When I got my gelding (then 11 years old) two years ago he had already been barefoot for three years. As long as you have a trimmer who knows barefoot trimming the next most important thing is to condition them gradually to whatever type of footing you want to work them on. So if they are in relatively soft (or firm ground) turnout, but you want to ride on pavement or rocks, start out with short rides and relatively gentle work. Then just work up gradually. As long as you do this (and trims keep the walls at optimal length) they can theoretically work up to longer rides on any type of terrain. If you can't do the conditioning, or until the conditioning has done it's job,then putting on boots just for the harder ground or rocky trails is an option, but leave them off when not riding. I have a pair of boots just in case my guy gets footy (he has once or twice when he got too much rich pasture), but other than that he doesn't need them because I just worked him up gradually to longer trail rides. Aside from good diet, the other important thing is that they have lots of time to just walk and cruise around as much as possible. For my guy that's in a dry lot type corral when he can't be on pasture. The worst is standing in a stall for too many hours as that is really bad for their feet, no matter how well bedded.

I had a chuckle over your term "shoeless horse". Makes it sound like something is missing, doesn't it? All horses are born barefoot and  remain so unless people put shoes on.

-- Edited by Marlene on Saturday 19th of November 2011 07:27:31 PM

Wrt the gravel road, as long as you go slow, let him walk, he should be fine. He might act a little like he's walking on eggshells at first. Unless he totally refuses, he's not in pain. If he won't walk on gravel at all, your horse was lame with the shoes on before, but you just didn't know it. Then you really would need boots for a while. When you get to the arena, check for any gravel that might have lodged in his foot, you don't want him wearing that for the rest of the ride. Once my guy's feet were toughened up he actually road with gravel in his feet and I could hardly tell because it barely seemed to affect his way of going. Carry a pocket hoof pick, but if you don't have one I just picked one rock out with another from the trail in a pinch.

Remember the good ol' days when we went barefoot in summer? The first few days or week we were kind of tippy toe on rocks, but before long we could run over the same stuff and not notice? same principle. You won't hurt them unless you go hard on the rocks or for a longer period than they are accustomed.

-- Edited by Marlene on Sunday 20th of November 2011 11:06:53 AM

I started riding barefoot horses around 40 years ago. In my experience when the farriers (note, this is several farriers), trimmed the side of the hoof down the hoof wall did not extend at all beyond the sole, therefore the horse was walking on the sole of his foot and was VERY ouchy until the hoof wall had grown long enough so that the hoof wall was bearing the weight, not the sole. I rode a lot on gravel back then and when the hoof wall had grown some the horses stopped being ouchy. It did not matter if my horse was shod or barefoot before the trim, if the hoof wall on the side and heels was trimmed down to below the sole, soreness followed. The only time I got different results was when I was there and sort of guided the farrier, the farriers who did the gaited and western horses were the worst but I did get the soreness, though in a lesser amount, from farriers who did mainly hunters. Preparing a hoof for barefeet is slightly different than trimming for shoeing.
This was LONG before there were the specialist barefoot trimmers who, I have heard, often OVERTRIM the hoof wall and force the horse to walk on its sole to prove some theory or other of theirs. Not all barefoot trimmers do this overtrimming fortunately.
Of course if the horse's hoof is severely chipped and split the farrier does not have much choice. This is why I do Mia's hooves (rasping the toe and leaving the side and heel mostly alone except for chips or cracks) so I do not lose two weeks of training after each trim. Yeah, I know, this is only an hour of riding for me, but I hated having to ride a horse that flinches every time she puts her foot down. So long I do the weekly trim the farrier does not have to trim the hoof wall too far down and Mia never flinches except on really sharp gravel.
All these horses lived on the red clay we have down here.
If after the first barefoot trim your horse is ouchy tell the farrier to leave more hoof wall on the sides and heel.