Shoes vs no shoes

Ok. So every month about a week before a show, I always have the farrier come out and clean her feet up( trim, shape etc) her feet are always in very good condition and I always put dressing and oil on her hooves after I ride or when it's really dry out. But as of recently, her hooves have really been cracking and chipping. In her stall she stands on rubber mats, and when she's out, she in grass and dirt. I have uped our training a lil more than usual. I train in a grass arena. So my question is, are shoes gona be safe on the grass and would they fix her cracking problem??

Sounds like you may be oiling them too much. I only do my guy once or twice a year, if that. Pictures would help.
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I would ask a professional farrier.
My horse does the same, my farrier told me since they are hitting their feet hard against the ground to get the flies off, their feet begin to crack.

1)
Use rain maker, it seems to be the only oil that actually works.
2)
Use strong fly spray, it will prevent them from kicking so much.
3)
You can give in the horses daily grain, some fly repellant feed (check Smartpak)
4)
Get your horses feet trimmed more often

I hope this helps-good luck, I would just try these things and wait and see how it works.

Your oiling too much - it can actually have the opposite effect than what you want. Let them go natural and if its dry out for an extended period of time just let the water trough over flow so there is some mud in front of it when they go drink. That tends to do the trick during really dry periods.

Its hard to say if shoes would help without seeing the hooves after a trim. They might help but they might not. If the cracking is due to imbalance or something like that which is coming from the actual trim - shoes won't do a bit of good in stopping them.

Is your farrier adding a bit of a mustang roll around the edges of the hoof? Keeping a tight trim schedule with a well-balanced trim and making sure there is always a roll around the edge can go a long way towards keeping cracks away.

Another thing to look at is nutrition. Maybe your horse is lacking in something and a hoof supplement might help?

I JUST read an article on hoof oiling yesterday and how it dries out the horses hoof and does the exact opposite (usually) of what it says. You do need an account to view this article, but its totally worth it, they have some great stuff on here.

The Horse | Hoof Dressings: What Studies Show

Agree with others about hoof goop. Topicals don't help hoof health & there's nothing wrong with dry feet generally, so save the goop for making your horse prettier on the day of a show or such.

Assuming the horse is being well trimmed, I don't think it's likely you need to get her trimmed more than monthly. IME the change is either due to diet, nutrition or infection in the walls(something hoof dressing may have encouraged)

I can only tell you what we've done. Our horses are nonshod. WHen I bought my mare at age of 4, she'd had never been shod, so I never shod her, she's 16 now, never had any problems. We rode her in mountains too and trails out here on the flat lands. We too have a grass arena with a sand/dirt underlay.

Jaime Jackson has a good book on trimming the nonshod horse. However, there are other conditions (gelding has never been shod either, has great feet). THey aren't stalled for long periods, they have in/out access, they are not pampered in winter, extra hay yes, blankets, no. We don't jack around with a lot of hoof ointments, and when we do use it we don't put it up top by the start of the top of hoof, the cornory (am I spelling this right) band, this is where the hoof excrets it's own moisture, we don't hinder that process. Third, our horses go everywhere without shoes, cement, gravel driveway, no problems, but it takes a GOOD year to grow out a good hoof. If your horse is stalled a lot, uh, I don't know if you can go shoeless, they won't be walking around enough. You have to mimic natural conditions as much as possible to go shoeless, and create mud pits by their waterers in hot dry conditions, hoofs need moisture, but not necessary hoof creams. Now we do, when it's really dry out here, dress their hoofs, but not with ANYTHING that is drying, and we don't go all the way up to the top of the hoof, we leave about 1/2 inch. Our other two horses came to us shod, we pulled the shoes, took a year for a good hoof to grow out, several abcesses too, but after that first year...no more problems! It will take a year to make the transition. Also, you don't want high heels if you go shoeless, and you don't want a long hoof either, they have to be able to roll a bit on the hoof.
Our nonshod from birth horses have NEVER come up lame, other than a few pulled muscles, but NOT from hoof issues, NEVER (knock on wood). We also don't grain them, in winter they get vitamin supplements/magnesium year round, and pellets that are a mixture of hay/alfalfa/vitamins (only get pellets in winter for vitamin base and then just a cupful, not much) no grain, just hay/alfalfa mix, pellets/vitamins/mineral/salt blocks and pasture.

So if you go shoeless, the care/management/feeding matters.

I try to do team penning and sorting on my horse barefoot. I did just shoe my horse to go trail riding in medora ND. Where it is very rocky. But I normaly don't shoe. I put farriers fix on my horses feet once and a while to help harden the hoofs but not much. You are oiling way to much.

Just went through this today my farrier told me to add Ragland mineral supplement for horses. He said oats don't have the minerals they need and the salt blocks don't cut it. He put oil on my horses feet but said I need to add these minerals to their diet and told me not to buy the oil as I it can be done too much by doing it all the time.
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