Horse shoeing? How many?

[daddyfid]

I have noticed at trials that some people have only 2 feet of their horse shoed. I have seen the front 2 feet shoed and on other horses the back 2 feet shoed. I have always had all 4 feet shoed. What do you recommend? I am very confused on what is necessary.

Thanks,
Brian

[Karen]

Depends on your horse and the terrain. Mine is fine with just his front feet shod, but some require all 4 (and some none). I do pull shoes after our last trial and leave him barefoot for the winter, with regular trimmings of course.

[myerstenn]

Depends on wether the horse is trotty or pacey. Shoe the fronts to get more toe and help eliminate the pace.In the case of the backs they are trying to get more toe to eliminate the squareness of the trot. To keep the toe you have to keep the horse shoed. I personally only shoe the fronts unless iam doing a lot of riding on gravel.

[shags]

Mine are barefoot all the time.

[Blue Dawn Kennel]

With our terrain (the flint rock) here in the Flint Hills of KS we run shoes w/ boreum on the fronts and barefoot on the back. We get better traction and not hardly any slipping in the rocks.

We shoe/reshoe ours around every 6 wks. We do pull the shoes off during the winter monts when we're not training .

Always good to keep their feet trimmed up to prevent splitting and breaking off that will damage the hoof and give you possiable problems down the line.

[Brittguy]

I also use borium. It give one a lot more confidence when going on paved roads,rocks, or ice at the spring trials. I was surprised at the number of people that don't know about it.I live in an Amish community and they all use it for their buggy horses.
I shoe both front and back. When it is time for a reset after trial season I pull the shoes until time for next season.Where I train it is really not necessary to have shoes.

[tenbearsviz]

Mine are barefoot right now. They finally have great feet after a summer of water damage.

I expect to stay barefoot unless my travel plans change to take me out of FL & GA. Lots of soft footing in FL and every trip to GA has at least one shoe lost in the mud.