10 Weeks in! - Hoof Pics

My horse was shod at 4. I took the shoes off just under a year later having become aware of the benefits of barefoot. He was fine in shoes but a bit of a pain for the farrier - always fidgeting and being 'unhelpful'. Farrier didn't ever want to discuss the possibility of barefoot.

Thankfully my vet is a 'barefoot supporter' and de-shod him. We took the shoes off and turned horse out into a paddock full of lovely spring grass. Instead of just eating as expected and hoped, he raced, he frolicked, he broncoed, he rolled. He looked utterly joyful and the vet, who has de-shod a number, said that he often sees what he believes is relief from horses who have shoes off, even if, like mine, they don't have evident problems. Through all the rather unexpectedly difficult times getting him right without shoes, that experience helped to keep me motivated. It was a very thought-provoking and moving experience. I am so glad I kept going.
 
stencilface said:
It really is the only place to find support for bf stuff, you have to rely on the crazy people on the internet for support. Most people just don't have a clue what you're on about and it can get very annoying. I find explaining it to science/engineering minded people much easier as the whole load bearing surface, adaptive asymmetry thing makes sense to them.

To horsey people you may as well get out your crystals as most just cannot see past not nailing metal to their feet. Watching norman have his last shoes on with wedges, and watching his reaction to the nails going in (not extreme, but their feet do react when a nail is whacked in!) I thought I was going to cry :o

I did a 30 min in hand walk this morning, norman is sooo lazy (I can imagine Nic swearing at him as she tried to lead him off another horse :D ) but I am going to get fit as we have to walk up a super steep hill to get to the best/safest place to walk.
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I know it's mental, my vet rolls his eyes at all the home remedy stuff the internet comes out with and has 'banned' the use of sudacreme :D, not really but he does have a point about following advise which can makes things worse. However I had no other option for advise and back up when it came to this, I'm nervous about updating him, I'm really hoping he will be positive about it...

:D Poor Norman its a survival tactic to conserve energy ;).


palo1 said:
My horse was shod at 4. I took the shoes off just under a year later having become aware of the benefits of barefoot. He was fine in shoes but a bit of a pain for the farrier - always fidgeting and being 'unhelpful'. Farrier didn't ever want to discuss the possibility of barefoot.

Thankfully my vet is a 'barefoot supporter' and de-shod him. We took the shoes off and turned horse out into a paddock full of lovely spring grass. Instead of just eating as expected and hoped, he raced, he frolicked, he broncoed, he rolled. He looked utterly joyful and the vet, who has de-shod a number, said that he often sees what he believes is relief from horses who have shoes off, even if, like mine, they don't have evident problems. Through all the rather unexpectedly difficult times getting him right without shoes, that experience helped to keep me motivated. It was a very thought-provoking and moving experience. I am so glad I kept going.
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What a lovely vet you have, and what a dramatic reaction. I certianly think Doodle is feeling so much better, she has her bounce back and is gaining weight and condition again which is fabulous, she did look terrible for a while! Love hearing about everyones success stories, it makes me positive about the direction we're heading in!
 
I especially liked my vets face when I asked him about using magnetic boots on his PSD, and a magnetic rug for SI issues. I also used a herbal arnica, rustox and ruta grav spray on his gums, although I didn't tell my vet about that for fear of open mocking :D

Glad to hear Doodle is feeling better, its hard to tell with a lazy horse if they're just chilled out or unwilling to go forwards for x y z reason. Thats why I need windy days!
 
:D He's generally ok with things that may or may not work but can't do more damage :D so my magnetic boots and my ice-vibe boots were given the ok but with the warning of a fool and his money... :D. To be honest I like his honesty about such things, I still think despite the barefoot stuff he is an excellent vet!

Haha we are the opposite, we do not want windy days! She is full on and will most likely bounce on and it's only the next day she realises oo that hurts now :o, not that she will listen mind! It's why we were so concerned when she started dropping weight and went a bit quiet, going downhill at 22/23 is not a good thing! I'm hoping a summer on the grass will perk her right up, but then I'm now totally at odds with the grass vs barefoot!!! You just can't win sometimes..
 
