Shoes or no shoes ?

[jac]

Untill you actually see it work it is a hard concept to accept Jen. It definaitly makes sense but as you say shoes are needed for some situations. Jen forgive my Scottish ignorance.. What is skijoring ???.. Denise I think as this type of trim becomes more popular these boots will be more available. Over here there is a top steeplechaser trainer producing winners on barefoot…
John

[Andy Carson]

For whatever it’s worth, I have always kept shoes on. I have tried to keep two horses shoeless when I got them (before I started much work) but thier feet always got tore up and I have to put shoes on. The extra traction from shoes is very nice too.

[dlskidmore]

@jac 18703 wrote:

What is skijoring ???..

Skiing behind a draft animal. Invented with horses, also done with sled dogs. The sled dogs also have a summer version of the sport called bikejor (biking behind draft dogs) or Dogscooter (riding a kickbike/kick scooter behind draft dogs). My Great Dane and I do a little bikejor.

[slanabhaileequine]

There are only three reasons to shoe. Protection, Correction or Traction. If you are logging in craggy ground or going over hard core rocky terrain you might benefit from the Protection. If you founder or have a serious hoof wall crack, then shoeing for Correction might be beneficial. If you drive on asphalt or work on ice then definitely shoes with some traction device, borium or drill tec might be in order. There are a thousand different examples but they all come under these three classifications.
Boots are good. The most important piece of advice is to get some that fit right. You can hurt you guys if they aren’t right. I like Easy Boots myself.
All 7 of my horses are barefoot. They don’t run down the road, well, unless you count the times they break out. We don’t ride them on aggressive terrain. For the most part, they have good feet. Of the 7 there are two that if we were to start aggressive trail riding or pulling a cart down the road or, I don’t know, take to Acadia National Park and ride the stone dust and cobblestone Carriage paths, I will have to shoe. The other 5, I would start without shoes and evaluate closely.

[Anonymous]

Untill this summer I shod any horse that we were using in the woods with caulked shoes. Then I watched a friend win a horse pull with a pair of bare foot 5 year olds against some seasonded shod pairs. So I decided to try using flat shoes. Now one mare is bare foot working 5 to 6 days a week. She hasn’t had any problems learning to pull with out the added traction. 🙂 When the snow flys and roads ice I’ll hve to shoe again but for now the horses seem happier and I’m saving time and money.

[vthorselogger]

I haven’t done to much with my team of Belgians but the few things I have done has been barefoot and they seem to do very well that way. I might have a winter logging job so I am definitely thinking about getting them shod for that. I haven’t driven them in the winter so I am not sure how the whole project will go but it will be a learning experience for sure

[gwpoky]

I am a Farrier here in western WI, I am all for keeping a horse barefoot if the horse can go sound and keep hoof horn growth up as the horn wears. All four of our Belgians, which work most days of the week on our farm, currently go barefoot and are trimmed lightly every six to eight weeks, but we do very little “road work” my wife’s jumper is shod during the show season for traction. You need to be careful using boots on a horse that is in heavy work as rubbing can occur and cause serious issues, they are great if you are going trail riding every once and a while but not necessarily for everyday work. Every horse is different and the environment the work in is different there is no cookie cutter approach weather barefoot or shod.

P.S. I just bought a snow scoop so I may end up shoeing a team this winter, we will see.

[jac]

My horses have been barefoot now most of the year. For the type of work I do they are doing great.. only hitch was when I was away for 2 months and our regular farrier let the toes get too long..I usually do the Clydes myself and let the farrier trim and shoe the ponies… I have to say its unusual to hear a farrier mention the barefoot trim.. over here they mostly rubbish the notion.. as I always say. ” It works for me”…
John

[Big Horses]

Good for you George!!! It’s sure nice to hear you say that there’s no “cookie cutter” way to keep feet!
We keep all our stuff barefoot as much as possible. The Clydes do just fine for the most part, and have been barefoot for about 6 years now. We keep a close eye on the feet when we’re doing much carriage work, especially if it’s on pavement, but so far we’ve not had to shoe.
Our saddle horses do fine barefoot, unless we really wind up doing alot of riding for cows. We run cattle on open range, so a “day of riding” can be just that…. 10-12 hours straight, and back out the next day….etc.
We used to feed with a team all winter, so kept them sharp shod, just so there wasn’t any problems on the icy pathways to and from the feed grounds and barns.
It’s all about keeping an eye on things and responding to the needs of the horse appropriately.
John

[J-L]

I’m in a similar situation as Big Horses. We do a lot of cow work with our saddle horses and the country we live in (SW WY) is a big pile of rocks. Without shoes on your horses you’d be afoot in short order. The rest of the year they’re barefoot, except for one or two who I’ll have shoes on for riding around cattle in the mountains.
I’ve been using mules for quite a while on my feed trail. No shoes necessary on my mules for most anything. When hauling hay from another part of the ranch there is about 2 or 3 miles of gravel road. The barefoot mules hold up alright to this, the barefoot horses can’t do it for that long without getting tender and broke up feet.
Just for the feeding aspect I’ve always been running bare foot. When it’s been icy and having to pull bigger loads, there are times when I’ve thought about sharp shoeing one team at least.
Barefoot all the time isn’t an option for me or most folks in this part of the country. Shoeing all the time sure isn’t good for your horses either though.

[Author]

Posts