I love having a bare foot horse!

[NightFury]

As I have just had a lovely ride out in the snow without having to stop every 15 minutes to dig compacted snow out of shoes... It was so nice and DMare was so well behaved (except for the snow covered parked cars that were very, very scary).

I do so like riding in the snow and nothing can beat cantering in the snow - it's so magical. Didn't canter today though as the footing under the snow is still too wet around here. Just hope it does not freeze in great ruts like last year.

[MitchyInge]

Ah you make me want to get out there too, horse is only shod in front but pony barefoot all round. Did you put Vaseline on her feet?

Unfortunately keep hurting my back quite badly every time I ride so am having a neverending break

[Callisto]

Lucky you - everything is just frozen solid here. No snow, just hard, slippy ground. DD's pony is barefoot and fine on it but the TB's I ride are not.

[AlpinePony]

My warmblood is barefoot - it's a major advantage in winter.

[Saggyoldclothcatpuss]

All my ponies are barefoot. I love it. I've learned to trim their feet myself. As I have three I've saved myself nearly £200 every six weeks two months. I could never afford shoes!

[AliceandtheGinormousBaps]

My mare is barefoot and my tb only has fronts, so much simpler

[Abbicob]

I have never had shoes on my cob and it has saved me a fortune in shoe costs. My farrier was the one who advised me to go barefoot as her feet are that hard.

Really helps in the snow too!

[NightFury]

Mitchy - sorry to hear about your back. I've managed to do mine shovelling snow and so haven't ridden since I started this thread. Mind you, it is VILE here at the moment. A mixture of snow, rain, hail and sleet falling onto frozen ground. I don't think I'm going to take even my barefoot horse out in this weather.

Best go and give her some time in the paddock before the weather closes in again.



Abbicob - it was my blacksmith who advised me to take shoes off - everyone thought I was mad taking the shoes off a TB but it was the best move I made. Her feet were spongy at first and I used Boa boots on her for 6 months. Then her hooves toughened up so she could be totally barefoot. Over the years I have saved a fortune (60 euros every 6 weeks).

[MitchyInge]

Hope your back is better soon. Couldn't even catch him on Monday yet still have the pain so it must be imaginary or somatic or psychosomatic or whatever it is called?

Spring feels such a long way off, can't wait to start whining about mud though.

[marge2]

You lucky lot. We have had so many foot issues over the years that I think she would be dead by now without farriers. We have heartbars behind for the laminitis and normal shoes in front. although we did have gel pads in them in the summer as she can't handle hard ground and goes lame at the drop of a hat if she steps on a stone. ?60 every 6 weeks sounds cheap as chips to me. I pay £90 every five weeks. If I leave it longer she will go lame in front.

[MitchyInge]

Never going to complain about shoes again! But you have reminded me that I owe the farrier about £200, haven't paid for ages.

[AlpinePony]

I tried to ride out on Saturday, snow but not terribly icy. She was a total asshat - passage'd for about quarter of a mile, I asked her to halt whilst I put the girth up a hole - at which point she reared up and then "passaged" backwards down a ditch. We passaged back to the yard and I dismounted! Discretion is the better part of valour and all that.

Put her in the sand paddock on tuesday night and there's a frozen pond in the middle. I called her over to bring her in and she put both front hooves on it - even barefoot she was like Bambi! The eejit had to back off and walk around the pond to get to me! There's slippy and then there's "doesn't stand a chance".

Roll on spring - although I think that's wishful thinking.

[AlpinePony]

Marge - an EP could help a lot with the laminitis problems. Shoes often simply disguise the problems and a "poor" farrier will hinder the natural physiology of the hoof.

[marge2]

Hi Alpine Pony - Er...What's an EP?

[AlpinePony]

Equine Podiatrist.

[Loshad]

Marge - 2 years ago my TB was wearing eggbars with heel wedges in front, needed to be sedated to be shod behind, kept ripping the eggbars off when jumping and stayed sound for intervals of approximately 4 weeks at a time. I didn't make a major decision to go unshod just her feet got so bad we couldn't get any shoes on her for a bit. We stretched the time out and i started riding her without shoes - We go cross country and sj on grass without any problems, she slips less on the roads and it is saving me about £150/month!!