To Shoe or not to Shoe that is the Question ??

[Finogirl]

Sorry, me again !

The mare I'm hoping to get, still trying to get the paperwork sorted first ! -


She is only shod on the fronts and I hear a lot of talk about Barefoot trimming and Finos not needing shoes - what's your opinion on this and how have you found this ? I was told Lipi's do not need shoes but mine still needed them for rocky areas and because they wore out too soon.

[Boyd R]

Most any horse can go without shoes if they are properly trimmed and have the right footing conditions. I put 57 stone on all the high traffic areas in my pastures. In front of gates, 10 foot out from the stall doors, allong traveled pathways, around the water trough. All my horses go without shoes and I can ride any of them on some of the worst terrain in Georgia for 2-3 hours without any problem. Even clients horses come in first thing that happens is the shoes come off and get trimmed, in two weeks they can be road on rock.

By the way barefoot trimming should be no different than any other trim.
And it alone will not make a hard foot, Nor are all barefoot trimmers worthy of having the title of ferrier.

[pnalley]

If you choose to shoe, the Paso should be shod on all four. I keep mine shod, so I can ride anywhere anytime. I will not have a horse acting ouchy when I'm on it. Since I never ride in an arena, I must be ready for what ever the trail footing is

[Serendipity]

if the horse stays at home or if not ridden much no shoes my show mare/trail horse shoes not because she is a tender foot because she's not but because its easyer on her i ride on the road alot and in gravel and then around the show grounds the footis not always the greatest I shoe from April to Nov then is muddy,cold, and dark early i don't ride as much and it gives the feet time to relax.
It just depends on you and what your comforable with.I like my pasos to wear ultra light shoes.and just me i won't let a barefoot trimmer touch any of my horses,not ever, if you want to just trim fine a good ferrier that listen to you,angles of the feet are everything to a paso,and if you want shoes I agree get all 4

[ErinC]

:shock: o man Mel she was hired to KILL us! :shock:

I have not put a shoe on a horse in over 10 yrs.
and that includes LOTS of horses from Arabs, THB's, Pasos, Spotted saddle horses, QH's and , I am sure I can think of another ....
young , old , soft feet , hard feet.
rocks, sand, etc.
if you have an experianced hoof prof, you can do it.
might need boots for some or all of the time, but you can go barefoot.

[Serendipity]

:shock: Who :shock:

[ErinC]

this sweet little finogirl, she keeps posting questions that always make people want to rip each other apart.

everyone, BE NICE! PLEASE..... :angel

[Serendipity]

I promised not to argue with anyone :twisted:
(hands behind my back and almost crossed)
I'll be nice its time to go feed anyway 8-)

[ErinC]

Nicole, Did you notice, I did not say barefoot trimmer???
I said Hoof Prof.
I was trying to be correct for everyone.
I think if we say what we like and what works for US , then she can form her own oppinon, she does not need to be told what to do!

I am a barefoot trimmer, but I am NOT going to PUSH my way!
because MY way is NOT for everyone, but it works for my horses! ;-)

[pnalley]

It's a matter of choice. I choose to shoe, those that I ride. My pasture pests are not shod. What you(collective you) do doesn't concern me.

[Mellifluous]

None of my horses are shod. I will not hesitate to put shoes on any of mine if they wear their hooves to the point that they need them. That being said, my paso mare has excellent feet. I have ridden her all over the place including some LD rides and she has been fine.

No shoes for my girl so far! My old gal also has FAB feet and does not need shoes.

