At the barn I work at, we have about 3/4 of the horses shod, and most of them we pull thier shoes in the winter. The horses all show on the Hunter/ Jumper circut, and so during show season, the horses that go to shows with hard ground, or grass footing, are shod front and back, so that they can wear studs in the back for traction. However there are a few horses that show on all types of footing that always barefoot and they do great. You have to watch them if they are showing on sand alot as it can wear down the hoof wall fairly quickly, but other than that they have the healthiest feet in the barn. There are also 3 or 4 horses that have to wear shoes year round, due to various feet issues. So it all really depends on the horse, and what they are doing.