A Foundation for Success
A horse’s soundness and ability to perform depend on his feet.
You’ve almost certainly heard the phrase, “no hoof, no horse.” While feet might not be the most exciting aspect of horse ownership to discuss, they’re certainly the foundation of success—both figuratively and literally.
At my barn, we pay close attention to shoeing, trimming, and hoof care. I attribute our infrequent incidence of lower-leg problems—pulled and torn tendons and ligaments—to taking special care to tailor-make a hoof-care program for each horse, according to his needs. I’ll share a few of our practices here so you can consider how they might work in your situation and discuss them with your farrier.
There are three things I want to make clear to start. 1.) I’m not a farrier; I use the services of a highly skilled professional, and we discuss my horses’ feet and the best course of action for each horse. 2.) Successful hoof care is highly individualized—every horse has different needs depending on his job, his living situation, and the ground conditions where he lives and works. 3.) My horses are shod and trimmed for Western performance events that take place in an arena. Your discipline might have different needs to consider.
Barefoot Can Be Better
The longer I can have horses barefoot, at least in the front, the better their feet tend to be. We don’t encounter the contracted heels that you see on some shod feet (especially those that are shod too tight; I’ll discuss that later). The feet you see in the top photo on this page belong to a 6-year- old mare that’s been shown to success and has competed at the AQHA World Show. She has shoes on her hind feet, but we’ll keep her barefoot in front until her feet or the conditions necessitate a change.
Once you put shoes on, it’s harder for performance horses to go back to bare feet. We have two mares in the barn that we’re taking back to bare in the front. Their hooves will chip, but they’re rasped weekly to maintain their shape while letting their hooves grow.
The kicker is that you must live in an area that accommodates bare feet. We have very sandy ground in and around our arenas, and we keep it immaculately maintained. The fields and roads surrounding our place are also fairly sandy. If our horses were on rockier, harder ground, we likely couldn’t keep them barefoot. But in our conditions it works for our horses.
Keep Shoeing as Simple as Possible
The mare’s feet in the bottom photo on this page are normal. She had shoes on when the photo was taken because we’d hauled her to a place with poor ground that wasn’t suitable for bare
Hoof-Care Tip
To get the benefit from a hoof dressing, you must apply it at the coronet band. Applying it to the rest of the hoof looks nice, but the most benefit comes from treating the top of the hoof.
For a more detailed guide that’ll help you master Conformation Clinic, see “Decoding Conformation Clinic” at