Hind shoes and turnout

From: Ken

While your column makes good sense, we are also told:

1. it is best for horses to have pasture mates, it is hard on them to be kept alone;

2. horses, especially those that are ridden, should have shoes.

Ken

To answer your last question first, it's not a matter of "No matter what you do, it is wrong" - it's really more a matter of "No matter what you do, it CAN turn out wrong, especially if you don't take horse nature and your specific circumstances into account." ;-)

Horses do need the company of other horses, but sometimes it's not possible to turn out horses into the same field, for various reasons. A stallion, a mare about to foal, an injured horse, a horse in quarantine, a horse wearing hind shoes - these are all examples of horses that may need to be kept separated from others. Some people will tell you that you may be able to turn out a horse wearing hind shoes if that horse is extremely meek and timid, always the very lowest-ranking horse in the group, and devoted to staying well away from the others. I would argue that the practice is still dangerous - I've seen a meek and mild horse cornered and attacked by an aggressive horse, and even the meek horse finally turned and kicked the other horse in an attempt to save his own life. If a horse is SO meek that it spends all of its time and attention avoiding all of the other horses in the field, that horse would probably be better off alone in a different field or turnout paddock in ANY case. But even a single desperate kick from a terrified horse can cause damage or death if that horse is shod. The problem is, you see, that if a horse wearing hind shoes kicks another horse, the damage is likely to go far beyond a bruise. Bone fractures are common with such injuries, some horses are crippled for life as the result of a kick, and if a shod hoof connects with another horse's head, the other horse can be killed outright.

Horses that can't be turned out with other horses can still be turned out in adjacent fields or enclosures so that they can be within sight and sound of other horses; that's a good, practical compromise. There's a huge difference between keeping a horse in isolation, unable to see or hear other horses, and keeping horses in separate turnout areas where they can move freely and still see and communicate with one another.

I'm going to contradict whomever it was told you that "horses, especially those that are ridden, should have shoes." Horses that NEED shoes should have shoes, but you might be surprised to know how few horses actually require shoes at all, and how infrequently they need them. Domestic horses DO need to have their hooves trimmed and balanced at regular intervals, but some horses never need shoes, and other horses need them only rarely. When they need shoes, it's generally just front shoes that they need - many horses need front shoes at specific times and for specific reasons, and never need hind shoes at all.

If a particular horse DOES need to wear hind shoes at a particular time - say because it is a show horse that is being campaigned heavily during show season, and it needs to be shod all around because its hooves are wearing down too quickly - then during the period that the horse is wearing those hind shoes, it ought to be turned out alone, not with other horses, because the risks are just too great.

If your horse, like a great many horses, needs shoes for protection or traction only on certain occasions or under certain conditions (e.g. an unusually long trail-ride over unusually hard and/or rocky terrain), you might want to look into the possibility of using boots instead. It's often possible to use boots instead of shoes, which allows the rider to put the boots on the horse when needed - say, just before that trail ride - and remove them when they are no longer needed. Easyboots, Old Macs, and other such boots are becoming increasingly popular with riders who see no reason to keep shoes on their horses all the time when the horses may actually require the protection of shoes for only a few hours each week - or each month.

As for putting shoes on and taking them off frequently, yes, if that's something you really want to do, it CAN be done. Racehorses are often shod with special "racing plates" just before a race, and put back into their ordinary shoes afterwards. Standardbred trainers often shoe a horse for a race and then reset its shoes between heats! This practice involves some trouble and some expense. It also involves the creation of rather a lot of nail holes, and all those nail holes will weaken the hoof wall even more than ordinary, every-five-or-six-week shoeing will do, so this isn't a practice I would recommend, but yes, it IS possible. In the case of an ordinary riding horse, though, none of this should be necessary.

Part of being a horseman involves horse management, and that entails being sensible with horses, looking after them well and not putting them into dangerous situations if you can avoid it. Sometimes it can be difficult or inconvenient to do the right thing, but that's the responsibility that we all take on when we bring horses into our lives. Just do the best you can - get as much good information as you can, think about what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what the effects will be. If you always ask yourself whether what you're doing is for the good of the horse, you won't go far wrong.

Jessica

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