259. Spice gets a new set of front shoes...

Yesterday i made the hard decision to put shoes back on Spices front hooves. Having watched her become more and more uncomfortable over the past two weeks even when in the field due to the ground being so hard (we have had no rain in weeks) i felt it was unfair to keep her barefoot. I am still intending to keep her hinds unshod as she doesn't seem to be in anyway sore on them i.e can walk over any surface easily even with a rider on her back so i see no reason to put shoes on them. But if they too become sore i would not hesitate to do the same. Do i feel like i've failed? In one way yes but in another way no. I do think that with the right diet, exercise plan and environment Spice may have been able to stay barefoot but i don't think i'd have been able to ride her across anything other than roads. I definitely would have had to avoid riding across stoney tracks, going down steep hills and also limit the number of times i hacked Spice out each week to avoid wearing them down too much. I know shoes are not ideal but then neither is leaving a horse in a field that you can't ride because they are too sore to get fat. Hoof boots are a great idea but i would be reluctant to canter or gallop in them having seen them come lose and twist around even in trot.

As always horsemanship is a balancing act. You can't just think about a horses hooves you have to consider the whole horse and having seen the difference front shoes have made to Spices movement i am 100% certain that i made the right decision. I would love to keep her hinds unshod but as always i will see how it goes...for now our barefoot journey has half come to an end....