Tell me about your experience with running a horse barefoot.  Do any of the big/pro girls run barefoot?  The good, bad and the ugly, please!

We have held off putting shoes on one of our geldings because he has such great feet (knock on wood) and hasnt seemed to have any ground trouble this way, but am considering putting them on now that he's getting hauled more consistantly. 

My gelding (19 years old) runs barefoot and has always been barefoot. I have never had him struggle on any ground.

Biggest down fall for me is finding a Farrier that just was to trim and some people think he isn’t a serious competitor.

I have run barefoot for more years than I can remember now. I now have one in shoes because, well, DTF.

But the rest are still barefoot. The perfect edge for turning, running, stopping, etc., is a bare foot. They slide when they need to and catch and edge when they need to. 

It is important to get a farrier who is well versed in barefoot trimming. My last one stopped dressing bars altogether and caused a lot of issues. Over last winter my new farrier has corrected all those and everyone is back to happy feet again. This last Saturday my stallion stood on parking lot (blue stone, but still not soft) for 8 hours and went in and ran a time .6 seconds faster than his fastest time in that arena ever before. He's got happy feet again!

You will have to be diligent aboput staying on a 5-6 week schedule when they are running/being hauled hard. I like to shoe just due to being on so much gravel and pavement when hauling hard. Even if they have great feet, they can always get sore from having to walk across it a lot and the shoes save their heels from becoming sore. 

Jordan Peterson ran a horse barefoot and made the NFR on him. She ran at the NFR barefoot and won money. 

All my horses run barefoot unless they need shoes for special reasons. My good mare has rodeoed for years barefoot and qualified for circuit finals like that too. Never had any ground issues. Each horse is different and truly their trimming and shoeing needs are too. Some are better off barefoot and some have the worst feet and need to live in shoes due to genetics or health/soundness issues 

Yep, just depends on the horse.

i have one I was running barefoot, he got a little sore and X-rays relieved a slight club foot - if you’re looking for it you can see it in the hoof wall, but very slight.  He’s got slight rotation on P3.  To dink around home he’s just fine barefoot, to go down the road he gets shoes.  We have another who we’re going to shoe in the front and 2 more we keep barefoot.  Barefoot is ideal - just not realistic for every single horse. 

I guess another question I might pose: at what point would you put shoes on one you'd been running barefoot?  Again, his feet are in good shape, but what would you look for int he run before deciding you needed to put shoes on one?