Training Tips

QUESTION: Dear Sylvia, I have your Whispering Way training video series and have enjoyed it immensely and learned quite a bit from it. I wrote to you several months back with a small behavioral issue and you directed me to a successful solution. Thank you!

I write now with a very different question; it has to do with whether to shoe or not shoe my horse. I know that you recommend going straight to the farrier when one has hoof questions. However, I get completely different answers from each farrier I question. My current farrier, picked because he serviced the barn at which I board, told me flat out that I had to have shoes on my horse. So, I consented to winter shoes on the front and regular shoes on the back.

My vet tells me my 5-year-old quarter horse has perfect hoofs, very healthy and strong. I asked him about shoes and he said there is no reason I must have shoes, given that I ride only on trails and in an indoor arena and that I only ride about 1 hour 5 days per week or I am walking him by lead rope through the woods for fun. The rest of the time the horse is either in paddock, 12 hours per day, or stall, 8 hours per day.

Do you have an opinion on this matter? I would value hearing from someone with your experience. Best regards.

REPLY: Your vet is probably correct there. So few horses, when trimmed right with a "natural trim" (which I'm honestly not a big expert on myself, but my farrier is) just don't need shoes. Sounds like yours does not. Unfortunately many "old school" farriers out there just aren't educated on this (yet!) and they stick with shoeing most all horses. The problem there sometimes, too: it can be a real conflict of interest then. Farriers can make far more money shoeing a horse than "just trimming," so...I would wonder about a farrier who always recommends shoes and rarely just trims. When the proportion should actually be: the opposite.

Sorting thru farriers can be difficult, I know, to find the right one for you. But it kind of reminds me of...when you're pregnant and shopping for a good obstetrician...finding out their percentage of C-sections to natural births. One that seems to have a largely disproportionate amount of C-sections...would have me wondering, if you know what I mean. So...a farrier who seems to have a disproportionate amount of horses he shods instead of just trims, would tell me: he's just not up on the latest in that field probably.

What you might do is seek out another farrier who is more educated in natural trim. There are links on this page on my web site to help you to try to find a natural trim hoof care/natural barefoot trim specialist nearest you: CLICK HERE

If that doesn't pan out with one near enough to you (though a lot of them travel pretty far, especially if you can get a few others in your barn signing up to use them, making their travel worthwhile), you might ask your vet privately to recommend one that he feels is more knowledgeable about the natural barefoot trim science.

All that said...I'm not anti-shoes. I've tried the barefoot trim on all my horses and it has worked great for some, not so great with others. I think in the end, you (as a horse mom) have to decide what you see personally is best for your horse. But it does sound like your horse might do just fine with barefoot trim (after the initial adjustment period some of them have when switching). And since your horse is still young, it would be nice to aim them in the direction of barefoot/natural trim for healthiest hoof growth.

One thing that sets off minor alarms in me re your present farrier is: he puts shoes on in winter, when that is the time to pull shoes usually! Plus, he's putting shoes on the back feet. Rarely do horses need shoes on the back feet, which is what my farrier tells me, and that is only when something is seriously wrong conformationally, etc. So...not so sure that farrier is correct there.

I'd advise shopping around via using the links I directed you to and maybe even getting references from them before committing. You're smart to stop in your tracks right now and question this. Got a feeling your vet is right!

Another way to sometimes find good, more-natural-trim-oriented farriers is...check with horse rescue organizations around you for referrals -- most rescues use barefoot trim specialists, so they're good to network with. I have a list of rescues by state here: CLICK HERE

Hope this helps!