Horse hoof, barefoot or not

The question every horse rider/owner has asked themself

The question that most of the horse owners or riders I've encountered have asked themselves is whether can we go horse riding barefoot or not. It is what I've asked myself and others.

Here I'm going to tell the reasonable answers that I've heard and my own experience. First, let me write about horse hoof.

Horse hoof

every horse has a part end of their legs that we call hoof. It grows over time and every horse owner should trim and shoe it about every two months. On the growing and trimming It's sort of like nails in humans. But in horses, there is also horseshoe. Before each trimming the horseshoer takes off the old horseshoe trims the hoof then sticks the new horseshoes to the hoof with nails.

Why do horses need horseshoes? To prevent their hoof from getting damaged. Horse hoof is hard but not that much so that it can't get damaged when riding or running outside. Especially when the ground is rocky or hard. The hoof edges might break and that will cause an imbalance in their movement.

Horse hoofs are fragile and the prevent them from getting damaged we use horseshoes.

Horse hoof color and fragility

Not all horse hoofs are as fragile equally some are more some are less. One of the things that I've heard a lot when buying horses or when talking with horseshoers is that the color of the hoof shows how fragile it is. If the hoof is closer to black color then the hoof is stronger but if it's white or close to it then it's fragile.

I've seen this myself too. This is the case for the horses we had until now. I will give more details about it later.

Barefoot

So with the details above should the horse have always horseshoe? What is the case with being barefoot then?

Again from what I've heard from mostly horseshoers is that being barefoot for a while is good for horses hoof health. They suggested me to take of horseshoe when we ride them less or don't ride at all, this is the case mostly in winter or last couple of months of pregnancy.

I tried this a couple of times and it was when I noticed the difference between horse hoof color. Ipak whose hoofs were white the most among our horses always got damaged hoofs when going barefoot even when we didn't ride her. Horses we had that their hoof was more black got less likely hoof damage in these periods of going barefoot. In my experience bet ween the same horse hoofs those which were more black were less likely to get damaged.

How do the horses go on in nature then? There is no horseshoer in nature

This is the question I mostly get from people who think are clever. The answer which I'm not sure about is:

• In nature, there is no horse rider so hoof damage and imbalance are less likely an issue
• In nature probably those with more fragile hoofs get caught by predators more easily (as they can run as fast as others because of imbalance)

What to do with horse hoof damage?

If it's not that deep your horseshoer can trim the hoof more to get the hoof flattened and then shoe it. But when it's deep you have to wait so the hoof grows and meanwhile hope that the hoof doesn't get damaged again.

So barefoot or not?

It depends.

1. How fragile your horse hoofs are?
2. How is the ground in your area? Is it rocky and hard?
3. How much your horses are used to barefoot?

Give your horses a chance and see how it goes. You may decide to only go barefoot for a short period. Maybe you don't ride while the horse is barefoot. And maybe you see that your horse has a strong hoof and your area is good for going barefoot riding (the ground is soft).

Keep this also in mind that as more you go barefoot your horse gets better. So don't judge it the first time.

Wearable horseshoe

Have you seen new wearable horseshoes? Maybe the real answer is this. I haven't tried them yet, but I can guess how much useful they can be. I hope one day I will write my experience about them here.