[Serendipity]

hee hee I just picking ErinC

I respect anyone that takes care of their horses feet,some horses do excellent going bare i've had several like my show mare I put shoes on her to make me feel good because if she came up sore before a show that would be bad not that that can't and has not happens a time or 2 :roll: but again for me it is a preventive but i agree to each their own as long as those feet are taken care of ;-)

[ErinC]

O Nicole, I know! thats why I knew I could write that back to you.
trust me there are others I would not have ;-)

[Cindy]

O Nicole, I know! thats why I knew I could write that back to you.
trust me there are others I would not have


Who would that be? :new confused

[DebJ]

I don't shoe either of my two Paso's. And we trail ride. Both are good on the trail, not so good on stone, but that is only on the driveway and we can ride beside it on the grass. We only shoe our Tenn. Walker for the summer, as he is a bit ouchy on the trails. But we take them off for the winter as we don't ride nearly as much. So it depends on the horse.
I also had a Lipizzan. She lived to be 29 years old, and we only had to shoe her for trails in the summer. She had a much thicker coat than either of my Paso's for the winter. She was a great horse!!
Enjoy your Paso.

[Fuego]

In order for me to ride anywhere at anytime (which is how I ride), my Paso must be shod on all four to stay sound and secure footed.

A 6 yr old gelding recently started under saddle is being ridden everywhere, acroos ALL types of terrain and footing 6 days a week and is doing fantastic going barefoot.

Many hoof professionals have told me that in their experience, generally Paso Finos have good/ hard hooves, and typically did not need to be shod.
But they have also all agreed that my Paso does need shoes unless I limited where I ride him.

I prefer barefoot, but would never inflict pain on a horse to satisfy my preference. Nor do I wish to have limits on where I can go or what I can do with my horse.

[motorgypsy]

Our farrier told us to pull the shoes from our paso finos. That they just didn't need them. We do add MSM to our feed (very cheap for the pure stuff) and find that it and the biotin that is already in Triple Crown senior do a really great job of keeping feet nice. Most of ours self trim and rarely have to be trimmed because they run around a lot.

We were on one LD endurance ride where shoes would have been helpful. They had just laid a thick layer of that sharp jagged road rock 8 inches or more deep. So well will shoe if there's a reason but with proper diet none of our 11 paso finos and 1 cracker horse need shoes for fairly extensive riding on multiple surfaces.

[Pasomom]

When I first got my mare, she went lame every time we trimmed her, no matter how light the trim was. After about three different trimming tries, with two different farriers, we started putting shoes on ...all four. I continued this for about a year. Now she is perfectly good going barefoot.

I shoe when necessary, and leave them barefoot the rest of the time.

[Abejita]

deoends on the horse.That simple.There may be other reasons such as conformational issues that make shoes a necessity also. I have a filly that even when trimmed at 4 week intervals would just not get enough heel on her (long toe low heel) she was nice and hard hooved, but she started having problems due to her hoof angles.So we shod.

[Finogirl]

o man Mel she was hired to KILL us!


LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lol:

My Name is Girl, Fino Girl and I'm licenced to............

laugh a lot at what you posted, should change my name to 008 !!!!!!!! LOL !!!!!

Sorry, I have a mind like a sponge and I like to keep it fed, you can't get many books on Pasos so you guys are a very good source of info. Discuss away, I've seen and been involved with other forums where it gets heated so don't worry :D

You'd be proud of me I just ordered a supply of Glucosamine plus MSM, I can't find a cheap source of it pure so I went with the Equine America one by Cortaflex which was a cheaper option.

Still having probs with this paperwork though so have not as yet bought this mare..............the wait is killing me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

[DSDECKERT]

I think it all depends on the horse and the terrain, I have 3 Pasos, 2 are barefoot, my mare has to be shod on all 4's or she is ouchy on the rocks in TN. In FL, she was barefoot as well, but that's all sand.

[CarolU]

Ditto what Deb said. I have horses here I've never shod, and other horses I shoe every summer. I only take those that are shod on mountain trail rides. You can see by my pictures that these are called "The Rocky Mountains" for a reason. You need shoes. I even know of barefoot people that tore up boots on rides, that gave up and went with shoes for their trail horses.

There are other terrains that require shoes (IMO). Sand can be as abrasive to hooves and wear them off, as can riding a lot on asphalt or concrete. When I was a kid, I wore out a set of shoes in five weeks, mostly road riding. I would have had a lame horse if I had ridden like that barefooted.

