CGW very good question, The term navicular is a cop out for vets that just can't figure out whats wrong. Most of the time all the diagnostc's have not been done, many times the problem is balance, soft tissue, sesmodits, I have even seen necks out of line and the horse point's a foot, so it's called navicular. Today we have many tools to help the navicular horse before sugery, But wait the horse is better for 1/4 the cost of sugery so who's gonna make payments on the vet's boat, moter home ect.When this ugly term rears it's ugly head do what I do, ask for a 2nd opionion from a good horse vet, shy away from general practioners. Again just my 2 cents worth, but a few Vets are true "HORSE DOCTERS" the others are just guessing. Happy Trails all Hoss 69

What about horses with Navicular? Any thoughts on this?

What a great post, with many response???????? As a lifetime horse man & a pro farrier for 27 years I am ask almost daily about this subject? WHY do we shoe? Do my horses feet need the prtection???? HELL NO YOU DO NOT NEED SHOES We shoe to maintain bony coulme alinment..... Or to enhance chores for the horse that nature didnot have in mind for the horse, but us humans thought was what the horse was made for. When I am ask by new people to the horse industy to do a "Nateral Trim" I tell the peps to meet me in the desert.Why they ask? I tell them that to be"Nateral" we will pull the shoes and turn the horse out to be a horse, the strong will suvive, But what if he goes lame? Well lions or bears will tell ya thanks. Now Thats "Nateral" Sounds cruel but thats nateral, man has intervened to much, thats why ya see folks like me pull up with "fancy" rigs to work on ole Dabins feet, or the vets makeing 6 figures a year. Folks when I was a kid if a foal was born with bad legs they shot him, end of story, the bad geans stopped............. I have worked for some of the best horse people in the world, One is the starter of the "Nateral Horse Stuff"JOHN LYONS Yes I have had the honner of knowing John for more than 20 years, I've shod ole ZIP several times. Today John goes BARE FOOT. Charle has been shod 1 time and I did that. Now how can John do this and haul around the country like he does doing what he does???? Well to start with when John decided to go "BARE FOOT" Zip and all the rest were either lame or OFF for at least a year............ Now go to Parachute Colo to John &and Jodys(what a SWEET LADY) place.Preacher & Charle are boarded in nice stalls 6" of saw dust, in the padock 3 to 5 houds a day, ridden in a NICE SOFT arena, But the padocts have 1 1/2" gravel around the perimiters, all the gates have gravel in the area,as you know a horse will stand at the gates and "paw" a hole. This helps to keep the horse "nateral" But John "steps" in to help when help is needed. Folks IT IS NOT "NATERAL" to do what we ask the horse to do. So do as you please but try to listen to yer farrier, hire the best, fire the rest. You may have to wait in line for the best, but it will be worth it in the long run. Have the coffee, fly spray, shade tree and a TIP, waiting fer that feller that keeps OLE DABIN goeing fer ya. See Ya at da barn. OLE HOSS69

I pulled all of my horses shoes when I started boarding him in a pasture. He was sore on his feet at first since he wasn't used to feeling the rocks and stuff, but his feet toughened up. Part of the reason I had to pull shoes was the farrier I had been using (I had been using him for nearly 9 years and I was VERY young when I got my first horse) was mostly a quarterhorse farrier. He teacuped my 16.3 hh TB/QH cross and over time the bones in his fetlock rotated nearly crippling him. The vets all recomended pulling shoes as a way to encourage the bones in the fetlock to rotate back as the foot was allowed to grow naturally. So far it's working!

