In October of 2009, I decided to pull Cody's shoes. My generally well-behaved (and always sound) Quarter Horse would stand well to have his shoeless back feet trimmed, but when the farrier tried to nail shoes onto the front feet, Cody would almost always pull back hard. His behavior was the same with all farriers no matter how patient and skilled they were.

My last horse never had shoes and it was great; no worries about losing a shoe and not being able to get the farrier to the barn soon. My memory of how much easier it was to have a shoe-less horse and my dread of every farrier visit convinced me to go shoe-less with Cody too.

Barefoot hoof websites say that for some horses, removing the shoes is a non-event; they are sound and can be ridden immediately. For others, they caution, going shoeless can mean a prolonged adjustment period. Cody is pigeon-toed, which I think complicated going shoeless because it changed his balance and removing his shoes definitely had an impact. He was sore-footed and had some filling around the tendons in his front legs.

I brought in a new farrier who specializes in barefoot horses. He assured me it would take time for Cody to adjust but that he would. Just to be safe, I had X-rays taken to be sure there were no serious problems; the films showed nothing particularly worrisome except that the sole on one of his front feet was too thin, likely from wearing shoes for so many years that prevented adequate ground contact and circulation.

Because he's pigeon-toed, Cody needs a few swipes of the rasp weekly to keep the outside of the hoof from getting too long, something my new farrier showed me how to do weekly in between visits. The farrier also has me round the edges of the hoof with some rough sandpaper. Initially, the farrier trimmed Cody monthly, but now we're on a 6-week schedule.

It has taken 4 to 5 months, during which time I didn't dare ride him, but Cody is now sound as a dollar. His stride is longer and he's more forward than he was. He's developing thicker hoof walls and, overall, his feet are healthier and stronger. We'd been riding on soft footing in the indoor arena. On our first trip out on the trail, I thought Cody seemed a bit tentative; could be that it felt different to him walking on hard ground and tree roots without shoes or that he's still a bit sore on this terrain, so I put on a pair of Simple Boots the next trail ride, and he seemed perfectly comfortable. I can probably cease using the boots for the trail in another month or two.

We also have a Thoroughbred in the barn that couldn't keep shoes on. She'd pull them off and her feet would get torn up. We pulled her shoes too and expected she might not do well, but she has. In fact, she came 'round faster than Cody.

It's said that some horses just can't go without shoes, but I've been so impressed with the improvement in my Cody's feet, I'd highly recommend shoeless. It's also a lot less expensive.

UPDATE

It's now March 2011 and Cody's feet are in great shape. We had an incident with a stone bruise that prompted me to have one of his front feet x-rayed; upon comparison to an x-ray taken before his shoes were pulled, we discovered that his sole has increased from 1 cm to 1.7 cm. That's a lot more distance between the ground and his coffin bone. He is sound in the arena and on the trail. No worries about about bent or accidentally pulled shoes. Shoeless is great!