for riding on gravel and road for about 15 to 30 minutes of the ride, do you need shoes on all four hoofs or just the front two?

twinkiedooter

The horse must have shoes on all hoofs - no exceptions. Remember the old classic story Black Beauty? Beauty threw a shoe when he was being ridden on a gravel road. This caused Beauty to become lame and throw his rider and also split one of his hooves. Do you want to be the rider that is thrown? Also, would you go around wearing just one shoe on gravel or would you like shoes on both of your feet? Just putting shoes on the front legs makes no sense at all. All four please.

jcdill

I'm afraid the advice in the previous answer isn't correct. Basing advice on what one reads in a novel like Black Beauty isn't a good idea.

There are many people who shoe just 2 hoofs (usually the front hoofs) and the horse is just fine. This is because of several factors:

1) The horse carries much more weight on the front hoofs than the back hoofs. (about 60-65% of the weight is carried on the front hoofs)

2) The front hoofs land and break-over (take off) differently from the hind hoofs. The front hoofs land "down" while the rear hoofs land "forward" (the rear hoof slide more on landing). For this reason the front hoofs can become sore on gravel easier, and chip up easier, than hind hoofs.

However, if your horse is ouchy on gravel without shoes, odds are good the horse would benefit from shoes on all 4 hoofs, not just the front hoofs. And if your horse is presently shod on all 4 hoofs, simply removing the protection of the shoes will likely make the horse sore when riding on gravel. Riding on gravel is the most difficult hoof protection situation, it is much easier for the horse to walk on concrete or pavement barefoot than to walk on gravel.

If you ride on the gravel road regularly (3 or more times a week) then having your horse shod with steel shoes on all 4 hoofs is a very good idea. If you only ride on the gravel road occasionally (less than twice a week), you may want to look into using hoof boots for those rides, and leaving your horse barefoot the rest of the time. Hoof boots are expensive, but if you only use them occasionally (e.g. once a week) they last a long time, and your regular every-6-week hoof maintenance fees for your farrier to trim your horse will be much less than the costs for shoeing. However, just because your horse isn't wearing shoes doesn't mean you can stretch out the farrier visits - your horse needs to have the farrier out every 6 weeks no matter if the horse is barefoot or shod.

The person who is best positioned to advise you on what will work best for your horse is your horse's farrier. Your farrier is familiar with your horse's hoof condition, and with the gravel roads in your area, and can tell you if there are other horses in your area who do fine with no shoes, with shoes on the front only, and if anyone in your area is using hoof boots. If there is anyone using hoof boots, ask for contact info and call or email them to discuss the issues with using boots. If possible visit with them and see how they put the boots on, and also ask about the issues they might have had with determining which size boots their horse needs.

If you go with boots it's critical to measure for the boots right after the hoofs have been trimmed, or while the shoes are off if your horse is currently wearing shoes (so have the farrier measure after trimming and before nailing on the shoes).

One other thing to keep in mind, if you shoe just the front hoofs the horse will (generally) shift weight from the hind hoofs to the front hoofs. If you also compete with your horse, this shift is not good - when we train our horses we train them to shift weight to the rear hoofs, to "engage the hind end" and "collect". I never recommend shoeing just the front hoofs for any horse that is being shown - only for horses that are ridden solely for pleasure on the trail.

jc - AFA Certified Farrier

twinkiedooter

The author of Black Beauty was Anna Sewell. She was a leader for animal rights and animal cruelty back in the 1860's.

jcdill

Yes, Anna Sewell was an advocate for animal rights. Black Beauty was a ground breaking novel about animal rights. However, the story about Black Beauty throwing the rider after losing a shoe is not realistic. It's a novel.

Smithm

Putting shoes on horses is not natural. I know I know that is what everyone does, but stop and think about how you would feel if you had 8 to 10 nail driven up in your foot holding on this heavy shoe. It is not natural, God is not stupid he knows what a horse needs but it is us humans that think we know better and what is best for them. Yes a horse can become lame if you do not take proper care of their feet, but that does not mean nailing on shoes either. Check out this web site to see that there is a different way than nails in their feet. I have 8 beautiful Arabians all are barefoot and I live in the Ozarks where there is nothing but rocks and I would put my horses up againts any horse with shoes!
http://www.barefoothorse.com/

dwater33

THis is true. Usually most people onlly shoe the fron t2, but it depends on how much weight your horse is carring and how much work they are doing, and the condition of their hooves, and how sensative they are

ohsohappy

I lived in the ozarks in Missouri for a while. It was really pretty.
Anyway, you're really lucky to have 8 beautiful arabians. they've always been my favorite. I've never had the opportunity to own a horse though. I also love paints and palominos.

jcdill

Many people only shoe when necessary, and most farriers have a substantial number of clients who have barefoot horses.

If you are going to talk about what is or is not natural, consider that it is not natural to:

Keep horses confined individually in stalls or small paddocks where they stand in their manure 24x7x365.

Ride horses in endless circles in riding arenas.

Ride horses over numerous fences.

Ride horses to work cattle.

Ride horses AT ALL.

Feed horses dried and preserved feed (hay and grain) rather than provide acres and acres of pasture where they can eat green grass.

Etc.

Because we keep horses in a not-natural manner, and use them in a not-natural manner, sometimes shoes are needed. Shoes should be used if and ONLY if they are needed. They can be needed because of hoof pathology (e.g. founder, navicular), and they can be needed because of the work the horse does (e.g. police horses, or reining horses, or jumpers) that require the protection or special shoes (e.g. borium, sliding plates, shoes with screw-in caulks) to do the job, or they can be necessary when the horse's living conditions and riding conditions are such that the horse can't remain sound when ridden without shoes.

As I said above, riding on gravel is one of the most problematic situations. Horses don't "travel on gravel roads" in the wild and certainly not carrying the weight of a rider and tack! At most a wild horse will briefly cross a gravelly creek bed en-route to somewhere else. They don't go traveling down a gravel road or trail for miles and miles - they would immediately leave the gravel for the softer footing that is found in the fields or forests next to the gravel road. But we can't just do that today - the forest or fields are not open to horses and we have to ride on the gravel road or trail. So we have to protect the horse's hoofs.

Some people prefer to keep their horse barefoot and then use hoof boots when they ride. That is an option, but it's often difficult and expensive, and even when you find a solution that works it's much more complicated to put boots on every time you ride than to have the farrier out for an hour once every 6 weeks. Some horses don't move well with boots. Some have a hoof shape that doesn't fit in the boots correctly - e.g. between sizes or a hoof that is overly round or overly long/oval. A lost boot is much more expensive to replace than a lost horse shoe. There are plenty of people who have given it a try, and then gone back to shoes. There are more who simply quit riding because they were convinced that shoes were "evil" but they couldn't keep their horses sound without the shoes! And there are some whose horses didn't need shoes in the first place who find their horses go fine without shoes. Great for them, but just because it worked for those horses doesn't mean it will work for all horses.

It's best when a horse is barefoot, if the horse is sound and comfortable and able to do the job when barefoot. It's cruel to keep the horse barefoot if the horse isn't sound and the protection or support from horse shoes help the horse stay sound.

JC Dill - AFA Certified Farrier, whose own horse is barefoot.

moosedagoose

It would be better to shoe all 4 hooves but your horse will be fine if you just do 2. It would be a good idea to shoe the front 2 instead of the back.