Are shoes required for showing? Do shoes make a horse sound? Can a horse perform well barefoot and sound?
Here’s my story to barefoot and sound…

Barefoot and Sound: How I Threw the Shoes and Discovered Natural Soundness for My Tennessee Walking Horse

By Jennifer Klitzke

During the competition dressage years with my Trakehner/Thoroughbred gelding, he wore shoes on all fours year-round for his soundness and quality of movement. He was stalled at a show barn and fed alfalfa and sweet feed. That’s what everyone at show barns did back then, so I followed along. I didn’t know differently nor ever thought to question it.

Five years later at 12, my gelding became stricken with laminitis, so the farrier added pads and wedges to his shoes. We had the best farrier in the area, and I trusted his credentials believing shoes and pads were necessary for his soundness. I believed barefoot would make him worse not better.

Still plagued with laminitis three years later, I retired my gelding from dressage competition. Then we moved to the rural North, and I had the shoes pulled. There were no more intentions of showing any of my horses.

Over time barefoot began to heal my gelding from his lameness, as well as limiting his pasture time, and changing to a low-carb feed and a grass hay diet.

By the time my naturally gaited and barefoot Tennessee Walking Horse, Makana joined our herd, my now 23-year-old barefoot gelding was sounder than he had been at 12 with shoes, pads and wedges. I was grateful to my barefoot trimmer.

Then the Tennessee Walking Horse club I had joined pleaded with members to enter the county fair to keep the tradition of Walking horse classes alive. Hearing they encourage naturally gaited and barefoot horses; I took my four-year-old dressage trained Walking horse to her first rail class show. It was a fun experience riding under the lights at night at the county fair.

I didn’t know much about healthy hooves, because I relied on my farrier’s expertise. I could have kicked myself for not paying more attention when my farrier announced his retirement. He did a terrific job and my horses moved better than ever.

Thankfully, I found a new farrier nearby to schedule the next trim. I noticed a different approach. He would trim from the top and rasp away any flare that grew. The hooves sure looked good when he was done, but the flares kept coming back.

The next year the Walking horse club urged members to enter the show again. I was game. While there a fellow competitor discretely pulled me aside. “I hope this doesn’t offend you,” she said, “But I’m concerned if you don’t get your horse’s feet trimmed correctly, she might not stay sound.”

Alarmed yet grateful, I thanked her for opening my eyes to what I hadn’t seen. My ignorant trust blinded the risk I had placed my horse’s soundness in.

I tried talking with my farrier about making some adjustments. It didn’t go well leading to hiring another farrier who confirmed my friend’s concerns.

From that point on, I became an educated and informed caregiver learning how to keep my horses’ hooves healthy from the inside out. Over the course of the next year, I began to study the work of barefoot trimmers and learn about diet and its effect on soundness.

In 2011, I took the plunge and began trimming my horses. Hats off to professional hoof trimmers. You couldn’t pay me enough to do this for a living. While it’s great exercise, it’s a killer on my grandma body. Yet, it has been rewarding for the few horses I trim.

A healthy hoof is a science. Like dressage, learning to trim hooves is a journey of education. There are many factors affecting the feet: climate, turnout, terrain, diet, conformation, workload, and genetics to name a few. Among the many barefoot hoof trimmers I have studied, there are differences of opinion: Are the bars, frog, and dead sole to be trimmed or left alone? Is the wall beveled or not? Are the feet round or oval? Is a heel desirable or not? Is the wall or the sole the main support for the horse?

For my first couple years of hoof trimming, I just followed one tried and tested method. If I noticed an issue pop up like a flare, I explored what other hoof trimmers did about it. I had to be a discerning and critical student. Do I believe all show horses need to wear shoes? Not anymore. Do I believe barefoot horses can perform to the best of their abilities? Yes, I do. Does this mean horses should never wear shoes? No, I would never say that for others, but for me and my horses, we have done well without shoes and remained sound.

I rode my retired barefoot Trakehner/Thoroughbred gelding until he was 29 years old, and he passed away sound at 34.

Seili in 2013 at 29 years old — My barefoot Trakehner/thoroughbred at 29 years old.

As for my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse, Makana, she and I have shown dressage, rode endurance races, sorted cows, trail ride, and have done gymnastic jumping barefoot. At 20, Makana is still barefoot and sound.