Barefoot

My horse is barefoot and the horse I leased prior to getting him was also barefoot.  Personally, I think that if there are no other issues with the hoof it's better to leave them be.  There are cases where shoes are necessary but just putting them on aribitrarily because "everyone else does" never made sense to me. 
Glad it's working out for you.

My trimmer comes every 6 weeks.  I need to put gravel around my water tank or somewhere to help toughen their feet.  They are on soft ground all the time and when we ride and there's any gravel at all Zag is an ouchy boy. []

btw - Alexander the Great kept rocks in his horses' stalls.  They lived on rocks.  In battle his horses never had problems with terrain.  First documented barefoot enthusiast! []

Definitely! I have rarely kept shoes on my horses over the years. If your horse has a healthy and strong foot, you should be able to keep him barefoot no problem. I used to even run barrel races with him barefoot and go on trail rides all over the state and sometimes their feet would get chipped up from the rocks if we went a lot, but they were completely sound and fine. Its healthy to keep them barefoot and cheaper too! Unless your horse has sensitive or weak feet or needs corrective shoeing, or you do a lot of trail riding where its rocky or paved, you should be fine to leave them barefoot. ***Link Removed***

I have always had my horses barefoot. I have team sorted/penned on one horse for years, and never has shoes on him. I ride on gravel and everything no problems. Now I have a cutting horse and im building up her feet. I have been cutting on her and will be cutting on her in compitions all summer barefoot.

There are always exceptions to every rule. That said, I think in the end, barefoot is best. Shoes do not allow the hoof to function naturally. Our gelding had had shoes all his life and we were lucky if he could make it a month before throwing a shoe. He hooves were horrible. He was 17 and we made the decision to remove them. It was a LONG PAINFUL YEAR to transition to barefoot. He had been on some sort of medication due to bad hoof circulation, like 10 pills a day. Once the shes came off, we stopped the the medication. The shoes were preventing his hoof from circulating properly. We thought he had soft hooves as the shoes were tearing them up so bad, his hooves are now VERY strong and tough. We also feed 2 ozs of flax seed meal everyday.

 

Yep, another one for shoeless here! I'm a hoof care practitioner & with my experience, have come to firmly believe that conventional metal shoes are rarely the best option. I specialise in founder, 'navicular' & other problems & apart from rare exceptions, I believe shoes are unhelpful & generally more damaging when applied to an unhealthy hoof. But I don't think shoes are *necessarily* bad when applied to a healthy, strong foot(assuming the job, management, etc is done well).

Why did I say 'shoeless' not 'barefoot'?? Because unfortunately, due to the environment domestic horses tend to be kept on & the management/exercise they get, it is difficult or impossible for many horses to develop 'rock crunching' go - anywhere feet. It is not helpful, or much good for the horse to just make them go bare if they're uncomfortable(landing toe first, for eg). Therefore they do indeed often need protection & support. Conventional shoes don't provide this, at least without the addition of pads & such, and with the other 'side effects' of shoes I see hoof boots as a vastly better option generally, than metal rims.

I think educating ourselves as best we can, rather than blindly trusting the 'experts' is extremely important, on whatever matters are important to us - be that shoeing or 'barefooting' our horses or whatever other subjects. There are so many opinions, conflicting information, many factors(such as the above) that effect what the best answers may be, that you need to do your homework, weigh up the pros & cons of each approach, before you can make the best informed decision. On that note, regarding hoofcare, hoofrehab.com barehoofcare.com & barefoothorse.com are among some of the good sites you can start your education with.

OP, regarding your 45-60 day trim cycle, of course it depends on the horse & work she does, etc, but that's actually a rather long period. If she's recently been shod, I'd expect her feet to now start growing quicker. Most shod horses should be optimally trimmed around 6 weekly. Some that hardly grow can stretch it a bit further. But the general trim cycle for bare feet seem to be optimally between 3-6 weeks on average.

Many people are unsure about the difference between - and whether to use - a farrier or 'hoof care practitioner' or whatever title we 'shoeless' mob give ourselves IMO, while around these parts, it seems that farriers tend to be rather lacking in much more knowledge than rasping feet flat to apply shoes.... A *good* farrier should be just as knowledgeable as a *good* hcp. They do often trim in different ways(such as low heels, 'mustang rolls'...), that often seems to come down to whether farriers have studied the new(ish) research & info at hand, whether they understand the ways hooves function & why things like 'navicular' & the likes come about. HCPs have generally studied this extensively, along with other factors such as diet & management, and can also advise owners on these matters. But be aware, just as there are bad or ignorant or incompetent farriers around, there are those same type in the hcp business too. So there's another reason to get yourself educated enough that you can tell the difference & find yourself a worthwhile 'expert' to help you.

The only problem I am having is her feet are wearing funny. He toes are wore down in the front and the back feet are wearing funny as well. 
 
 I just started going barefoot last fall, does it take awhile for their hooves to thicken up and not wear down so quickly and incorrectly. Aboviously she is dragging her front feet for them to wear that way.
 
I have them done every 45 days but she looks like she could use it every 30 days instead.

It took a year for our horse to transition. It is one of the best decisions we have made for him!

I always think about military and haircuts.  You should never NEED a haircut, you should ALWAYS have a good haircut.  My trimmer used to come every 5 weeks but has changed now because of pressure from customers.  At 5 weeks my horses always HAD good trims, they never needed to be trimmed.  I can relate.

She gets trimmed every 45 days.  We live in the desert so there is lots of sand. So in a way she is walking on a emery board all day long. She walks on gravel just fine, no gimping at all.  All in all, I think I am happy going barefoot but it is spendy. $30.00 each time.  I'm not sure what shoes cost these days but I'm thinking around $80.00 and when I did have shoes put on it was usually only twice a year and they would go barefoot for the winter.

Well, like I said, it depends on so many factors, and she may have a perfect environment & lifestyle for maintaining great feet. The reason 'natural hoofcare' is one of the 'catch phrases' is that the principles are based on trimming to mimic the natural trim that wild horses get. Ideally, our horses would all receive enough exercise on rough ground to balance growth & wear - that is, they wouldn't need a regular trim. Perhaps you're closer to this ideal than most, so she doesn't need more frequent trims.

Of course, with so little info & no pics, only a guess, but you can learn the basic principles from hoofrehab.com or barefoothorse.com or such, so you have a reasonable idea of what's going on & what's needed. And of course you can post hoof pics for more opinions here too.

It's $37/ea here.  That's pretty average.