Barefoot show jumpers make history at 2022 FEI World Championships--and beyond

History was made at the FEI 2022 World Championships in Herning, Denmark in August. After the first two rounds of jumping, three of the top four horses on the scoreboard were shoeless. And at the end of the full event, the world champion individual horse was barefoot, as were half the winning gold medal team.

Some may think that barefoot grand prix jumpers leaping, landing, and turning on groomed-to-perfection arena footing aren't news anymore, after the brilliant Swedish gold team and silver individual medals at the Tokyo Olympics last year, but this was the FEI World Championship. 

The Olympic (Bare) Hoof: Sweden's All In delivers a shoeless silver medal for rider Peder Fredricson

Ears up: Sweden won the team gold medal! Watch for Fran's followup interview with Swedish team farrier Peter Glimberg on his hybrid professional hoofcare management program for Peder Fredricson's elite international showjumpers. There's more to "barefoot" than there looks when it comes to competing on modern arena surfaces...

Now, this is news: Swedish rider Peder Fredricson won his second consecutive silver Olympic individual show jumping medal in Tokyo this week. Once again, Fredricson flew over the fences at the Olympics and, once again, he was aboard his Rio 2016 Olympic silver medal partner, the Belgian Warmblood All In.

But this time, the world gasped before it cheered. 

All In was shoeless. 

The Olympic Hoof: FEI salutes farriers as crucial to equine performance in Tokyo

Note: This story was provided to Hoofcare Publishing by the media relations service of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sports, and was not written by Hoofcare Publishing. Some statements from the original article have been omitted.

The Olympic Games are all about the coming together of the best of the best. The human and equine athletes have been meticulously prepared for the occasion. An essential part of that preparation is shoeing. Just as with human athletes, a horse can only perform at its best if the shoes fit perfectly.