shoeing for parades?

Question
I was wondering if you needed to shoe horses for parades? It would be mainly walking and some trotting. Thanks =D

Answer
Hello Mary,
my apologies for the late reply but I was travelling abroad and did not have E-mail access.
In case your question is still pertinent, the answer really depends on a few things....
First of all, if your horse has good hooves and it used to being worked on hard abrasive roads, you should not need shoes. Assuming you will be doing more than one parade, you will see after the first one how he does.
If you are planning on doing several parades and your horse is not used to roads or you are concerned his (her?) hooves may be compromized, shoes are definitely in order. However, please consider these things....the bare hoof is best designed to absorbe shock. So when riding on asphalt or other very hard surfaces, the best shock absorption comes from a bare hoof. However, and this is why shoes were developed in the first place, the hoof can only handle so much and if the wear of the hoof exceeds growth, you will need shoes. Another thing to consider is that shoes are "slippery" and your horse will not have the traction on the road that it has barefoot. Studs or borium to increase traction are not a good thing because these additions stop the movement of the foot too abruptly and your get unnecessary jarring which is also not good.
My preference in situations like this, especially if your horse is barefoot and otherwise sound, is to buy him/her a nice well fitting set of hoof boots. These give good and not excessive traction, help even more with shock absorption and you just take them off when you are done and put them back on for the next parade.

Christine