Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Thanks, Karen, I’ll check out the links you’ve sent me.  I don’t have any religious feelings about barefoot vs. shod. It’s just that his feet are so nearly perfect (1/2 to 3/4^th inch thick hoof walls, iron-hard cupped soles) that I hate the thought of putting nails into them.  He’s lived all his life without shoes, so I’d like to see that continue. On the other hand, until this past year, he’s never had to cart around a 200-lb rider and tack before.

--Dave

 

---

From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dream Weaver
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 3:12 PM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] hoof protection, was Ground Control

 

Karen:

It sounds like your horse goes barefoot.  I have a young barefoot

mustang who has never been shoed and has great feet.  I'm wondering

whether I can condition him and compete in endurance barefoot?  Or

should I consider using boots?  I really don't want to nail

anything

onto his feet.

--Dave

Hi Dave -- Yes, I've been keeping my horses barefoot since last ride season, and using boots for competing in.  My advice is to use hoof protection and do a few rides successfully before doing any completely barefoot.  There are certainly rides with footing that are suitable for riding barefoot -- and there are rides where that would definitely not be recommended even for the most tough footed horse.  I use boots because I don't want to risk having a horse get sore when I can prevent it, and don't feel the need to prove how tough he is, my goal is rather to get the horse thru the ride in the best shape possible with the least amount of wear and tear so he can do the next one.   

Here is a link to some articles on the topic.  I'm looking forward to the day that this won't be such a controversial topic.  I'm sort of in the middle, I've ridden shod horses a lot of miles and don't believe that they were damaged in any way by having worn nailed on shoes.  I have ridden horses barefoot on conditioning rides a lot of miles and also with boots on over bare feet (and shod feet) in competition.  The reason why I like doing it the way I am now is because it allows my horses to live barefoot the rest of the time which has some advantages, and benefits to the horse.  Some horses aren't living in environments that this will work for, or their owners are happy with what works already so they have no reason to change.  I tried it because I wanted to see if I could find something better, and I think I have.

If you do decide to compete with boots, check out my blog post about the EasyCare $10,000 hoof boot contest.  You can look up the results from this year and talk to some of the riders and see how they are managing their horses.  Some of the riders ride completely barefoot some of the time, and others are like myself and use boots for competing in.  As with anything endurance riding, find somebody who is successful at what you want to do and see how they do it.    

Good luck. :)

Karen