A point in the right direction to taking back shoes off....

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mischamoo

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I'm after some advice as to some recommendations about speaking to an "expert" / "specialist" on going barefoot/taking shoes off.

I've got two TB's, both of whom are shod on all fours and I was considering taking a leap as to removing back shoes on both horses.

One of them has kissing spines (and suffered a broken pedal bone at the beginning of this year) but is well and still in hack work/schooling work and is probably ridden/lunged about 3/4 times a week with the odd sponsorted ride thrown in.

The other is my regular ride but still she's not in major work (maybe hacking/lunging 4 times a week), maybe a sponsored ride/dressage/jumping comp of a weekend.

With the dark nights and winter drawing in, the likelihood of them getting the above amount of work is going to drop and thought maybe dropping them both to front shoes only, might ease my pocket a bit! And would give me an insight to maybe taking the one with KS barefoot in the future.

I was considering talking to my farrier (and vet in the case of the one with KS) but thought they may automatically try and put me off removing shoes.

I just wanted some guidance or insight from people who know more about feet than me! I can post pics of feet if that provides some helpful advice?

They're both out 24/7 on not fantastic grazing but have hay in the fields and 2 small feeds each day consisting of linseed, high fibre cubes and molasses free chaff.
 
I have 3 tb's barefoot now but before I knew anything about it I always took hind shoes off mine as soon as they arrived. I've hacked, hunted, xc'd, sj'd and all sorts without hinds and never thought anything off it. Mine never got anything molassed anyway but I didn't pay anywhere near as much attention to their diets as I do now they have no shoes at all...!

If I were you I'd start on a good hoof balancer like Pro-balance or Pro-hoof from Progressive earth on Ebay, check the ingredients in the fibre cubes you feed for hidden nasty's and swap to a grass cube or similar if you have too, then wait until they are due to be shod, pull shoes off and see how you go. Don't let the farrier trim the feet too short or touch the frog or sole.
 
Why do you think your farrier will try to put you off removing the shoes? IME farriers have been more positive about it than vets!

Mine had his last set of shoes for this year done today. This farrier and the one before (I moved out of his area) both advocate horses having a break from shoes each year. Chatted to my farrier today about it for ages. His view was that shoes are unnatural, that he thinks more people should give a break because it's better for the feet (and therefore the horse), and that the feet will be stronger for having some time out of shoes.

You need to chat to your vet about the KS horse and I wouldn't want to comment on that, but for a normal, healthy horse, I don't see why you can't remove the shoes over winter. You'd need to think about your work regime as possibly not entirely fair to do only minimal work in the week then expect the horse to do a sponsored ride at the weekend, if it's likely to be somewhere stony. The plan for mine is to school, DR, SJ and hack over winter. Some of our hacking is stony so he might get hoofboots in front for that, but will see how he copes.
 
Thanks for the replies, I do pay quite close attention to diet as understand its a good basis for going barefoot. Both of them have very good feet and hoof quality so something about their diet works for them, hence the possiblity about maybe taking back shoes off for one if not both of them (if conditions allow for the one with KS).

Thanks for the recommendation about the hoof balancer, will look into that. I've checked the high fibre cubes (its bailey's everyday high fibre cubes) the ingredients list molasses! Any recommendation for a high fibre cubes with no hidden molasses, do simple systems do any? I already buy their fibre blocks & linseed from them and rate them as a supplier so would like to stick with them if possible.

CC in answer to your question - just having had previous chats with farrier about barefoot etc, farrier was never that forthcoming about taking shoes off, maybe another chat with him might help with a note with your comments about taking breaks from shoes, thank you :)
 
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