So, get your horse, try her barefooted (good trim job though) and see how your riding style fits with her feet. Then shoe if you have to. From what I understand, it is very wet in England and that keeps hooves pretty soft. They will wear off faster then tough, dry hooves. You might plan on some elevated ground with road base or something so the horse can stand on dry, well drained ground.

Good luck.

[Terry Wallace]

It all depends on the integrity of the HOOF.
I have Pasos I never shoe, and I have some that must be shod or they wear their feet off very quickly on the decomposed granite here.

The rocky mountains are mostly decomposed granite where we ride. It is so abrasive that it will abrade a hoof down to nothing in as little as three rides.

I have a mare I will be putting front shoes on today in preparation for a ride Saturday at a place called Dome Rock, up near Meuller State Park.
16 water crossings and river rock everywhere...decomposed granite on the trail.

She will get front shoes only... she does not need them on the rear..only on the front where the majority of the weight is carried and the feet wear faster. Contrary to popular belief... putting front shoes on (only) will NOT cause any gait problems. However...you cannot SHOW a horse in a PFHA class with only two shoes on. It must be shod on all four..or barefoot on all four. Shoeing a horse on the front only *could* give an advantage to that horse, just as it could be a hinderance (if shoes are left on too long and the shod hooves are longer than the unshod hooves).
I believe that rule is in place to keep everything "fair" to the competing horses.

It seems as if the ground is softer or more forgiving in the eastern states than it is here. I can surely understand why a horse in Florida may not ever need shoes. I think if you brought that same horse here to Colorado, in the high country...that horse just *may* need shoes to keep his feet from being chipped and broken away by very hard rock. I have friends who bought horses from Florida that came here with no shoes....who ended up needing shoes once they went on mountain rides.

Hoof integrity will be a big factor in needing or not needing shoes.
Horses with thick wall and tough soles don't often need shoes. Lots of horses don't have thick wall or tough soles...so it just depends.

I ride with a lady who has a mare who foundered four years ago. That mare always has shoes on the front feet. When I use horse boots..they are always on just the front feet.... so don't be concerned about shoes on the front... do ask WHY she is shod only on the front. Is it because she is tender or has she had lameness issues?

[Finogirl]

As far as I know Terry, she is shod only the front because she gets a bit foot sore on the stoney ground. Her hooves were very long when she first got to the breeder so are now a much better shape for gaiting.

In the UK, we do tend to shoe for the reason stated above, it's very wet and they wear down faster.

[lisa l aka marci]

I prefer to keep my horses barefoot - but in the past have been forced to shoe because of the terrain I rode on.....Lucy used to wear her feet down so much if I didn't shoe she would wear herself lame.....as it was, she went through shoes like nothing - would wear them right down (If I didn't keep an eye on them they would BREAK! - about 1 month !)...now imagine if that was a HOOF!

I do shoe now again if I am going to show - I would rather have a sure-footed horse than an ouchy one - and mine are out pretty much 24/7 on dirt, rocks, etc....

[TrueStepPaso]

Actually, the trimming method for barefoot IS a bit different from ordinary "pasture" trims....that why there are so many comments on here about hooves wearing down to nothing.

I prefer barefoot. If a hoof needs protection for a certain ride, then I'll boot, not shoe.

[Soltera]

True Step, would your or do you boot on all four? I was a bit confused about the earlier post about shoeing all four feet, anyway, wondering if it's a health/soundness concern. For just trails, not fino board, is it okay to just shoe the front with this breed? My grey gelding has feet of steel, but as I ride him more, that may change.

My real question is about boots - is it better to boot all four to keep them even? I know most weight is on the front, but on really sharp rocks all feet might need protection. I don't want to boot even the fronts, but may need to (I have the Easyboot Bare, and love it).

