# Barefoot.....opinions :)



## maiseysmummy (Apr 10, 2010)

Just checking out peoples experience and opinions on this? I ride a friends pony as and when i can, she is only used for hacking and the majoroty of it is offroad, we were talking about it the other day but dont know anyone that actually does it


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## doogpoh (Jan 8, 2010)

my sister had a 10.2 shetland and she wasn't shood but she was only riden very lightly and she never had any problems, i think it all depends on size and how often there riden.

just re-read your thread, do you mean the pony or you? i can't imagine you would have much control riding barefoot but i've never tried it


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## poshmog (Mar 2, 2009)

Have 7 native ponies and they are all barefoot,my farrier says unless you are doing lots of work out on the road they dont need it,and I have to say none of mine have any problems


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

I know people who don't shoe their horses, it does depend on lifestyle and what the horse does etc 

Also if you mean you being barefoot i have doen this too! I used to do it when i was doing a 'beach run' in the Summer! We always went in the water so i went barefoot!

Its not advised if there is a distance though. When i did it the beach was right across from where Cobalt was kept.


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Do you mean you yourself riding barefoot? Sure, why not? Did it quite often - as a previous poster said, great fun when there is water, or just to hack. 

Not sure why you would have less control riding barefoot? I was taught to ride without reigns by my maverick teacher - the idea being that you stir by positioning your weight (not with your boots ) - went on to train and compete in dressage, and his mad ways always stood me in good stead.


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## maiseysmummy (Apr 10, 2010)

Sorry i should have made it clear, horse barefoot not me hehe  She looks like a native type...no one knows for sure what she is as she was basically a rescue, bought from travellers 6 years ago in a terrible state  She is chunky with lots of bone and very hardy, shes a beauty  Most of the time she is in light work, hacking two or three times a week but this increases in summer...maybe it could be a seasonal option


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

:lol: :lol: :lol: Thought that was a bit of an odd one!


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## maiseysmummy (Apr 10, 2010)

hobbs2004 said:


> :lol: :lol: :lol: Thought that was a bit of an odd one!


 haha, reading it back it dosent make much sense!:lol:


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

If the pony has never been fitted with shoes & it's hooves are in good condition, I don't see why not, if it does only have light work & not much of it on hard ground. I think I would ask the farriers advice though.


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## JSR (Jan 2, 2009)

I know many horses who are kept barefoot, usually native types cope better and if they've never been shod usually it can be quiet easy to keep them. I tried Kane but because he's been shod since a youngster his hooves just weren't able to cope. You can get equine Podiatrists who are trained in keeping a horse barefoot, but many people just work with their farrier. Of course the horses still need trimming every 6 weeks and sometimes they can struggle with too much road work, but generally there isn't much a shod horse can do any different to a barefoot.


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## tonette (Dec 28, 2008)

Caddy had his shoes taken off last march and for the first 6 months his hooves cracked and split, but once the nail holes had grown out he had lovely hooves! still had his feet trimmed every 8 weeks, but as he is now being brought back into work and will be on the roads he had his shoes put back on last week


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## Oenoke (Oct 17, 2009)

Only 1 of my horses has front shoes on and that's because her feet crack really easily. My horses are now oldies and are not ridden, but they were like this for most of their ridden days too, I did ride mainly on farm tracks, but also went for rides on the roads with no problems.


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## Freyja (Jun 28, 2008)

Years ago when I was pregnant with Ben I had my mares shoes taken off as she was turned away for a year. When I started to ride her again I didn't bother with shoes we were only doing light hacking and other than that riding on grass tracks. The farrier said her feet had hardened up well so we rode her without even hacking to shows with her.

I also had an old coloured pony he was retired school pony. He was 43 when he had a heart attack in the night and was dead the next morning when we went to the field. He had been fine the day before. He never wore shoes in his life and the farrier asked that I told him if it wasRingo that needed his feet trimming as he had to sharpen his rasp before he came to us. In his words Ringo had feet like concrete. That hard he struggled to trim them it didn't help that Ringo had arthritis and struggles to stand on 3 legs for too long.


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## Jonansi (Nov 20, 2009)

My sister and I used to ride our ponies out barefoot (us and the ponies!) without any problems. We used to hack out on grass and roads. Our friends pony however had shoes on his front feet only because he had brittle hooves on the front. I suppose it depends on the individual pony but from what I can gather once their hooves have grown down past the nail holes after the shoes have been removed, then the hoof wall grows much stronger.


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## marieandhya (Apr 20, 2010)

completely depends on the horse and what you are doing with it 
best thing it hink would be to ask your farrier becouse he will have a better idea of how your horse would cope 
i personal think that if there is no reason for the horse to have shoes might as well take em off


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## VickyF (Nov 26, 2009)

My shetland pony is barefoot but i think all or most of the ridden horses on the yard are barefoot aswell.


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## lifeizsweet (Jun 7, 2009)

Where i ride a spanish guy keeps 8 horses, none of them have shoes.


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