This is a hot topic, so I will only share my own experiences. First, I firmly believe that God didn’t put anything on the bottom of a horse’s foot that was not intended to touch the ground, and taking portions of the foot out of contact with the ground can, and usually does lead to undesirable changes in the hoof. I also believe you have a right to understand how I arrived at my conclusion.

I’ve had the feet of between 30 and 60 horses in my care for over 12 years. Most of those horses live here on the farm with us and I’ve been able to watch them and their feet every day while they’ve been in my care. Some individual horses have been here for all of those years.

For the first 8 years I shod our horses in traditional iron and aluminum shoes, including young horses born and raised here that I cared for from their first trim to first shoes, and back to their current barefoot state. Five years ago I made the decision to go barefoot, studied furiously and made the transition. In that 5 years we have lost fewer days to hoof issues than it would have been normal to lose in a couple of months with lost shoes and the resulting lost hoof. We have transitioned horses whose hooves were so weak and damaged from nails and shoes that they couldn’t even hold a shoe anymore, and were completely lame, into very sound horses riding on gravel and rocks completely sound and comfortable with beautiful, thick hoof wall and growth that dramatically outpaces the wear. We have transitioned founder horses including one in my care right now who was an 18 degree rotation in danger of sole perforation, and who is now our busiest lesson horse happily and soundly walking, gaiting and cantering on gravel roads and rocks several hours each week, and is also showing reattachment of the coffin bones to the hoof wall.

I do understand that there are times when the equine hoof may require protection. Primarily during transition from shod to barefoot, and if the horse needs to ride or work on terrain significantly rougher than that on which he lives and works regularly. In that case, there are several hoof boot options that do the job wonderfully without the perforation of nails or the permanency of shoes. We have had great success with the Easy Boot Epic. Many of these boots have completed the Tevis Cup 100 mile endurance ride proving their suitability and durability in even the harshest of conditions.

So to shoe or not to shoe? My answer is, if there is a reason to shoe, in the last 5 years, I haven’t found it.