Basically you can break the barefoot issue into three basic questions:

1. What kind of environment does my horse live in? 
   • Does the environment provide the animal an adequate load sharing device?  Without a proper compaction of dirt and preferably a heel first landing no horse, shod or otherwise, can move soundly or live comfortably for terribly .  I can not stress enough the importance of this factor.  It is critical to the soundness of all horses.
2. What is your horse’s breeding and genetic make-up?
   • Some horses are not comfortable without shoes.  You may provide them everything nature requires for horses and they still will not be sound.  Some horses which look physically normal just will not be sound without shoeing and other horses which look physically deformed do fantastically.   You can give horses the chance to be barefoot, but it just doesn’t work in all cases.  This is mainly due to the fact that most horses have been bred for our purposes, either sport or recreation, for so many generations that some characteristics are no longer natural.  Since some psychological and physical characteristics have changed staying completely natural just may not be possible. 
3. What does my horse do everyday?
   • If your horse is a 20 year old fat, lazy gelding loafing his days away in his pasture then yeah, shoeing Sparky might not be something you need to do anymore.  However, if your horse is recovering from a serious disease, has been cut short by an incompetent farrier, or you ride your horse multiple hours a day, everyday you will likely need shoes.  For you extra zelous riders, (you know who you are and we jealously hate you); if you’re riding so much the hooves wear faster than they grow then you will have to have shoes.  Though you may only need front shoes as 60% of the horse’s weight is born on the front hooves, most animals exhibit the most wear, and damage, here.  Also, many forms of competition require the unique advantages we can give them with shoes.  Competition rules depending on your sport of choice may actually dictate that you must have your horses shod to a certain standard, as well as a good farrier just being able to give you that extra edge to be at the top of your game.

 There seems to be a lot of farriers (especially skinny minny tiny ones like me) running around touting they will solve all the world’s problems using a rasp and a brilliant smile.  In the name of NBS, or  ”The Balance Trim”,  ”The Mustang Roll”, or just insert appropriate buzz term here,  they will create for your horses a hoof utopia.  Of course, all for a modest fee.  While many of the before mentioned terms are very useful tools or astonishingly powerful sciences to hoof management, in the wrong hands and minds they are little more than dangerous labels, meaningless words stripped of any of thier very real value.  Not living up to any of the actual definitions of their origin, they are being used simply to create a fad in which to make as much money as possible with as little work done.  Shoeing horses is hard dangerous work and that is a fact.  It is my opinion that many of these farriers either do not have the skill or the physical ability to get the job done effectively and it bears mentioning that I treat more victims of the “Barefoot Movement” every year than Laminitis, White Line Disease, and Navicular Syndrome combined.