I will never get tired of vets commenting on Daisy's amazing feet and being able to reply with "oh that's good you agree, she hasn't been touched by anything for 16 months now, totally self trimming and sound on all surfaces" Tee hee.
 
:D sounds brilliant, really hoping we can get close to this! The other two have fab feet, must take some picture so I can show the differences between healthy feet and poorly feet!
 
Her feet do look very similar yeah (loving the name by the way!) He's only 12 so I'm expecting many years of vetbills out of him yet! He erm looked about 20 in the middle of this winter and he still doesn't look as I'd like him to but I'm hoping to get him a little fatter going into next winter so he has some spare to lose. It's still been an ongoing work in progress as he's never quite hit "rockcrunching" totally (came very close for a few months after he started Prascend). He did go very footy over any uneven or stoney surface at the back end of last Summer just after I moved yards , he was diagnosed with the PPID not too long after so really in hindsight it all makes sense but at the time I just thought he was struggling with the more challenging surfaces there. The other thing I did which made a little difference was to get his grazing and hay analysed and balance his minerals that are added to his feed to that (I need to sort it again now the grass is coming thru as it's mainly balanced to the hay right now). He also will have to start coming off the grass during the day soon as 24/7 access to grass in Spring has a negative affect on his feet and he's just starting to stumble if he steps on a sharp stone on our awful driveway. I do have access to a very good online support network both through the ex-rockley rehab owners a few fb groups and on here plus Nic put me in touch with a very good trimmer called Steve Leigh when Prince came home so he drops by on us maybe about 4 times a year on average to check we're on the right track and is good for bouncing ideas off / calming me down when I'm being paranoid! I do also drop Nic the odd email (sadly it's normally when I'm freaking out about something!) On a day to day basis it's mainly making sure I get enough miles into him to keep everything ticking over regardless of how horrid the weather may be and being sensible with his diet in general although he does get the odd apple and the odd polo mint here and there :)

Fingers crossed your girl continues to do well and is a bit easier to keep on top of managementwise than my pain in the bum :)
 
Are you near me Boulty? Nic recommended Steve Leigh to me too, I think he might come visit in May time to see if I'm on the straight and narrow!

Where did you get your forage analysis? I've looked at Sciantec, did you get a full mineral one as I'm guessing that's the only suitable one for bf needs?
 
Ah I didn't realise he was hhoer!

I think forageplus do theirs through sciantec iirc? I have always had full mineral ones SF ;)
 
ester said:
Ah I didn't realise he was hhoer!

I think forageplus do theirs through sciantec iirc? I have always had full mineral ones SF ;)
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I use Sciantec for work (started a 4 month 'post doc' even though ive not handed in yet) and their forage analysis lab is close to me so I should just do it really! Slack me as usual :p

I think it would be cheeky to put my samples through the work account though wouldn't it? ;)
 
I used forageplus but I think Sciantec is who they send them to anyway. If you use them for work then I'd just do it that way though tbh. You may still need to get someone to interpret results for you though.

I am probably very near to you stencilface. Prince lives in Methley at the moment and I'm from Crossgates / Halton way out. If you're any further to the South than that then you'd be officially beating me as Steve's most Southern client I think? That does remind me that I need to message him again at some point to try and find out if there's a date confirmed for his next visit to Prince yet as sods law it'll end up being when I'm away / competing...
 
Thanks, will get on with it then, with hay samples do I have to try and take bits from lots of different bales?

Boulty - no I'm not further south, I'm Shadwell way, so don't worry you still beat me! I would guess that Steve would time our visits to make it easier for him. Nice to know there's another Rockley horse so close though, shamed to say I haven't been out today, back is not good so I might have to settle for an in hand walk later on.
 
No way! I probably used to hack past your yard when I had him (and my previous horse) stabled nr Roundhay! Weather was vile this morning so I doubt your ride would have been all that productive anyway (of course I'm say at work staring at the lovely sunshine now!) Yeah I'd guess Steve will try and combine visits in same day.
 
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Wow, that is some change! I have a little ISH who arrived with awful feet. His angles changed a fair bit, not quite as much as yours though. It's wonderful to see.

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