BAREFOOT PERFORMANCE.

This page shows some examples of working barefoot horses.

TRIGGER.                                                                                                                                                   

Trigger is my own horse. He is an 8 year old cob cross, and a barefoot dressage horse. He is currently graded elementary, with 197 British Dressage points. He regularly wins and is seldom out of the top 3. His successes so far this year include 2nd in the elementary freestyle at the 2010 North West Winter final, and 3 wins in 3 outings at medium level. These achievements are all the better considering he didn't cost the usual £20,000 plus that dressage horses are selling for these days. Trigger was bought at Holmfirth market (a small weekly market in Yorkshire) for the modest sum of £1,100. He has never been shod and his healthy bare feet give his paces the spring and elevation which is essential to be competitive against the big moving warmbloods.

STAR.

"Star will be 15 in the New Year, and has been barefoot for 3 years. She is a Coloured Native (Dales X coloured cob) and competes in unaffiliated dressage and showing classes. Next year we will be entering Veteran classes as well as coloured and cob classes, plus having a go at Novice dressage. She also hacks out and her favourite ride is to the The Gallops, where she lives out her fantasies of being a racehorse!
She is a 'stone cruncher' and is surefooted and sound on rough and pebbly ground and tarmac. She was also noticeabley more surefooted during last years icy winter conditions than the horses on the yard who were shod." Janet Chapple.

FLORA.                                                                                                             

Floras case study can be seen on the case studies page. She has sidebone and had been lame for 12 months prior to natural hoof care. Here are some photos showing what she has been doing since going barefoot a year ago.

QUINN.

"Quinn is a 6 year old Frisian gelding. He was supposed to go in front of the carriage - but never accommodated with it. He is a great riding horse. We do a lot of hacking out and a bit of dressage training aiming to follow some of the "classical dressage" rider's philosophy (e.g. Dominique Barbier). Quinn goes barefoot all year on any ground. I can ride out on long hacks including road work (long trots), very stony bridleways - really all sorts of ground and he is absolutly fine with it!! :)) Also, I am not concerned any longer about "slipping" as barefoo feels so much safer on all type of grounds." Miriam Whittman.

THE LEE FAMILYS HORSES.

"The horses get ridden 5-6 times a week, a mixture of road work, flat and jump schooling and competing. We are competing in SJ, WH, Dressage, XC and unaffliated ODE's. Currently competing at 75-85cm XC and SJ, and schooling up to 1m, Dillon (top right) has only been jumping for 4 months. We are also doing Prelim and Novice Dressage, frequently with scores over 70%. Saffron (top and bottom left) was doing an Elementary test in the picture, also frequently getting scores over 70% at prelim and novice. I'm building Dillon up to hopefully do some affiliated eventing next year BE80 and BE90 classes. Kerzal (bottom right) must have been barefoot for at least 2 years now, when he's on the road his hooves are so hard it sounds like he actually has shoes on! We have no issues with slipping on wet ground, in fact they seem to slip less than the horses with shoes on. " Yvette Lee.

JAKE.                                                                                                                                                               

Jake is a 12 year old thoroughbred cross shire, standing 17.2hh. Jake has never been shod. He has competed in British Dressage up to medium level, gaining 145 points and qualifying for regional finals at novice and elementary levels. He then turned his hoof to showing, qualifying in ridden hunter classes for HOYS and RIHS. He also enjoys jumping and hacking. He has never needed boots.

TELLY.                                                                                                                                                           

What about the myth that Thoroughbreds can’t go barefoot? A racehorse until the age of 6, now 9 years old, Telly came out of shoes 12 months ago. He hacks out, does fun rides and schools in the arena and fields. He wears hoofboots for roadwork.

PATCH.                                                                                                                                                             

Mr Patch is a 13 year old ISH who has been barefoot for almost four years. He's a RC allrounder who'll turn his hoof to anything, regulary doing farm rides, hacking out on the roads, going XC, showjumping, doing a nice dressage test and enjoying a blast on the beach He'll be representing our RC at the area eventing qualifiers next month . He's great over most surfaces and wears boots if we're going over very stoney ground. Traction has never been an issue for him be it on a notoriously slippery road or galloping around an XC course, he's very balanced, sure footed and aware of where his feet are.

APRIL.                                                                                                                                                            

April is a 15.2hh, 5 year old part bred arab. She hunts, showjumps, events and hacks on the roads, all without shoes or boots. Foot perfect and fearless, traction is never a problem on the hunting field.

                                                ARCHIE.                                                                                                                                                      

Archie is a 9 year old, 13hh cob. He was shod at 5 years but has been barefoot ever since. I always wonder why people shoe cobs in the first place, as they have such strong healthy feet. Archie hacks, hunts, showjumps and events over any surface. 

WILSON.                                                                                                                                                   

Wilson is a 10 year old 14.2hh gelding. He is the complete all rounder. A talented showjumper, regularly winning intermediate and open jumping classes. He is also an excellent dressage pony, regulary winning at Prelim and Novice. He works on any surface without the need for boots.

PRADA.                                                                                                             

Prada is a 10 year old hannovarian mare. She is an experienced event horse. She went barefoot for the first time in her life 2 weeks before this photo was taken. She continues to jump double clears and her initially sceptical rider reports that she slips far less than other competitors who have shoes and studs.

APSLEY END POLO CLUB.                                                                                                                             

The club has 20 barefoot ponies on its team. They won the end of season Silverleys Survivors tournament, and have won several other tournaments too at different levels. Being barefoot just doesn't put them at any disadvantage and they play in all conditions, including torrential rain. They are trimmed by Adi Pratt and Sarah Swallow. Photos by Marc Falber.