My first horse was barefoot (cute!) but he ended up being shod because he got very bad sand cracks. The farrier would burn a little line above the top of the crack to try and stop its progress but it was hard to stop them coming along. I had him in suburbia and while there was bush to ride in, we had to walk on roads to get there so that didn't help.

I just found having him and subsequent horses shod was so much easier (albeit much more expensive!). The farrier also did a bit of corrective shoeing on one of my horses too, which was useful.

Your ride this morning sounds beautiful. I really miss early morning rides when the rest of the world is still quiet and sleeping . . .