Going barefoot?

Hi,
I am thinking about having my horses shoes removed. Is this something that can be done fairly easily? She had a recent injury so I am not going to be riding her for a while and figured this might be a good time to transition her. Any thoughts?

Morning @lightning,

sure, removing shoes is quite easy ( & cheap). The most important question is why she have had shoes? In my opinion a horse should go bare foot as long as there are no reasons against it. Reasons can be your mare exhibits pain, means you’re going to kill motivation. This can come from the hooves itself or from the ground you’re having in your area.

I do remember when I got Kohilent three years ago he had shoes at the front only. A few months later some gravel roads in our area were ‘reinforced’ with RCL (recycling gravel, houses through a shredder). RCL is very sharp and I realized Kohilent tried to be carefully. Talked with the smith and he suggest to have shoes in the rear, too.

So what do I want to say with this? Find out whether your mare needs shoes or not and follow her needs.

Unshod is healthier for a variety of reasons, but you need to keep some things in mind. Especially if your horse has been shod for a long time.

Unfortunately it's not always just as simple electing to the shoes off and have your horse go unshod. This will likely be long, but yet still oversimplified (and it's not "simple")

If your horse has been shod for a long time then it could be uncomfortable and possibly painful when they return to being unshod (all horses start out unshod). E.g. The hoof can suddenly expand when their weight comes down on it, they will start to get better blood flow in the feet. Etc.... This can be a rough time for a horse. I've dealt with a couple of cases and I know of one case that took about a year, which was rough with people telling the owner that they were ruining the horse and it was going to be lame if they didn't get shoes back on him. (he didn't go lame and emained unshod). I know of another case were the owner was certain that her horse was going to be lame (and didn't like the idea of how long it could be before she doing the amount and type of riding she wanted while the horse recovered) so she put shoes back on.

If it hasn't been shod long or much then there might not be much of a transition.

The other big thing, which is why many horses get shod to begin with is that you have to look at the demands you want to make on the horse's feet and how soon. If you are going to go out and start riding on hard surfaces (pavement, rocking terrain, etc....) without having the time to properly prepare the horse's feet you'll need to provide some protection. If you want to stay with being unshod then you'll might try boots.
If you have the time and are willing to take on the effort required you can work on toughening and hardening the feet more, but it takes TIME spent subjecting the feet to those hard surfaces in small "daily doses" at first to get them conditioned. It's not something that's going to happen quickly with a newly unshod horse. Their feet will be a long way from ready for hard riding on hard surfaces.

But if you have the drive to do it and the time to spend on it the end result is great. From a distance rider's perspective it's well worth the time spent (month after month after month, etc.....until they're ready). Never having to worry about a shoe is nice. Just keep in mind that depending on what condition you want the horse it could take a LONG time. I've kept all my horses unshod since the early 70's and have never regretted it.

If you go that route you need to be prepared for people telling horrible stories about the damage you'll be doing. My first horse (that was "mine" and not just one "ours") was a 7 months old white QH. I started out taking her for walks on the lead down parts of the highway and did it more as time when buy. Over three years later when I was riding her she could ride on any surface with not problems. However, I had to deal with constantly being told how with her white feet (which is another myth) and my riding on pavement I had to get her shod or I'd make her lame. Thankfully I had a wonderful support system in my grandfather and some relatives of his generation that also kept their horses unshod. In all these years of having unshod horses and riding them anywhere the foot problems I've mostly dealt with have come from horse I bought that had been shod.

But I would not support the idea of taking a shod horse, removing it's shoes and then subjecting it to surfaces harder than it's ready for. That's why many people shoe their horses. If you want to place the demands on the horses feet without getting them ready first, you need to protect them or you can do damage that will keep your horse out of action even longer.

If you do pull the shoes I highly recommend getting hoof boots for your horse to wear as she transitions to barefoot. She'll still need trims as often as she gets now. And the boots will need to be cleaned out on a regular basis.

Hi,
She is 18 years old and I won't be riding her for a while. She didn't have shoes when I got her. I had her shod because she was kicking the corral. I have since hot wired the corral and she doesn't kick anymore. So, I was thinking since her accident and I can't ride her anyway maybe I should try to transition her to barefoot. Just thought it would be more healthy for her. She has only had shoes about 5 months. Before that she was barefoot.

Okay, we got our shoes off today. Seems okay so far. I think she is more comfortable. She was starting to grow over her shoes at only 5 weeks out.

Just don't fall asleep at the wheel. Keep on top of the trimming, every 4 weeks or so. Without shoes, you have far less room for mistakes. At the very least, keep a good mustang roll around the toe to prevent any cracking/breakage as the hooves grow.

Yeah, I am really OCD about things like that. So far she is doing great. We are slowly building up walking on different surfaces so her feet get used to it. I am not riding her yet so it is just hand walking. No pavement, just dirt road and slight hills etc. Thank you.