IT depends on the breed and individual horse.A true mustang with an ancestry of the spanish horse( mostly Barbs in spite of arabian horse mythology)is going to have feet approaching forged steel.Selective breeding for other traits ( size,speed etc.)has cost many breeds good feet.Horshoes are a very old invention, so this isn't some phenomenon of the showring.The best of breeds can tire or breakdown. The Mongols, Pony Express, NezPierce all used strings of horses and not just the one or maybe two we have. Now if your travelling in soft terrain, ie canadian muskeg your horse needs a foot that can naturally expand and keep clean. Any shoe is going to hinder this natural action. It's a tradeoff, more for our benefit than Mr. Ed's He can travel further on hard ground shod, but over the years it's going to wear on bone and soft tissue. Just think of us working all day on concrete. Barefoot or encased in steel toed safety boots, by Friday it's a bucket of hot water and epsom salts. For most of us, Shoes are neccessary. I would bring along a few easyboots in case you cast a shoe. Some cheap generic eucalyptus mouthwash makes for a good leg brace. Compare the ingredients to the overpriced stuff at the tack store. Finally, consult your farrier. It sems everytime I need mine he's off hunting

Done it both ways, but prefer to have my shod for hunting season...takes one more thing to worry about off my mind.

I have gone on my farrier's recommendation and use rim shoes.

Good replies all---

There are three reasons to shoe a horse:
1. When wear is greater than growth
2. Traction is needed
3. Gait correction is needed

My horses have perfectly correct/balanced legs and hooves

On our soft ground, #1 does not happen. While not "perfect", none of them need correcting, happily! My kids are riding some rodeo in the arena and the arena footing would not be appreciably helped by rim or barrel shoes. If I have the time prior to hunting I will shoe with heel and toe as trails can get pretty slick after rain. I think this is especially important for pack stock as the weight they carry cannot shift to assist the horse with balance the way a rider can. It's real interesting to watch the pack horse in front of you go up a slick, rain-soaked side hill barefooted!

Our hunting seasons for the most part are over before we get snow or ground to freeze hard enough for H&T shoes to not grab, even through a few inches of snow. We don't need borium until after the season. Rim shoes are a great way to go unless the added traction of the caulks are necessary.

Lsat year I took the horses out barefoot and they did real well--just went slow over the "greasy" spots . We will be hunting a different area this fall and going later in the season so I will have H&T on all horses all around.

best,

--Mike

I don't know where some of you boys hunt or ride, but here in the Colorado Rockies, my horses don't go beyond the pasture without shoes. I worked as a professional farrier for 18 years and every year some new brand of BS would make the rounds, but it usually never held up in practice. A lot depends on how a horse is used. Most of my clients were amature class hunter-jumpers, and seldom saw a trail. I shod most of them with wide-web shoes and an emphasis on producing a good, clean gait with tons of support. My working horses, cow-camp horses and outfitters, were usually shod with toes and heels, though I prefer to use rims on my own, and nailed with all eight nails unless there was some real strong reason not to. We, myself and several other full-time farriers I knew, generally had no trouble with contracted heels, thrush from a hoof not "cleaning" or most any other alledged shoe induced problem on the horses we shod on a regular basis. IMO, properly balancing a hoof and applying a properly fitted shoe that supports the hoof and leg is primary. Most of the horses I encountered with hoof problems had hoof problems, not shoeing problems. Funny, the vast majority of horses I have shod had basically good hooves, but I made the vast majority of my money working on horses that need various corrective measures or other specialty shoeing to stay sound and useable. When I was licensed as an outfitter I wouldn't buy, or keep, a horse that needed special shoeing beyond maybe a wide web shoe for a little extra protection, or slight corrections for gait problems, like a simple square toe behind to correct forging. Now if I sound opinionated, I am, so save the flames. There are far too many good natured horses without hoof, or other problems out there to waste my time with some dink. If I want to fix problems I want to be paid for it. In my opinion, and experience, most horse owners aren't really qualified to be trainers or farriers and enjoy their horses far more when they have good, healthy animals that go along with the program. My wife doesn't always agree with me either, but I spent most of my life on the ranch. As living creatures, horses deserve to be treated well, but they are livestock, not family. Hers are pets.... Whew, now, what was the question? I'm done ranting and I'll get off my soap box. now.

No question. Shoes. Just like Cobrad said.

I toss in a couple extra shoes, rasp, nails and small hammer whenever I pack in. If a horse loses a shoe I can fix it even if I am packed way in.

Anybody that rides a barefoot horse is not much of a cowboy and reads too much Zane Grey...

A barefooted horse will leave you afoot every damn time and thats a fact of life, all else is twaddle..

No, Ray, I'm not much of a cowboy, and I did read a lot of Zane Grey back in high school. I pulled the shoes off of my horse after the Fall field trial season and trimmed his hoof myself until about a month ago when his hooves started wearing faster than they were growing. I couldn't imagine riding him barefoot in the Fall when the ground is hard and dry or in rocky terrain.