I was listening to a farrier this past weekend suggesting to his client that she should pull her horses shoes this winter as she is giving the horse a month off from work. He was saying that it would make the "horses hoof walls or something stonger? Wanted to know what other farriers think about pulling shoes in the winter when the horse is not being ridden.
If the ONLY REASON a horse wears shoes is because it needs protection and traction for riding, then there is no reason to keep shoes on the horse if the owner has no plans to ride for an extended period of time. In some areas is it typical for horses to be shod only during riding season and left unshod otherwise. I have field hunters that are barefoot all summer, then get shoes in the fall and winter for fox hunting season. Also have trail horses that wear shoes all spring, summer, and fall, then go barefoot through the coldest months when they are not being ridden at all. In regards to leaving horses barefoot to make the walls stronger. I'll call BULLSHIT on that. There is no evidence that horn quality changes based on whether or not the foot is shod or bare. Conversely, there is ample evidence that piss poor shoeing and piss poor nailing will create a piss poor foot, and in that case, barefoot is probably the lesser of two evils as far as the hoof is concerned.
A full winter shoeing job with traction devices and snowpads can be double the price of a plain Jane summer job and short daylight makes it hard to do a lot of outdoor riding. If you do ride where a horse can get snowballs or be on ice, it's a good insurance policy (as a client once said "my horse went down on the ice with me last year -- that cost $12,000, these shoes are cheap". If you mostly ride indoors, you may as well be barefoot. The wall won't notice which you do.
In Delaware the typical winter snow and ice accumulation only lasts a few days before it melts and turns to mud. As such we don't often get snow balling in feet. When we do, the local custom is to spray the bottom of the feet with PAM non-stick cooking spray. It seems to work for a few hours. I've wondered if a better temporary anti snow ball solution would be to melt some bee's wax and paint it on the bottom of the feet and shoes, but haven't had an opportunity to test the hypothesis.
What about chipping etc? Does this make the job harder for the farrier when it is time to shoe again? One of my horses has a glued on shoes and he seems so sore when I have pulled off his shoes in the past.
Some horses never really get comfortable barefoot on rough surfaces. You may have one of them. My horse's environment is a barefooters dream. 24/7 turnout on a few hundred acres of dry gravelly pasture, yet I had a retired eventer (TB) that never truly adapted. When the horses would gallop in for an evening feed, she would slow and walk across every hard packed road surface, then gallop to catch up. If she were to be ridden in other than an arena or a grassy surface, she needed shoes. A clients retired horse was about the same. As far as the chipping, if the horse is on a reasonable trim schedule, it shouldn't be a real problem, but discuss it with your farrier -he/she knows the horse and the environment. If the horse can do it's job comfortably with shoes/hoof protection, that's good. If they can do it barefoot, that's even better. If they're not comfortable, something needs to be done.
