Draft horses barefoot?

I use three of them barefoot in the Granite State. Don’t work them for a living but, I use them enough. For the hobbyist I would think you could get a way with it but a hard user I would think would have a different opinion.

I have a team of full sized drafts and another mixed team (halflinger and draft cross). All horses are barefoot. I don’t know what your definition of “hard user” is, but we use our larger team on a regular basis throughout the year on our 155 acre farm (spreading manure, haying, field work, clipping pasture, and logging all winter). Also one of the 4 horses is ridden daily by my wife and the halflinger is ridden regularly by my daughter. We have never had a problem and are strong believers in “barefoot for soundness”. The only limitation I have had is during icy conditions when logging in the winter, but it is rare when I don’t work for this reason. This is not to say I couldn’t pull more with shoes, but I get along fine in the woods. Farmwork is no problem. 3 of the horses have boots when being ridden on asphalt.

George

My 5 have all done the transition from steel to barefoot with no probs. We do a bit of roadwork. As John said, keep an eye on them and keep the rasp handy.. once they are in shape it only takes a small rub with the rasp to keep them right. I wouldnt hesitate to shoe again if they showed any signs of tearing up.. it works for me…
John

A healthy and well-built foot does not need a shoe for support, whether the horse be light or draft. A healthy and well-built foot might need a shoe to protect the hoof from excess wear or for additional traction or in certain footings.

My Dad used to work a team of five Clydesdales on our 175 acre farm here in Tasmania, Australia. That was in the days before tractors and they performed all of the farm work. The team of five used to pull a three furrow plough. He never had the horses shod. He said shoeing damaged their hoofs. Our land is also quite stony. I don’t think they ever left the farm unless it was to take something to the railway station which was only a couple of miles away.
We have been on this same property since 1865 and Dad said that neither his father nor his grandfather shod their horses. His grandfather was a noted horseman and used to import Clydesdale stallions from the UK.
The funny thing is that when we plough nowdays we often turn up old horse shoes which must have come from the horses of the farmer who worked the land prior to 1865.

I am planning on running any horses I have barefoot. From all I’ve read and experienced shoes is just an expensive form of horse-torture most of the time. The only question I have is about winter logging work….. Are shoes /caulks totally necessary for winter logging work? Would a good pair of removable boots be a better option for natural care hooves which only occasionally need the added traction? Are there such a thing?

Again, you can do all the work you would ever want to do with horses without shoes. Don’t make the mistake that just because they are barefoot that they are not being tortured. I have seen many barefoot horses with little or no trimming, or poor trimming, and they were not in good shape to do any work. The working foot must be taken care of any way you choose, shod or not, but it needs to be done correctly.

The same is true for shod feet. You can seriously damage a horse’s feet with poor shoeing, but you can also give them significant advantage and protection if done correctly.

About the work, draft requires traction. The heavier the load the more traction required. Most field work can be done easily with barefoot horses, provided the feet are correctly trimmed. Many logging applications can also be done with well-trimmed bare feet.

The question is really not about the feet, but about your expectations for the work. Many field and gardening applications are really about light draft and maneuverability, so rarely is there a need to expect increased traction. if all you want to do is twitch a few logs and fuelwood trees with a horse, then by all means, no you don’t need shoes. But, if you are trying to maximize the power of your horses to perform heavy draft in constantly changing and challenging terrain, it will be difficult to do it without shoes.

At least I know I can not ask what I ask of my horses if they did not have shoes on.

This is not just a matter of whether or not their feet will slip, it is a matter of confidence. If their feet slip every time you ask them to pull a heavy load, they won’t try hard enough. I’m not saying that you would necessarily need them to work this hard, but if they are capable of it, then you can more reasonably consider doing this kind of work at an affordable rate.

I keep my horses shod year-round, because most of the work I do with them has to do with forestry and logging. I keep their feet trimmed and shod in a manner in which they stay sound, and it is a long way from being any kind of torture. They are safer when I ask them to lift heavy loads like that because they are less likely to over-extend a hind leg from a slip. They are less likely to slide on ice. They can hold back heavy loads, and steer the heavy sled on icy ground.

The horse’s foot is made to be bare, but don’t let that be your only gauge of how to work your horse.

Carl