Do three things in this order. Find the shoe and count the nails in it, because a nail still in the field or still in the foot is the part that matters. Look at the foot for damage to the wall, for anything protruding, and for lameness. Then call your farrier and book, rather than deciding for yourself whether the horse can work. A lost shoe is usually an inconvenience. Two findings turn it into a veterinary call rather than a farrier one: the horse is lame, or something is still in the foot.
Step one: find the shoe
This is not tidiness. It is the safety half of the job.
A shoe lying in a field or an arena still has nails in it, pointing up. That is a puncture waiting for the next horse through, and it is worth finding for that reason alone.
Count the nails that are still in the shoe. A shoe usually carries a small number of nails and if the shoe you have found is missing some, those nails are somewhere. Either in the ground where the shoe came off, or still in the hoof wall.
Look where he most likely lost it. Deep or sticky ground, a gateway, the point where he was ridden through mud, or wherever he was turned out. A shoe pulled off by suction usually comes off in the wettest ground on the property, which is the same ground we discuss in wet paddock management.
Keep the shoe and show it to your farrier. Whether it is bent, twisted, worn on one side, or came off clean tells them something about how it happened, and they will want to see it.
Step two: look at the foot
Pick the foot up and look at it properly. What you are checking, in order:
Anything protruding. A nail still in the hoof wall, a clenched nail folded over, or a piece of the shoe. Do not pull anything out. If something has gone into the sole or the frog rather than the wall, that is a veterinary call and the object may need to stay where it is until they see it. Our guidance on that, and on making the photograph useful, is in photographing a wound or a lameness so your vet can see it.
The wall. Losing a shoe often takes a piece of wall with it. Note how much, where, and whether the damage reaches up toward the coronet.
The sole and frog. A horse who has been walking on a foot with no shoe on hard or stony ground can bruise the sole. Look for anything embedded.
Heat and digital pulse, compared with the other three feet. Merck lists "an increased digital pulse or higher palpable temperature of the hoof capsule" among the examination findings for a hoof abscess (Merck Veterinary Manual, Hoof Abscesses in Horses, read 2026-08-28), and it is worth having the comparison in your head before you speak to anyone. We cover the technique in how to find and feel a digital pulse.
Whether he is lame. Watch him walk away from you on a level surface. Note it rather than interpreting it.
Do not pull a partially attached shoe off yourself unless it is clearly about to injure him and you know how, and if you do, the wall usually pays for it. A shoe hanging by two nails, twisted under the foot, is a situation to describe to your farrier on the phone rather than to solve with pliers you have never used.
Step three: the call, and what to say
Call the farrier. Give them:
- Which foot, and whether the horse is shod on all four.
- Whether you have the shoe, and whether the nails are in it.
- How much wall came away, roughly.
- Whether he is lame, and whether he was lame before.
- When it happened, as closely as you can.
- What surfaces he has walked on since.
Call the vet instead, or as well, if: he will not bear weight, something is embedded in the foot, there is a wound at the coronary band, or the digital pulse is bounding on that foot. Merck describes a hoof abscess as "the most common reason for a non-weight-bearing lameness in horses," which is a reminder that a horse who will not put a foot down after losing a shoe is not automatically a shoeing problem.
Can he be ridden?
This is what most people are actually asking, and the honest answer is that it is not a decision to make from a page.
What can be said generally: a horse missing one shoe is not balanced the way he was, and the unshod foot is now wearing at the ground while the other three are not. The surface matters, the horse's foot matters, and how long it will be until the farrier comes matters.
Ask your farrier when you call. They know your horse's feet, they know what wall he has, and they know how long they will be. That is a two-sentence question on a phone call you were making anyway.
Do not ride to find out. Trotting a horse up to see whether he is sound is a different thing from riding him for an hour on the ground you had planned.
What this page will not do is give you a rule about hard ground, soft ground or a number of days, because no source located while writing it publishes one.
Hoof boots, and the honest position on them
Hoof boots exist and are used for exactly this situation. This site does not recommend, rank or name products, so what follows is the shape of the decision rather than a purchase.
A boot has to fit the specific foot to be useful, and a boot that does not fit can rub or come off. That means it is a thing to have sorted out with your farrier in advance rather than bought in a hurry on the day a shoe comes off. If you have one already, ask your farrier whether it is appropriate for this foot in this state before using it.
Why shoes come off, and the part you control
Some of it is luck. Some of it is not.
- Deep or sticky ground, where suction pulls the shoe off. The most common single cause and the one that gets worse through a wet season.
- The end of the cycle. As the wall grows past the shoe, the shoe becomes easier to catch. UF/IFAS Extension puts average hoof growth at three-eighths of an inch a month and most horses at a five to eight week schedule (UF/IFAS, Hoof Care for Florida Horses, VM265, read 2026-08-28). A shoe lost in week eight of a cycle is a different event from one lost in week two.
- Overreaching, where a hind foot catches a front shoe.
- Poor wall quality, which is your farrier's and possibly your vet's territory.
The controllable ones are the cycle and the ground. If a horse loses shoes repeatedly at the end of every cycle, that is a pattern worth raising, and it is one of the arguments in how often does a horse actually need the farrier.
FAQ
My horse lost a shoe. Can I still ride him?
Ask your farrier when you call to book, because the answer depends on the foot, the surface and how long it will be. No source publishes a general rule and none is invented here. What is true generally is that the unshod foot is now wearing at the ground while the others are not.
Should I find the lost shoe?
Yes, for two reasons. It still has nails in it and it is a puncture hazard for the next horse through, and counting the nails in it tells you whether any are still in the hoof or in the ground.
Should I pull off the shoe on the opposite foot to keep him level?
That is a farrier's decision, not an owner's, and it is a real question worth asking them rather than acting on. Pulling a shoe without the right tools and technique takes wall with it.
There is still a nail in his hoof. What do I do?
Do not pull it out. If it is in the wall, tell your farrier. If it is in the sole or frog, or you cannot tell, call your veterinarian, keep the horse still, and ask before doing anything.
My horse is lame after losing a shoe. Is that normal?
It is not something to treat as normal. Merck describes a hoof abscess as the most common reason for non-weight-bearing lameness in horses, and a sole bruise is also possible after walking unshod on hard ground. Either way, a lame horse is a veterinary question rather than a farrier one.
Why does my horse keep losing shoes?
Common contributors are deep or sticky ground, being at the end of a shoeing cycle, overreaching, and wall quality. The two you control are the cycle length and where he stands, and a horse who loses shoes at the end of every cycle is telling you about the cycle.
Sources consulted: Merck Veterinary Manual, "Hoof Abscesses in Horses", read 2026-08-28, for the increased digital pulse and hoof temperature examination findings and for hoof abscess being the most common reason for a non-weight-bearing lameness; UF/IFAS Extension, "Hoof Care for Florida Horses" (VM265), read 2026-08-28, for the three-eighths inch per month average growth and the five to eight week visit schedule. No source located while writing this page publishes a rule about riding a horse missing a shoe, a number of days, or a ground-condition threshold, and none is stated here. This site is not written by a veterinarian or a farrier. Nothing here is a diagnosis or a shoeing instruction, and no product is named or recommended.