Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I have a horse who has amazing feet.  When I first got him, my farrier 
didn't want to shoe him.  His statement was, "If it ain't broke, don't fix 
it."  However, after road riding with this horse (starting very slowly 
because he wasn't conditioned), it became clear that the wear on his front 
hooves was outdoing the growth of those hooves, so the farrier agreed he 
needed to be shod in the front.  We continued to leave him unshod in the 
rear for about 8 months, but by then it was clear that his back hooves as 
well were not keeping up with the wear from the miles we were doing (even 
after eight months of slow and steady progressing on conditioning) and we 
put hind shoes now.

I also have a lovely mare with great feet.  She was running unshod in a 
pasture with both nice soft areas and rock.  I took her to the vet for a 
check on some problems she was having (unrelated to her feet), and within 5 
minutes on the lunge line on a chipped and sealed surface she was grade 2 
lame.

Going unshod doesn't always work.  It just depends on the horse and the 
surface and the miles done.


Rhonda

"...when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, 
another Heaven and another Earth must pass before such a one can be again."  
William Beebe



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