advice, bringing back into work and barefoot!

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smellsofhorse

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So my boy was on total box rest for 10 weeks, had his shoes removed in week 1.

Then still on box rest but increasing time spend on horses walker twice a day. Horse walker has rubber floor.

Hopefully from Friday which will be 4 weeks on walker, vet will say I can get on him, walk out and start introducing trot.

Basically what should I feed him to help his feet and not get sore?
Other management tips?

He may be allowed restricted turnout after another 2-4 weeks.
 
He needs to be on a low sugar, low starch diet to give his feet the best chance. You should also have him on a broad spec vit and min supplement and you might also want to supplement him with Magnesium, Biotin and Brewers yeast but I would see how you go on the basic diet first.

Now... work wise. It doubt he will be able to come off box rest and be happy doing much work without his shoes on initially.

I would swap one of his walker sessions every other day for a walk on a hard surface (20 minutes at a brisk walk) and gradually build him up from there. You need to condition his feet to the workload you expect of them which might take you a while. If it doesn't, you are very lucky. The ruber floor of a walker is nothing like walking on tarmac / concrete or over stoney ground so you need to start preparing him fo this.
 
What is his current diet like? What do his feet look like now? Have you prepared for soreness and bought boots? Have you got a suitable exercise plan which includes walking barefoot lots to get him used to different surfaces? Unridden at first?
 
I would have him on additional magnesium oxide and on yeast (brewers or yea-sacc) immediately.

I would be hand walking him on different surfaces now instead of putting him in the horsewalker. It'll do him a lot more good than walking in small circles as well.

If he is fine and then goes footie "when the ground goes hard" in spring, be aware that it is far more likely that he has gone footie because the grass has come through.
 
Leading in hand as much as you can on as many different surfaces as you can.
Building up time on Tarmac.
if you have access to a horse you can lead him from that's a good thing to do it was a big help to me with mine as at first I did short ridden hacks on Tarmac and longer ones lead.
I started trotting in the school as he and I felt happier with that ( he's a dressage horse)
I still only do short trots on the road but I would not have been doing much with shoes on as he hacks for down time from schooling.
I tend to do one day out and about then one day in school.
He started work around two months ago and is now doing two to three hacks a week between forty minutes and a hour and ten minutes schooling on the other days forty minutes to one hour one rest day a week turn out most days.
I have just stared walking on stoney tracks leading him off another.
I got a barefoot trimmer to do his feet last weekend this was a good thing to do as I was able to ask lots of questions I would recommend you ask round your area or ask on here to find someone
I also enjoyed Feet first barefoot performance and rehabilitation by Nic Barker and Sarah Braithwaite which has a good bit on feeding and useful websites listed.
read the old threads on here as they also mentain useful websites.
I have not found as difficult as I had feared a bit alarming at first as I was really worried about making him sore.
 
He is on brewers yeast and magnesium oxide.
Gets herbal mix just to get him to eat.
Tried fast fibre but he thought that was boring.
While in box rest he cannot be walked in hand, he won't allow it!
So its either the walker or ridden, when vet agrees!
 
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