If I could delete my last post I would, but I am not worried about wide pockets anymore as we did much better last night. Either way I usually run barefoot but I have to get front shoes because his front foot decided to crack and I have gave it time to heal and grow but it isn't improving so the farrier is recommending fronts for the time being. Should I just stick with the fronts or should I go ahead and just do all four since I have to do front anyways? I had him shod all round over a year ago and it didn't help any but I have learned it was done TOTALLY wrong so now I am not sure if he would do better or not. He is not a sit and slide horse, he is four wheel drive all the way around. His back feet have always held up great, hardly any chipping and no cracks, I just wonder since I have to do the front for awhile if I should do rear. I do not run rodeo, I run jackpots so ground is usually very good. I do not notice issues with slipping so would rears even be needed? He is 17 if that matters. My farrier is good, but expensive so I don't want to pay the extra if it most likely is not going to make a difference. Also is it true rear shoes could make hock issues worse? That is our main problem area, we are trying to speed up the hock fusion process since he has not fused on his own by now. To add in, the vet said he can still run. I would not be running him if the vet advised I shouldn't. 

All around.  I tried leaving one without shoes in the back and pieces of hoof kept breaking off.  Especially a problem on a very powerful horse.

I only do fronts unless I need to do backs. Most of their weight is to the front. My farrier is actually very good about watching my runs and telling me if they'll benefit from back shoes or if they'll sore them up, depending on their run style. 

I just put shoes on the front. My trainer started that years ago. Have just never changed. 

All four, year round. I just did fronts one winter and his hind feet just chipped away. 

My horses have always had good hooves plus a good diet helped with good healthy hooves, so I mostly kept front shoed unless there is crappy ground that I had to ride on going and coming from arena, some of the places that I went to had alot of gravel with alot of rocks for parking, so to me it just depends on where you ride/run your horse if planning to shoe just the front. When I went on some over night trail rides I would shoe both front and back. 

I've done every variation and run barrels on all of them.  One horse I only ever put fronts on, another I had to put them on the back because she couldn't run without them. Another one did fine with or without any shoes, but would get sore trail riding, so I generally shod him all around if I was riding off property much. My current horse is a bit of a weenie so he gets them all the way around regardless of how he runs.

Most of my past shoeing my dad was my farrier and that made it easier to make changes,which I really miss. He can't shoe anymore, but I can at least pick his brain.

Depends on the horse. For years I only did fronts and backs only if absolutely needed. 

Do back shoes even help a four wheel drive turner if they don't have bad feet to begin with?

The answer for two four wheelers in my barn is yes.  They are both huge and extremely strong in their turns and although both will stand up barefoot they dig so hard that some ground tends to break away under them. The extra traction of four shoes ups their game.  Imho a horse that drives equally off all four needs equal traction all around.

For me over the years it has really depended on the horse regardless their style of running.  Some I thought were running fine barefoot in the back actually improved their time after being shod and the other way around.  Also shoeing the hind or not shoeing the hind has been the answer to some soreness issues.  My current 4 wheel drive is strong in her turns and that is where she clocks, she is barefoot in the back. She does have some chipping but we manage it since the alternative of being shod doesn't work for her.

Should horses with hock issues have back shoes though? We are tryng to fuse them but for the time being not sure if back shos would make it worse. 

Would shoeing the hind help or make hocks worse?

It depends. If you are getting too much traction from shoes or too much slipping/scrambling from not being shod both are rough on hocks and stifles.  I had a 3/4 turn type horse, strong pivot on the backside and she could not go barefoot.  When she would plant that pivot foot barefoot it wouldn't stick and it sored up her backend, hocks and stifles.  It took some trial and error to figure out which hind shoe worked for her style of running.  I also had a colt that was 4 wheel drive and he trained best barefoot but we had to trim him low medial to high lateral to keep him from soring up his stifles.  My husband shod for me for years so we were constantly learning together.

I think this is something to discuss with your vet.  I can see more possibilities for an issue with shoes that have too much grab, which can put a lot of extra stress and tortion on joints.  I personally find that plain old kegs get the job done while allowing enough "slide" to give release.

It depends on the horse. My preference (if they can do it) is barefoot. I hate going to grab a horse out of the pasture to head to a show or rodeo, to see a bent or pulled shoe.

If they must have shoes, then they get them.   I will do fronts only, unless they show me they need the back shoes for traction.

Ultimately, it depends on the horse.

Vet said it wouldn't help or make worse so it's up to me.

I'll see how he does with front again, if for some reason we are running better with them I may try backs sometime just to see...He was doing perfectly fine barefoot for over a year and now he got a crack lol. I am curious since he's never been shod correctly if now it will make a difference. Originally I was going to pull them once the crack is grown out but if we do better I'll keep them on. Even if I do decide to try all four I am kinda glad I started with fronts first so he can used to that and then try backs if that's what we decide to do. Not sure if others do that or if they just throw them all on lol. 

I think it really depends on the horse AND where you live.  I live in Dallas, TX.  My ground is good but we get rain year round.  I have a mare that was REALLY messed up when I got her.  She naturally has a soft hoof wall that we constantly battle.  She gets shoes all the way around every 4 weeks (she literally cannot go 5 weeks).

I have an older mare that is finished but she is a BIG girl.  She also has an OCD lesion on a stifle and gets injected every 4 months or so.  I used to shoe her all the way around, then tried barefoot.  She did better barefoot but I wasn't happy with her front feet without shoes, especially riding consistently.  So she gets fronts only.

My 5 year old is just about to get shoes.  I want to control her feet and make sure she stays balanced, which she is not doing on her own at the current moment (regular trims and balancing too). We will do all the way around and watch her as she grows out a new hoof wall and then re-evaluate.