Me again,after I sent my reply I knew people would misunderstand my regards to wild horses having better traction than shod horse. But my brain runs faster than my fingers can type. I was meaning that the shod horses couldn't outrun the wild horses so they needed a system set up to chase them into. Buffalohat siad it best, traditional way is the barefoot way.

This has been great reading.I have always had my horses go barefoot the way God created them. A couple of points to quander over: Traction- in the good old days why did the cowboys (shod horses) have to use catch pens to round up wild horses maybe because the wild ones had better traction and could keep ahead of the shod horses. Hooves-Yes, people are breeding good quality feet right out from under the horses.You look at the legends Peppy, King, Poco Tivio etc. they had a good base to stand on not the teacup feet you see on alot of Quaterhorses as well as many other breeds.I have a Peruvian horse that my farrier would trim a certain way to get him to have better termino after I became better educated to the breed I no longer use that farrier because he has created his heel points to go under.now I am trimming to give him back his heels and his termino is better. Energy-I have to wear steel toe shoes for work and by the end of the day my legs and knees are tired for carting around that extra weight as well as steel does not mold around the terrain I walk on. So how much energy are you taking from your horse from carting aroung shoes. As with any thing you have to do your research before going into anything.Jaime Jackson has a book called Paddock Paradise teaching you how to create an enviroment for your horse to become better conditioned to go barefoot. I live in sand so I put gravel on the trails leading to the water trough I let the area around the troughs be wet for them to stand in mud.You can't just pull off the shoes and think trimming alone is going to condition the hoof to grow stronger.I feed on the ground and unroll my bales so the horses have to move around to eat which also aligns their jaw properly so I don't have big dental bills but that is a whole new topic. Happy trails!!

My mare is not tender footed & so far no shoes have been required, which I hope to keep it that way. She prefers to ride in the road vs on the side in the grass. I do ask her in the grass on the side when the road becomes "to rough looking" or traffic.

I recently took both of my horses barefoot(this past Nov). My reason for doing it was that I spent a ton of $$$ on therapeudic shoeing with no improvement over the last year and half under vet care and top farriers in the area. One of the horses I hope to barrel race barefoot and have started already and like how she is moving. (I am wondering if she will hold up however). I have been working with a barefoot trimmer to learn to trim myself and now also have my farrier giving me pointers. (at first they dont) You can save your back by using a hoofstand (about $195). The yahoo group barefoothorsecare is a great source of information and people who are doing the same thing. I'm definately not an expert on the subject but trying it out. Sally

I'm having great success with keeping my guys barefoot. Have been doing this for several years now and think the key is keeping them balanced and trimmed on a regular basis. Not opposed to shoes yet if my horses continue to keep strong calloused feet, I will continue to have barefoot horses. Good topic........

I have five horses, and my land is rocky. All of the horses are barefoot. I will only put shoes on if they need them.. I have had most of these horses for 8yrs. No shoes here..Central Texas

I grew up in Michigan and always lived on dirt and gravel roads. We never shoed our horses, but learned early not to ride for a day or two after a gravel truck came through on the "main" roads. Never had any major problems or bruising, but I remember that it seemed like Dad was always trimming. (we had 10+ horses for quite a few years.) After moving out west, first to Arizona and then to Idaho, I learned to keep shoes on. The shale and rocks in the mountains are a whole lot different than a Michigan gravel road. It seems location, and of course the type of riding (competition), should be key factors when deciding between shoes and barefoot.

Just enjoyed an hour reading this discussion. I find that I do not have time to learn much about new shoing and foot care ideas so all the referenced sites are welcome and cached in my browser. Thanks to those who gave the links. I raised Arabs on Saskatchewan prairie soil. I never shoed but trimmed as required. I could not afford a ferrier and wanted to be as good as possible so bought the OLDS, Alberta college ferrier's course book by DR. Doug Butler. "The Principles of Horseshoeing." It covers far more than shoeing and is a good reference for many problems of the foot. I have found it to be a good base to learn from if one must work within a budget and is willing to accept the responsibility for the result. Your horses may not always have the best trim but the book will teach you how to watch for clues to improve it. Basic rule is to be conservative while learning. My first trip into the mountains, five days long, my horses were barefoot. They started with plenty of hoof and in good shape. I travelled 5 days on the worst rock and gravel yet seen in 15 more years of living and riding in the mountains. When we came out the horses were fine but they could not have done many more days and remained so as their feet were worn down a lot. I had them shod and did two more trips that summer. Now I ride the area around where I live next "the first big rock" without shoes in spring and even into summer if not riding a lot. I trim them about two weeks before I want to shoe them, then prep their feet with a good pairing, file the horn and apply shoes. I find the trim helps to toughen their soles for such stones as reach their foot with shoes on. I have had a couple of incidence of stone bruising even after riding rocky ground for weeks prior. Some stones do damage, and they are hard to avoid in crossing streams. My opinion re shoeing and barefoot is based on horse use and terrain. After travelling in the mountain area of the Wilmore wilderness and Jasper park, I think that my horses were fortunate to do five days without shoes in that area and come out in good shape, without stone bruising. They had good feet and I left them deliberately long but I would not take horses on such a trip again without giving them an opportunity to toughen their soles with a trim, and putting shoes on them for the trip. But for most pleasure riding on prairie and even foothill soils I believe that shoeing is an expense that is unneccessary.

Jule - I like the idea of the barefoot horse, but it is hard to stick to. I was off one barrel horse a year, and thought it was long enough for his feet to get tough, but when I started back riding him the chips & cracks set in... So it was back to shoes. I have a 10yo paint mare that has never worn shoes, and her feet are tough as nails. I also have a new yearling filly that I plan never to shoe. My local horse dentist/shoer is also into the natural trim methods. This same shoer put the rubber boots on his wife's barrel horse for a year, and he now runs barefoot. This shoer is a believer in the natural method, but many in my area are still skeptical. I have another barrel horse who cut his coronet band several yrs back. I tried the barefoot method on him, but the hoof would get dirt in the crack, and it would bust open with the crack going up every time. I turned him out for a year, but could not get him sound, so gave up and went back to shoeing. Vicky

I have 7 horses...3 peruvian pasos, an arabXquarterhorse, a paint and 2 minis. They are all barefoot. Only 2 of the horses (PP's) have been barefoot all their lives, not counting the minis. The one PP and the AQ & Paint have only been barefoot since they came here to my ranch 4 years ago. My farrier only comes about once every 12-14 weeks to trim them in the summer and about every 10 weeksinthe winter. I have very rocky dirt on a lava cap mountain top and since they have alot of land to travel, they keep them nice and naturally short. I only pay $30 for trimming and am delighted he only comes as infrequently to my ranch as he does. I'm really glad I don't have to deal with shoes too. Arlene