Bare foot horses and endurance

[guest@endurance.net]

Debbie  devitaphoto@boone.net
I have a 7 yr old arab and have pulled his rear shoes due to him kicking
other horses in the pasture.  I had them pulled 3 weeks ago.  A weekend
ago I went to ride for a weekend in VA and went over some tough terrain.
The next week he was tender.  I stayed off him all week. I have been using
Keratex a harding product that stengthens the horn, hoof while allowing it
to breath.  I was planning a ride this weekend,decided not to go due to
his feet. While they are ok now, I feel it would not be in the best
interest of my horse to go.  My question, are there many people who leave
the rear feet bare doing endurance?  I am hearing more and more about
poeple leaving horse with bare feet.  If you do ride barefoot, have you
had any problem?  Do not want to use easy boots, they tend to tear the
hoof up and can rub the horses feet.Oh yea! I forgot to mention he does
have great feet.

Thanks for any responce

Debbie