Draft horses barefoot?

[Thecowboysgirl]

How common is it to find heavy horses who can go barefoot?

My farm is flat as a pancake and we have very soft footing with practically no rocks.

[goodcompanion]

Don’t see why you would need shoes. My farm is similar to yours and I have never felt a need for them.

[LStone]

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.

[Thecowboysgirl]

I guess I wasn’t sure if their weight caused enough stress on the hoof to require shoes most of the time, or if they are like most horses who could go barefoot on good footing with medium work level.

I don’t really know how the workload here compares to anyone else but I hardly imagine we’d be “hard users”. Even trail riding down here is easy on feet- most of the trails are soft sugar sand.

[Does’ Leap]

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

[Big Horses]

All 10 of ours are always barefoot. If you’re worried about too much wear, keep an eye on them, and if it gets to that point, put some shoes on. I too, am a firm believer in barefoot for soundness!
John

[jac]

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

[Thecowboysgirl]

Hi guys,

I was just reading older posts and found a whole thread on to shoe or not to shoe. Didn’t mean to be redundant, but thanks for your thoughts anyway. I sort of had it in my head that they would almost certainly have to be shod and now I think there’s a good chance not, which is a relief (mostly financial)

We are doing everything here on an awfully tight budget, which I’m sure is the case with a lot of ppl here…

[grey]

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.

[mink]

my pasture is a combination of black mud ,rocks,and more rocks. in the summer i use them alot on the blacktop also and use no shoes. before i learned to trim my own a farrier came and commented they had hooves as hard as the rocks out there:D id say the most important thing is to regularly trim and dont let them get those big flared out hooves that we see so often.

[Steven F]

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.

[Gabe Ayers]

Ah, to shoe or go bare…I have mulled this one over so often. I agree with others who have said that a well-trimmed hoof on a horse with good feet works very well without a shoe. However, there are certainly situations were more traction or more protection is critically important. For logging work, I have found that even if my drafts (1600 lb. percheron and suffolk) have enough traction their hooves take a beating. I do keep shoes on during the summer and winter when we are doing commercial work to keep their hooves from taking too much stress – cracking, chipping, etc. Last summer, one of my geldings developed a sort foot when I was working them in the woods bare. I put shoes on him and he was immediately more comfortable. And, beyond comfort, in the winter here in Vermont the terrain really demands the kind of traction you cannot get with a bare hoof. Especially when they are headed out to the landing with a large load (600-900 bf) on the bobsled, they need the extra traction of a studded shoe to allow them to hold the loads back on the steep, snowy and icy terrain. I figure if you can get away without shoes that is better – less money and time spent shoeing – but if you need more protection of traction shoeing is the only solution.
-Brad

[Claddagh Farms]

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?

[sanhestar]

There are several types of hoof boots available. They are often used by distance riders so they are build to resist wear. I would contact several manufacturers about using them on a logging horse and hear what they say.

[Carl Russell]

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

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