Minty has mentioned barefoot on another thread.

I was wondering how many other barefoots there are out there and what issues you face?

For me the hardest part is being at livery where it is not possible to set up ideal turnout conditions. In fact my girl is currently stabled (out of my hands at present) except for when I either turn her out in the school or take her out for exercise. That said she is doing over 40 miles a week on the road and seems to be coping.

My mare is bare foot too never had shoes on mind so didnt feel the need especially when her feet were not good (seedy toe or if u like white line) the cracks at the toe had to be treated and plugged with cotton wool, she had thrush too so obviously stablng wasn't a good thing during winter, so I used plastic pads u can get (politice boots) after treating her feet keeping them dry and doing all this, she is nearly cured and her feet as so much better. Her frog is good and horn strong.
Shoes would have been fine but probs masked the need for treatment so I am thrilled I opted for barefoot.
What do u mean u havent ideal turnout? Not much of it, or muddy conditions etc?
Is she on shavings, paper, straw? Think it helps if u do have rubber matting and either shavings or what I use Carboard shavings as I dont use much and make sure all the wet is taken out to help with this dam thrush she can get. Lots of work hey.
Are u happy with her being barefoot? Its also cheaper of course.

My mare busted her suspensorys so I can not turn her out on anything that might get muddy/slippy or where she might be tempted to gallop about or jump out. All of these conditions exist where I livery and in the county in general.

Ideally I would like to turn her out in a paddock paradise style environment but at livery this is not possible. I am saving up to be able to buy my own land so I can do this but it will take time.

I keep her on rubber with a mix of 'sundowner' and aubiose bedding. She rarely pees in the bed so exposure to urine is not a problem - but regular consistent movement is. So I take her out twice a day for a total of 7-8 miles plus turn her out in the school when I muck out etc.

I am thrilled with how she is going barefoot. She is sound, her feet are in good shape and I believe that the better concussion absorption can only be helpful for her ligaments. If I have to trot her up for the vet I put boots on. Not that she needs them but because it stops him from tutting too much. He's quite old fashioned where feet are concerned.

I am re-starting this topic because I wonder if any of you who do have their horses barefoot use boots for hacking and, if so, which ones you can recommend?
My boy didn't have shoes on when I first had him but struggled with the hacking where we live because it is quite stony. I put shoes on him and his feet now look awful (and he still isn't keen on the stony tracks...)so I want to go barefoot but protect him whilst out and about!

Hi Lottie

Boots are useful during transition to barefoot and when the horse's feet have gone soft through being kept in too damp conditions.

If you havent't seen them already you may find the following websites useful.

www.barefoothorses.co.uk[url]
www.successful-natural-horsecare.com/horse-nutrition.html[/url]

I no longer need boots, and I do many miles over roads, stones etc but it took a bit of research and reeducation to get there.

The biggest problem for me was diet. You may or may not be familiar with the concepts of a 'stretched' white line and flare. At the risk of causing offence to our shod friends - a hell of a lot of shod horses have 'flare' so human eyes start to see it as normal and I have known farriers actually encourage it because they think it is beneficial to the horse to have a bigger foot.

I tried and tried to get rid of my horse's flare and stretched white lines and finally succeeded when I eliminated all simple starch/sugar from my girl's diet.

You have to become something of a sleuth because most vets are not experienced enough in this field to help. My girl has very little body fat at all and has a forage based diet, so technically not at high risk from laminitus, sub clinical or chronic. But I found that at odd intervals she would go footy over rough/stony ground and would get a slight swelling on the inside of her leg below the knee in the groove between her cannon bone and tendons.

My vet told me after many fruitless examinations including x ray and MRI that it was a minor recurring sprain and I shouldn't worry about it. So I kept a diary and eventually found that the vein came up when she had been out at grass or had a feed with even a tiny amount of molasses in it. Nothing to do with exercise at all.

Environment is important too. Grazing in this country is generally too high in sugar and low in magnesium and in the winter is too wet under foot. Read 'Paddock Paradise' by Jamie Jackson, or review the examples on the above sites.

I find the grazing issue very tough because I keep my horse at livery where most of the horses are on very lush pasture, are very fat, mostly lame and never take any exercise. So I get lots of negative attitude about my lean, barefoot, running machine.

I have found that exercise is good - as much as your horse can manage - with boots if you need. This stimulates the foot to grow incredibly fast so you can get a good foot that much sooner.

Good luck and if you want any more 'war stories' about how to go barefoot give me a shout - I will be happy to share my successes and disasters and other good websites with you.

We use Cavallo's boots before my boy was shod. His feet were very brittle and his sole thin from poor feeding, so at first shoes were not an option neither was barefoot!

Derby House stock them and the sizing seems good, and they stay on in pretty soft going.

Problem is, you need to get the socks too, as if mud gets in over the top of the boot it will rub.
Also you need to keep the velcro clean or that stops working, as it always does.

All in all I give then a 8/10.

He moves loads better now he is shod!