ilovereining
10-26-2005, 10:05 PM
On the weekend, I got the shoes taken off of my horse for the winter, as i was thinking about in a post LONG before now. So far, there has been no problems and my horse showed no signs of being sore. My horse is a reiner, and when she had shoes, particularly plates on her back feet, her hooves chipped often, and seemed very soft. Only since the weekend, her feet already seem to be harder, although i thought the opposite would happen. They haven't chipped yet. But, what i'm wondering is.. Would it even be possible for me to leave them off for good, provided that all stays well? I want to continue reining, but what about stops? She can still do them, but I've heard that stopping with no shoes may hurt the horse, and discourage them from sliding. If that's the case, could I just use plates on her back feet during the show season, and leave the front bare year round? Any information would be apprieciated :)