Elli, if your farrier is competent, he/she will diagnose what your horse needs for hoof care. I've seen many new techniques in recent years, yet, eventually, the old traditional methods are returned to. Hence, reinventing the wheel. Traditionalism shows that what worked 1000, 500, 100, 50, 10, 1 year(s) ago, still works. If competency of the person performing the work is an issue, then change farriers. Barefoot works in limited situations. I've ridden from the east coast to the Rocky Mountains, from the Gulf Coast to the southwestern desert states. In all, I've never let my horses go barefoot, except at home. Putting shoes on your horse's feet protects them from injury. Whereas it's true, mustangs in the wild have no shoes, and natural wear keeps them trimmed...sort of. A horse in the wild picks his route over the most comfortable terrain. No one, horse or human, likes walking on rocks. Shod horses have far fewer foot maladies, than unshod horses. Simply because they are periodically scrutinized by a professional hoof technician. It ain't rocket science, yet the propencity in today's horse world is to reinvent the wheel...

Opinions are certainly varied on this subject. I was strongly discouraged from the Strasser method of trimming by a horse trainer who saw damage done with that. Now, I dont know if it was the method or the trimmer, but he was adamant on the subject, as several more are on here as well. So there are obviously other ways of trimming besides the Strasser method, and also other ways besides the basic horseshoe. Some have recommended the boots and have had good success with it. I like to keep an open mind and listen and learn from all. And Im sure each individual horse has different feet, just as we humans do, so what works for one may not be the answer for the next. So doesnt it go back to taking the time to work with your individual horse, and be open to new ways? (its like getting thru the old cowboy mentality of horse training,, just snub em up,,and get on!!!) Im not promoting anything here,, just an open mind!!!

Gee, HorseTrained and Cloudy, not sure what your messages really meant? Horsetrained, I only weight 109 pounds soaking wet now, and you want me to eat less???? It is not a matter of cost for me, more a matter of what is going to work best for my horse's hooves. So far, shoes have not been the answer, so, being the open-minded person I attempt to be, I am trying something "new". And while you can certainly screw up your own horse with a bad trim, it is still better than paying someone else $90 to screw them up!! Elli

We ran a string of trail horses in colorado all season barefoot for years. If they got sore we'd put shoes on them in front. It usually was from the rough rocky terrain that wore their feet off faster than it could grow back, and putting shoes on was kept them from wearing further. We treated bruising with iodine which is quite effective. I still have all my horses barefoot untill I see a wearing problem that arises from competition that, like the one man says comes from riding in situations we create that are not the natural environment of our horse. being a cheap german I go barefoot, being a woman I can always buy lots shoes...

Soooooo....someone's reinventing the wheel...again??? hmmmmmm WOW!! deja vu!!!!!!

The three reasons to shoe a horse ,correction,protection and traction will never change.Try to save money by eating less,your horse will love less of you and you dont look like a sack of feed in the saddle.If the shoe fits,wear it.Its all about choices.

Hey, thanks, Ima, for those links. I actually took a clinic from one of Pete Ramey's associate instructors in the Spring, and was ready to go for it, but was leaving for 3 months and the boarding facility where I kept Nash didn't want to fiddle with the boots. Their farrier trimmed him for the next 4 months, and now his sole is a little too short. If you are going to try barefoot, I would recommend shooting a couple of x-rays to make sure that you have plenty of sole. Then you will still, as said before on here, need to use boots when riding for possibly a year. But I would still rather use the boots occasionally than to have all of the tracking and chunking from the nail holes in Nash's feet. I can't count all the times that he was missing a shoe just a few days after being shod, and I had to use a boot, anyway. Part of the reason I wanted to try it is because I am flat-footed with bad knees, and I can't imagine trying to walk, trot or lope in steel-bottomed shoes, so why should my horse??? He was severely foundered when I bought him, and calf-kneed, and had knee surgery last summer. The clinic explains how better contact with the frog thickens the digital cushion and helps the sole to grow better and toughen up. It also provides better shock absorption than a set of steel shoes. I agree that you can do more harm than good if you don't know what you are doing. I am having a professional do several trims while I watch, and then trimming myself and having it checked until I get a feel for it. I am sold on the "Mustang Roll" version of the trim (Ramey, not Strausser), versus a flat pasture trim. When Nash has had the pasture trim (or even just when losing a shoe), the edges of the hoof wall broke off quite a bit. When he lost a shoe this last time, we pulled the other back shoe and trimmed using Mustang Roll on the back feet. The front still had shoes until today. I was amazed at how much stronger the back hooves were by rounding the edges. Getting the frog back on the ground seems to be giving him that nice concave sole, too. The hoof wall is not chipping and breaking like usual. The vet pulled the front today and we are going to try it on the front, as well. We didn't take anything off of the sole, just cleaned up the heels, the breakover, and the frog. I just have to make sure that he has boots by tomorrow! Let's keep this post going. I would like to hear how everyone else is doing with it. Thanks! Ellimae

Here are a few web sites with alternative products to protect your horses' feet until they get tough enough to go shoeless: http://www.easycareinc.com/ http://www.soundhorse.com/ http://www.hoofarmor.com/ I used the hoofarmor a few times to protect a hoof from a big crack until it was long enough for a shoe. Anyone who competes will have a hard time going shoeless, I tried, and won't waste the time again unless the horse has been shoeless for a year or more. Good luck.

Isn't it great to live in America and be able to have 'free thinking' and doing what works for you. Yes, there are some horses breeding who should not be reproducing...unfortunately, the human race is also doing it. Some horses have been turned into geldings who had not been given the chance to prove themselves. Too often the 'dollar' plays an inappropriate role.

So much depends on the horse, the conditions in which he/she is kept/ridden etc. I usually keep my using horse shod and the others go barefoot. I have had a couple of geldings that did not need shod unless I was going into the lava flows to ride. The sad part of the equation is so many of todays horses have had the feet and legs bred out from under them. Some of those horses are just lucky to be walking and have to be kept shod. I have to wonder when I see a horse with no feet and legs. What was the breeder thinking? Maybe they weren't thinking? Maybe they had zero clue what feet and legs are for? They're 6 stud horses within 2 miles of me that wouldn't make a sorry gelding. Too many dudes that just want baby colts no matter how useless and sorry they might be.