet period followed by extreme dry left her feet softened and sore at trim - and so she got shoes 5 days after a trim made her sore because thatâs how long it took to get the farrier back out. We are using EasyShoes, which seem to work better for helping continue to improve my geldingâs feet, but regardless some type of protection for a horse who is not comfortable otherwise seems our moral responsibility if our horse needs it.
I do love boots and the huge variety which is out there as an option, and donât think the immediate reaction of âshoes!â is necessary. But I work 7 minutes from an EasyCare so itâs super easy for me to pick up different things to try and to ask if they have returns I can get at a discount.
This might be a bit out of place but I read this article recently regarding the wild horse foot and why you shouldnât assume that itâs ideal:
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2011/06/07/wild-horse-foot-benchmark/#axzz4fY76KaX4
I just put my mare in front shoes. Iâm trying to forgo the hind shoes for as long as possible. My goal is to keep her barefoot during the winter.
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I have had a couple now. First one wore down to point of discomfort. Second one got shoes when the hind feet started to wear. Both had great feet and were fine with just front shoes for the first 12 to 18 months under saddle. The wear starts when they shift their weight back. Remember a horse naturally carries more weight in front. Through training we start to shift that weight distribution. It is not the horses natural way. And traveling through sand is not natural either. Sand is abrasive- think of sandpaper.
I do do believe most people ride their horses in a natural Training level balance so it isnât an issue as long as the horse has decent feet. But if your horse is starting to work with weight distribution shifted to the hindquarters , shoes help. A lot!
Also totally agree with those who say barefoot isnât necessarily better. Wild horses lived in various levels of discomfort and it they got too sore they died. They also had shorter lives and chose when to âworkâ. Mostly the walked. Slowly. And not through sandpaper.
eta
wear is very gradual. So with my first youngster, I didnât realize how MUCH his foot had worn I see him everyday. So all of a sudden he seems a bit tentative in work. I call the vet who hasnât seen him for 6 months and she sees it right away. Now I watch for it. I like them barefoot or in fronts only as long as they do well. We have rocky hard ground so most get fronts early in the training process. But I donât ever want another one to be even a little bit sore. I ask my horses to work hard for me. I owe it to them to make them as comfortable as possible in that work.
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It is never safe to assumeanything on the internet.
For the record, my horse has hind shoes on. 
It is a cost saving for some people.
But with my mare she tended to go more on the forehand to save her hind feet when barefoot. Evening her up made a difference.
I have gone for years with just fronts, but with her 4x4 is better.
When I bought my horse, he was barefoot. Went with fronts when he abscessed badly, and then kept them on because he was going well and I wanted to jump him.
Now, I typically have him barefoot behind but last summer put him in hind shoes with studs for foxhunting, hunter paces, and xc schooling. We were out so much that I felt I could do something more to support him behind. Heâs a big draft x, very athletic but would slip a little behind without shoes. He broke a splint bone and had surgery so now heâs barefoot behind again while we rehab, will consider hinds again towards end of summer if heâs up to hunting again and if I feel that he needs them. He has tough feet luckily, so thus far we havenât needed hind shoes for any other reasons!
Last week I pulled my guyâs hind shoes for the first time in 4 years. The footing here in this part of FL isnât as rough on his feet as it was in MD and SC. The farrier comes back in about a week and we will re-look at his back feet. He isnât that sore right now but we are still doing a lot of side-reins and long lining. He had an extended vacation and as I have gotten older I have gotten wiser. Donât just jump on a horse after they havenât worked in a while.
I did an experiment last year (after talking to farrier). I put hind shoes on my horse who had never worn them. I thought it might help him carry more weight behind - feel more stable, protect his feet, etc. I kept hind shoes on all show season and it didnât make a difference regardless of the footing we rode on. I pulled his hind shoes for winter and have no plans on putting them back.
My 4th/PSG horse does not wear back shoes. He simply hasnât needed them, his feet are holding up well and he doesnât have any issues with traction behind. Iâve felt that I should put them on, simply due to the level, but now Iâm of the view that if itâs not broken, donât fix it. He also has a tendency to overreach in the extensions, and I like him on group turnout. I donât see a reason to put them on, âjust because.â
I kept my mare barefoot for 10 years, occasionally she would be a little soar, My trainer convinced me to put shoes on all around, It has helped her so much, no more soar days, I think she just didnât know if she could trust the footing, and now I can take her on more trail rides!
Because we have fairly rocky gravel roads and I hack out a couple of times a week. These gravel roads can rasp and wear a foot down pretty quickly if they are not protected.
