I think barefoot is always worth a try. If your horse is lame, what do you have to lose by trying a natural approach? If you do try barefoot, I would suggest working with a farrier who can provide an educated barefoot trim.

I'm not saying there's not a place for corrective shoeing, but I do believe there's a movement towards looking to nature for the best practices for keeping horses. In my mind, that's a good thing!

I am a barefoot trimmer and a believer in shoeless.
My friends that are endurance racers, some use shoes and some use the tennies for horses, but they all barefoot when not racing.
The problem will be in finding a barefoot trimmer not associated with the new gimmick methodologies.   Cavalry barefoot trimming is the best.

I chose my Arab gelding a year ago and a big part of that choice was because he was barefoot (and he was gorgeous). He had been barefoot for three years but often went with boots probably because his feet weren't conditioned consistently. I also inherited his hoof trimmer, who had transitioned him from shoes and taught him to like it, which apparently he didn't like shoeing too much. I had a lot of learning to do, but finally figured out the diet and conditioning that was right for him. He has been crushing rocks on the trails this spring and all summer and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting up in the hills and getting to know him in the process. I would not put shoes on him for anything, I have researched how important it is to his feet to be iron free. If he ran into problems I would use booties. This fall he did go tenerfooted because the pasture was too rich for him, but he recovered and was back on the trail in a couple of weeks. If I had had booties, I think we might not have needed the time off, but it all worked out. For those who, like me went barefoot in summer as kids, they will understand how your feet get conditioned to the surface required. At the start of summer, we were pretty ouchy on gravel, but by the end of the summer we ran over anything. Same principle works for horses, except their foot health absolutely depends on not wearing shoes. To me barefoot just seemed like common sense. I never guessed it was like a religion that you believed in or didn't.

If you are interested in going barefoot you would first need to find a hoof trimmer with an understanding of barefoot and plenty of training and experience. Naturally a farrier who has only done shoes for forty years isn't necessarily going to endorse barefoot because it's a different approach. A Barefoot trimmer could guide you best as to what to do to prepare your horse with diet and conditioning for a sandy surface. It might depend what surface your horse is on during the 23 hours per day that he is not on the sand. If it's damp, spongy, mucky clay or wet luch pasture, these conditions can make barefoot trickier. If you are using too much grain or less desirable grains, or for some horses too much alfalfa, this can cause a weaker hoof and frog health. My guy does best on just grassy hay, no grain, no lush pasture, and a usually hard dry lot for a surface. Since it is clay, and can get mucky, if I was going to add anything I would add good sized rocks to toughen his feet more. The supplement I provide is a combo of black oil sunflower seeds, wheat germ, flax seed, and a very little bit of oats. That's just what works for him, your Barefoot advisor can look at what you have available and make some suggestions since most Barefoot trimmers see diet and conditioning as key to the process. It's possible that with the right diet, the key for your sand conditioning is how you do it. Twice a week for longer may be less effective for conditioning than daily shorter workout until the hoofs toughen. Or maybe you need to do some walking trotting on rocks or roadsdaily to condition. If your horse is stall confined or in a very small turn out, to soft turn out, the exposure to urine and droppings, dampness could be messing up the condition of his feet, so just a larger lot, or better drainage, more rocks, may be the answer.

I have pulled my mare's shoes, and plan to use boots, although I'm not satisfied with the boots I have tried so far. My farrier suggested formaldehyde painted on the soles for a few weeks if she's ouchy. She says it toughens up the hoof. Has anyone heard of that?

In response to sandy ground/barefoot question I came upon this note:
Some transitioning horses go sore on deep sand or very soft arena footing. This is because the soft landing doesn't provide enough concussion to flex the hoof, so that there is reduced circulation and the feet become uncomfortably congested. The best solution I can suggest is to ride at least 10 minutes on firm ground, before and after the arena work, to get lots of circulation inside the hooves.
It's part of a longer excellent article:
http://www.barefoothorse.com/barefoot_Transition.html

Another article mentioned that very deep turf can stress the tendons on a horse especially if their heels are already too high as it forces the toe into the ground more. I may not be explaining this very well.

The structure of the hoof is so complex, people are just beginning to figure out what function each of these structures has, and how they all work together including how the circulation and digestion can be related to hoof health. What farriers knew years ago, and even ten years ago is still evolving.

The question that comes to my mind is, if a farrier says that taking the shoes off a horse will make him go lame, what are the shoes doing to the horse that would make their foot so unhealthy that that would happen?





-- Edited by Marlene on Monday 25th of October 2010 03:40:18 PM

-- Edited by Marlene on Monday 25th of October 2010 03:42:43 PM

Wow, thank you everyone - I can see many people are very passionate about barefoot hooves and have some fabulous suggestions about how to deal with the issues I'm having with Lorenzo's feet.

To answer a few questions, in summer he spends 10 hours a day on nice sold ground with rye grass to graze on. He is given good quality hay in the morning with a scoop of chaff and lucerne. At night he has a mixture of chaff, lucerne, millmix, sunflower seeds and limestone powder dampened down with molassas water.

At night, he does stand in sand in his stable too, now that I think about it!

I will have a look in to the information provided and check out some of the websites as well.

When it comes to the crunch, Lorenzo will likely be ridden/live on the same surface for a long while yet so if I cant change that, then I'll have to strengthen his feet :)

If anyone else has more information please keep posting. I'm sure there are many riders out there who will benefit from a discussion such as this.

For my horse that is barefoot right now, as he is out on very rough ground all the time, my farrier/trimmer leaves some of the sole he might otherwise remove. He does this so that he has the extra protection and because on the course ground (sand and small rocks) the horse wears his feet down- sometimes the tenderness comes from the feet wearing down too fast.

As far as supplements for the feet, biotin in doses of 15mg or more has been shown in studies (double blind scientific studies- I apologize I don't have the links at the moment) to be beneficial to the overall health of the hooves. Another one that shows evidence of being beneficial, though it is less studied for this use at the moment and I don't know what dosage is best for hoof benefits as it is more commonly used for joints, is MSM. I would suggest reviewing your horses diet as well. I honestly am not super familiar with much of what you feed since feed types vary by region quite a bit and even from barn to barn (one of my horses gets grass hay, alfalfa, beet pulp, safe choice "grain," and ultium, along with various supplements including one for his feet as an example) If you have someone who can help you review the info and determine what your horses caloric, protein, fat, and vitamin/mineral needs are that would be a great starting point as that can help in a variety of areas- not just feet.

Your horse is very lucky that he has you!

I think it all comes down to understanding your horse, and trusting your farrier.

I will definately be looking in to how I feed Lorenzo, as I think there have been some good suggestions here.

Plus its important to review your horses feed a few times a year taking in to consideration workload, seasonal grazing and nutrients as well as your horses general condition etc so i think the time has arrived, especially since hay is getting hard to come by now (my agistment has just gone up $15 a week.)