Help !!
I am the new owner of a percheron/quarter horse cross who was sold to me wearing 4 shoes. I recently moved her to a barn where horses are out 24/7 in a 50 acre enclosed pasture. There are 12 other horses in the pasture, 4 geldings and 8 mares. They seem to accepting my horse without much fuss but on Xmas night one of the horses was found down with a broken leg. It was a 28 year gelding and he was put down that night. Since that incident I have been under a lot of pressure to remove my horses shoes. The general consensus on the farm seems to be that it was my horse who killed this gelding since she is the one with back shoes on. Most of the horses there are either barefoot or have front shoes only. My concern is that it is winter and the ground is rock hard, I have no idea if she has ever been without shoes, and my main goal for moving to this farm is to trail ride in the state game lands which is fairly rocky terrain. Any suggestions or ideas ? I want to be accomidating to the other borders but I don’t want my horse to go lame either. Are horses with shoes more dangerous ?
