Depending on your location, footing on riding trails can vary from soft and sandy to hard and rocky. That left us wondering what type of hoof protection do your horses wear on trails? We posed this question to our readers in last week’s poll. More than 1,000 people responded and we’ve tallied the results!

Of the 1,003 respondents, 402 (40%) said their horses go barefoot on trails. Another 260 individuals (26%) said their horses wear shoes all around when trail riding, and 171 respondents (17%) indicated that their horses wear hoof boots on trails. Another 148 people (15%) said their horses wear front shoes only for trail rides, and the remaining 22 respondents (2%) said their horses have added traction such as borium, tungsten, studs or calks for trail riding purposes.

Additionally, more than 70 people commented on their horse’s hoof wear on the trails: