A bit of help needed to assist me making a decision on barefoot/shoe question please

Tarragon

Tarragon

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My pony has a conformation issue that means that in one fore foot in particular he loads unevenly, resulting in a upright hoof wall on the outside and a flare on the inside and it is very obvious that his weight is very much over the central line of the hoof.
He is and always has been barefoot and he is in regular work and is sound BUT I would like to do the best for him and I do think that it could be detrimental in the long run and if I can improve things I should do. He was backed when he was 6 years old and is 9 now so too old to change much.
He has been on a 4 to 5 week cycle over the last 6 months with a qualified Equine Podiatrist and he wears boots on his fronts as our current way of thinking is that it is best that we reduce the amount of self trimming that he does and we try and maintain a good balance on his behalf. He has good solid hoof wall and feet are generally in a healthy condition.
I had a routine veterinary physio session a few days a go and they suggested he may be better served being shod, perhaps as a temporary intervention or even as a long-term solution. They did add that they are neither for or against barefoot in principle nor a qualified trimmer or farrier, it was just a suggestion.
I just want to understand the pros and cons of going down the shod route so that I can be better informed. I know that if I ask my trimmer or the barefoot groups no-one will recommend shoeing him and the vet didn't help much when asked and I don't know a farrier I can ask that won't immediately suggest shoeing. I hope that by asking the question here I might get a wider response that I can then make my own judgement on
:)

So, if this pony was yours, what would you do?

p.s. I do have fairly recent x-rays of all 4 feet if anyone is interested.
 
Do the X-rays show imbalance? If it’s just the shape of the hoof wall I would ignore it, trying to change it could cause issues where currently there are none. If the X-rays show imbalance however that’s another matter.
 
Tarragon said:
My pony has a conformation issue that means that in one fore foot in particular he loads unevenly, resulting in a upright hoof wall on the outside and a flare on the inside and it is very obvious that his weight is very much over the central line of the hoof.
He is and always has been barefoot and he is in regular work and is sound BUT I would like to do the best for him and I do think that it could be detrimental in the long run and if I can improve things I should do. He was backed when he was 6 years old and is 9 now so too old to change much.
He has been on a 4 to 5 week cycle over the last 6 months with a qualified Equine Podiatrist and he wears boots on his fronts as our current way of thinking is that it is best that we reduce the amount of self trimming that he does and we try and maintain a good balance on his behalf. He has good solid hoof wall and feet are generally in a healthy condition.
I had a routine veterinary physio session a few days a go and they suggested he may be better served being shod, perhaps as a temporary intervention or even as a long-term solution. They did add that they are neither for or against barefoot in principle nor a qualified trimmer or farrier, it was just a suggestion.
I just want to understand the pros and cons of going down the shod route so that I can be better informed. I know that if I ask my trimmer or the barefoot groups no-one will recommend shoeing him and the vet didn't help much when asked and I don't know a farrier I can ask that won't immediately suggest shoeing. I hope that by asking the question here I might get a wider response that I can then make my own judgement on
:)

So, if this pony was yours, what would you do?

p.s. I do have fairly recent x-rays of all 4 feet if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...
I had one like this. He had been shod for years and he wore his shoes so unevenly that one branch was tinfoil thin each time he was shod. He was ridden on the road quite a bit. Tried to get round this using frost nails, then studs ,then borium. He just ended up with feet so broken up it was hard to keep shoes on. Tried barefoot for a little while and feet improved a bit but wore badly. Got some of the early Easyboots which worked for his feet but were constantly coming off. Hated them. Easy boot brought out Epics and started using them and had no problems for the rest of his life. Did have to swap them around to get even amounts of wear.

I would get your pony some suitable boots.
 
If he were mine I wouldn't mess. Unless trimming to x-ray every time and under some kind of physio exercise plan to change the way he uses himself.

Did your physio offer some kind of mechanical logic as to why they thought putting shoes on would help?
 
DP has exactly the same issue. When briefly shod he was on and off lame the whole time to the point people told me my 5 year old was broken. I had his shoes removed 10 years ago and have kept him barefoot ever since. He hasn’t had a days lameness due to foot imbalance since so if I were you I would carry on as you are.
 
My previous horse wore one of his fronts like this. It was 20 years ago before barefoot was common so he was shod after being broken in. His first farrier always shod that foot so it looked a little unbalanced but he stayed sound. Sadly that farrier retired and the new farrier did a beautiful job of shoeing him perfectly balanced. Horse went lame! Shoes taken off for x-rays and heart bars advised. In the week it took for farrier to get out horse was already standing and moving much better on his now wonky foot! Instead of heart bars in front I had the farrier take the back shoes off and the horse was sound and barefoot for the rest of his life! Obviously all horses and conformations are different but my horse needed to have that one hoof a wee bit wonky.
 
This is my horse, basically. Pigeon toed, flare on one side, not backed or ridden till 6-7, now 10-ish etc. No vet or farrier or physio or anybody else has suggested shoes would help her be less wonky at this point. None of our team are particular advocates for barefoot either.

I am aware there is a risk of "early" arthritic changes in the less than perfect joints but at her age I'm not going to risk upsetting the apple cart when she is sound enough as she is and grows the foot she needs. Over the last couple of years a better farrier has reduced the flare a bit but she still lands side first.
DabDab said:
Did your physio offer some kind of mechanical logic as to why they thought putting shoes on would help?
Click to expand...
Also wanted to ask this. If they can't explain why or how it would help, it's a bit of a useless suggestion.
 
DabDab said:
Did your physio offer some kind of mechanical logic as to why they thought putting shoes on would help?
Click to expand...
Not really. She just suggested that perhaps I should get a farrier in see whether they suggest shoeing. Looking at all the replies, I am leaning now towards just continuing with what I am doing.
If a farrier had suggested building up shoe height on one side (is that even a thing?) perhaps the same could be achieved using pads in a boot.
 
Thank you for all the replies. I am more confident in just continuing as I am.
Now I have a wonky pony, I realise that I often look at other horses and ponies and see so many who are not straight and balanced out doing all sorts of things perfectly happy!
Plus, I know I wear out my own shoe heels unevenly and it hasn't stopped me. I will stop worrying
:)
 
Would have a chat with your trimmer re possibilities with how you pad the boots as you certainly can pad slightly assymetrically to see if it helps (and obviously if it doesn’t / it actively makes things worse then you can quickly adjust the padding which is an advantage of boots)

May also be worth looking at exercises you could do both on the ground and ridden to try and strengthen him / minimise the impact of whatever is driving the uneven wear. Steph Bloom on here (who I can’t seem to tag, perhaps because I suck at it?) has some good resources on this I think?

If it’s quite subtle then would be tempted to mainly monitor for now but if literally slamming his full weight onto the very edge of the foot in a very noticeable way then I’d advise (from my own recent experience) being proactive in finding out why unless you’re already very sure that you know. (Mine turned out to have a lot of interlinking “whys”… I really wish I’d found someone with the capacity to do a dissection to give some closure on it all as different professionals had wildly different opinions on it all but alas not)
 
Maybe have a chat with a good barefoot trimmer. ask around for recommendations in your area. This could be something as simple as horse having a sore heel for a couple of weeks, which allows more heel height to grow, and throws horse off balance on that foot. If it is a long standing imbalance, you might want to consider an x-ray, just to make sure there are no navicular changes. Start with the very basics - any sign of thrush?
 
My immediate response is "if it ain't broke then why go fixing it".

OK so: your horse is sound.

You are (presumably) happy with the service your EP provides and the advice you are given.

You/your horse is happy with the boots on the fronts. Something you could do is ask your EP for advice as to how to use padding to perhaps support the hoof more adequately if you are concerned. Also reach out to suppliers like the Hoof Bootique if you need advice and they will be able to offer you skilled advice.

Sooh....... everything is OK: then oh dear along comes a certain "equine professional" - and lo and behold they engender in you a sense of discontent, worriedness, and general anxiety.

I'm a YO, and all of the horses on my yard are barefoot including my own (simply because one of her feet just couldn't hold a shoe, end of, and it was my vet that encouraged me to consider transitioning to barefoot!). Sadly there are still "professionals" out there in the equine industry who still believe that the best thing you can do with a horse's foot is to bung a shoe on it, and yes there are some situations where actually shoes are the best solution! I don't argue with that.

However, there is greater awareness now that barefoot is a very viable option for many horses where it wasn't previously considered, and also that shoes can very often mask a problem rather than allow the foot to develop naturally. Some equine professionals have this "focus" that everything has to be symmetrical, and "balanced"; where actually (like humans!) perfect symmetry and everything "matching" just isn't the norm!! I rather suspect the Physio that you had is an affiliate of this kind of thinking tbh.

May I encourage you to look at the progress you have made with your horse on your barefoot journey. Your horse is SOUND. Why change anything right now?? and to make a change purely on the basis of someone trying to make you anxious about the situation would not be the best reason for putting shoes on, I would respectfully suggest. There may of course be a reason in the future why you would consider putting shoes on; but if it isn't necessary now, then why do so?

I'd encourage you to stand by your guns. Your horse is OK barefoot. Your horse is sound. You were (up till now) sure that this was the best option. End of. Don't stress!
 
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MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
My immediate response is "if it ain't broke then why go fixing it".

OK so: your horse is sound.

You are (presumably) happy with the service your EP provides and the advice you are given.

You/your horse is happy with the boots on the fronts. Something you could do is ask your EP for advice as to how to use padding to perhaps support the hoof more adequately if you are concerned. Also reach out to suppliers like the Hoof Bootique if you need advice and they will be able to offer you skilled advice.

Sooh....... everything is OK: then oh dear along comes a certain "equine professional" - and lo and behold they engender in you a sense of discontent, worriedness, and general anxiety.

I'm a YO, and all of the horses on my yard are barefoot including my own (simply because one of her feet just couldn't hold a shoe, end of, and it was my vet that encouraged me to consider transitioning to barefoot!). Sadly there are still "professionals" out there in the equine industry who still believe that the best thing you can do with a horse's foot is to bung a shoe on it, and yes there are some situations where actually shoes are the best solution! I don't argue with that.

However, there is greater awareness now that barefoot is a very viable option for many horses where it wasn't previously considered, and also that shoes can very often mask a problem rather than allow the foot to develop naturally. Some equine professionals have this "focus" that everything has to be symmetrical, and "balanced"; where actually (like humans!) perfect symmetry and everything "matching" just isn't the norm!! I rather suspect the Physio that you had is an affiliate of this kind of thinking tbh.

May I encourage you to look at the progress you have made with your horse on your barefoot journey. Your horse is SOUND. Why change anything right now?? and to make a change purely on the basis of someone trying to make you anxious about the situation would not be the best reason for putting shoes on, I would respectfully suggest. There may of course be a reason in the future why you would consider putting shoes on; but if it isn't necessary now, then why do so?

I'd encourage you to stand by your guns. Your horse is OK barefoot. Your horse is sound. You were (up till now) sure that this was the best option. End of. Don't stress!
Click to expand...
Agree
 
It might help to think of everything going down to the foot - the foot will wear to best support whatever is happening above it. It might be that there is something about the horse's way of going that could be altered by gymnastic exercises or physio or it may be that the horse has less than perfect bone structure that can't be altered. Either way you can't change anything by putting shoes on and as above, if you try to make things cosmetically more attractive by trimming the foot and putting a shoe on to preserve the shape of that trim then the effects will echo back up to whatever was causing the imbalance higher up and potentially cause discomfort/pain. For instance if a joint is not the perfect shape but the foot has trimmed itself to support that joint with a nice even space between the bones then altering the foot balance can squash one side of the joint, make it less comfortable and eventually lead to arthritis.
 
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