Our problem here - this is prime mining ground, and our feldspar/mica/quartz rocks stick way up out of hard ground and then don't yield when even a big horse steps on them.

[Cindy]

Soltera, some horses are OK to shoe or boot on the front only. Others will not gait well with uneven shoeing. Depends on the horse and it also depends on if you care if the horse is not gaiting well. Some might gait better.

As far as fronts and not hinds, I find that my horses wear out their hind hooves and need to be shod all the way around if shod at all. Though there are some horses who tend to be more tender on the front and will show soreness in the front before they do on the hind. Also, soreness on the front shows up more easily than soreness on the hind. I have some horses that I could shoe only on the hinds and their fronts would be just fine. But very rarely do I ever have horses that I need to shoe on the front and not the hind and these horses would be horses that were just tenderfooted, not horses that have worn their hooves down.

Personally, I generally go through winter with no shoes on anyone but by spring time I have to shoe some and by summer I have to shoe most horses. This is based on where I ride. When the ground is not wet as it is in the winter, it is very hard and rocky. If I lived elsewhere, I would not need to shoe as much. But when I do shoe, I always shoe all the way around.

[motorgypsy]

I've done front boots on a mare that had foundered many times before we got her (she LOVED them) and all four on a totally sound mare in deep sharp gravel. We lost a boot on the ride and she hated the boots. Wouldn't do anything but walk with them on. I'd probably try glueons - the synthetic ones made of what looks like neoprene - the next time on her.

One word of advice. If you know your're going to do a parade or a ride on abrasive terrain and your horse has good tough feet - let them get just a hair longer than normal. Be sure they're still totally balanced of course but an extra 1/8 of an inch can make a huge difference on a ride. When you get finished you just have a nice TRULY NATURAL trim. No you can't do this with a horse that doesn't self trim to a balanced hoof but its' great on the ones who do.

I made the mistake of rasping before a parade and ended up with an ouchy horse for about three days afterward. DON'T rasp or trim right before a ride. Do it a couple of weeks before or wait until the ride is over.

Oh - when our farrier told us to go barefoot we were wearing shoes to razor thin in four weeks. He told us their feet would grow to pick up the difference. They did. He also told us to pull shoes in the winter or we WOULD get thrush. And this guys does put shoes on anything that needs it and does not advertise as a "natural trimmer".

My idea of a natural trim - I look at my horses feet, rasp or hip to about 1/8 of an inch longer than the sole to leave an edge for gripping (this is different from a farrier's trim where they trim the hoof flush with the sole), do a mustang roll all the way around the hoof to prevent cracking and allow them to break over better, clean the sole and around the frog by scraping with a hoof knife to remove dirt and flaky material. I'm done.

I do this as often as is needed but if the horse is long toe or high heel I try to do it every two weeks in just the toe or the heel.

[TrueStepPaso]

On the rare occasions I've booted my mare, I only did the fronts. She was absolutely fine that way.

If you can get away with only fronts, then do that. Keep it minimal if possible.

[Brigitte]

I have some that are always shoed, some who are barefoot and some who have shoes only on their front legs. All depends on the horse

[SarahR]

My husband finally convinced me to pull the shoes on my mare and get Old Macs. She is more comfortable and surefooted, plus my husband can trim her hooves as needed, instead of waiting for her to need to be re-shod. We put them on all 4 hooves as she was just too tenderfooted in the rears. My husband rides his TWH 90% of the time barefoot, in the Rocky Mountains and on long all day rides. He does great. He boots him for riding on 'gravely' surfaces, though. That horse does fine with just front boots.

[jodiTowne]

I have been booting on all four as I often go on dirt roads that are now like concrete because of the drought. I can gait without worry of concussion problems . I use easyboot bares with the comfort pads. I also use boots on all four for my multi-day rides just to eliminate the possibility of soreness which may end my ride sooner than I want. If I am going for a quick ride after work I may just boot in the front or not at all depending on the terrain.

There is no one answer! :D