Taking a 20 Year old Showjumper barefoot.. wise or stupid?

So life sometimes makes some descisions for you! 

For no real reason that I can gather other then perhaps because our summer had been slightly wetter than usual, or because Buster is becoming an old man now & his hoof walls are getting thinner – after a regular farrier visit he went very foot sore, it got worse, and we decided he’d bcome nail bound. A few weeks off with no shoe on that foot, and we tried again. No luck – although he wasn’t foot sore, he was definitley not right – short though the shoulder, and just looked generally uncomfortable on his feet.

Now – he’s spoilt rotten with the world’s best supplements (more on that later), regular accupunctire treatments, daily massages from his very expensive rug & pretty much everything else I can do to make him feel slightly more youthful. I knew it had to be his feet. 

A quick discussion with my farrier, and it was decided – the shoes would come off. We’d give barefoot a try… worst case scenario – I put the shoes back on after his hooves have had a break.

Am I worried – yes.

Am I confident it will be a good descision – maybe.

Am I doing it anyway – yes.

The only way I know to make myself feel better about these difficult descisions is to plan for all the outcomes – onto the barefoot blogs, facebook groups and google searches I went….

Read what I worked out in my next post….