Howdy! I pulled my horses shoes about three years ago and have not looked back since. I have learned how to keep them trimmed up between the times my trimmer comes out and it works out great. The worst part was the first year since it takes awhile to have the nail holes grow out, but after that steady trimming keeps them healthy. If I head out on rocky terrain I just put Boa Boots on their feet (as a precaution) and we are ready to rock and roll. I found Boa's work best for my horses feet. Depending on the shape of the hooves of yours does depend on what "boots" you would use. All in all there is no way I would ever entertain the thought of going back to shoes. My horses feet are solid and tough enough now to take on any terrain and not have trouble. If you can get past the first year you will be happy you got rid of the shoes and went bare (foot that is). Cheers, Hotintojazz

When I was showing hunter jumpers I always let my horse go barefoot. We only went up to about 4 ft fences and there was no need for plugs at that height. He was never lame and we were always in the ribbons. I always let my horses go barefoot unless I was going to a place to required shoes for foot protection. Just depends on your horse and the strenght of there feet. And what you do with them where.

This subject interests me. I wish there was a clear correct or incorrect position to take. I had horses before I knew what a farrier was and I'm not new to them. I've owned horses for longer than I care to say but its over 50 years. I have tried natural triming but noticed some of mine had a problem getting over crushed road rock when mounted. I refuse to put a horse through a painful situation when it can be avoided. Seems shoe or not is about an even match in opinions. Is it possible there are horses who's holves require shoes to stay in good shape and some that don't? I know all the thoughts that incorporate the wild horse theory but I'm not certain how many of those went lame because they were bare foot. How many of them had toes so long, the preditors caught them first. This is a wild shot but sometimes it seems my horses gain a confident attitude when recently shod. Maybe it's just me looking for some justification for having spent some serious dollars. I wish there was a clear answer.

Just reviewing the message board and came across this post, Thought id bring it back up front to see if anyone wanted to update their experiences or opinions....as for me i havent put shoes on any of my horses in 12 years and havent had any problems.....My experiences have been positive, and I have ridden many different terrains.

Updating Message Board... Saving this topic... Thanks

Its kind of amusing to hear some folks talk about a shod horse as 'traditional' and the barefooted horse like its some kinda newfangled fad. Wasn't there barefooted horses for a long time before there was iron shoes? And hasn't there been barefoot horses all along? Farm horses used to all go barefoot. Not like its a new thing. I campaigned an endurance horse this year that runs barefooted. So does her stablemate, and that one does fifties and hundreds throughout the season unshod. For every 50 an endurance horse does in competition, he probly has another 250 in training miles on him. So there's proof you can put on a lot of miles without you need to shoe the horse. You can't just pull the shoes off and go for it, tho. It takes a year or more of adapting to toughen up the hoof, if they've been shod. And you want to get them off the soft wet ground onto some firm dry ground and gravel to help them get a good hard horn growing. Then work them up gradual with the rides. They need to keep trimmed up good. Sometimes you might need to boot them. And yes they can get sore footed, but so can your shod horse. Probly its all around more vigilance but less work and less money than having them farrier shod every six weeks. And no reason you can't trim yourself once you see how. Lots of people have the whole argument about why barfoot is better than shod all explained better than I ever will. Strasser and Pete Ramey have been mentioned. There's a lady out of Texas named Darolyn Butler who is a big advocate, and its hard to argue with her kind of success. Here's a couple of articles about the importance of good trim and how to get it http://www.easycareinc.com/Education/articles/look_hooves.aspx http://www.easycareinc.com/Education/articles/mustang_roll.aspx And here's a site with a lot of inneresting links http://www.barefoothorse.com/ [img]http://www.thenakedhoof.com.au/assets/thermograph.jpg[/img] That thermograph picture shows how shoes can affect circulation. It comes from this site http://www.thenakedhoof.com.au/html/purposepage.htm One of the best reasons to go barefoot, aside from they're a lot more surefooted that way, came to me in the middle of a fast rocky 25 last summer. I pulled up alongside this feller who was walking his horse and said howdy and how ya doin. He says they threw a shoe and he's worried about making it back to camp, so they are just gonna take it real easy. I wished him good luck and kicked up my mare to a trot. And I was thinking, we're missing four shoes and its not slowing us down none. So there you go.