There are countless reasons and benefits to having your horse barefoot, and the use of boots. I offer you just a few.

Boots are the modern day shoe and the nice thing is, you can remove them when you're not riding your horse. You can't do this with shoes, and your horse feels the difference.

Boots offer protection when needed. Depending on where you live and the time of year, horse's feet are a reflection of their environment. I live in Washington State. This time of year, late summer, my horses are moving around in large paddocks that are firm, dry and have some rocks. Their feet reflect this with thicker soles, overall harder feet and boots are not necessary when I saddle up and go for a ride. Once the rain starts, the ground gets softer, and so do their hooves.  I can ride in my pastures and arenas, but if I want to go on a trail ride where it's rocky, I put boots on my horses.

Boots allow a hoof to expand and contract, unlike shoes that are nailed to a hoof wall.  With so many different boot designs offered today, it is much easier to put them on your horses' hooves. From years of trial and error, and study of how horses travel, many boots reflect the design of the hoof and how it moves.

Boots allow a normal footfall.  But shoes, nailed to the hoof wall as they are, causes that wall to carry the full load of the horse and the frog and sole no longer touch the ground. This often causes the horse to travel with a toe first landing. The hoof was designed to land heel first, the frog touches the ground, coinciding with the hoof wall and the outer rim of the sole. The whole hoof works as a complete unit and is part of the circulation process. The boot allows this process to take place.

Not all horses need to wear boots, some horses have much harder and healthier feet than others. One of my clients has a Grade 4 year old filly and she rides mainly in her pasture. The filly is on a grass hay diet and lives in a large pasture with a run in stall. This horse has a lot of daily movement and no sugars in her diet. This owner recently started trail riding her green filly. The seasoned horses she was riding with all were wearing shoes. I was walking with the group, helping my client (I'm also a trainer) at the same time, and watching the horses with shoes trying to go down the steep rocky trail. The shoes offered no traction, on the slippery rocks, and the horses would slide on them. The barefoot filly, because of her barefoot trimmed hooves, and all the above mentioned factors, she was walking easily down the rocky hill with good traction.

There are many more reasons why the barefoot trim is beneficial for your horse and why boots may be necessary. I do need to mention here that it's not  about simply going without shoes. Going barefoot is a package; the correct barefoot trim, proper diet which may include vitamins and minerals, the need for regular movement (not living 24/7 in a box stall), and keeping on top of things like thrush and cleanliness.  I hope some of the reasons in this article have interested you in considering barefoot for your equine friend, and the benefits of using boots.