Advice needed for barefoot please.

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jane6394

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After not being able to get rid of persistant thrush my farrier has advised me to take my horses back shoes off. This was to eneable the frog to work more effectivly. To cut a long story short, would appreciate any advice on horse boots as I would like to contine to ride him. He is still a little sore and I have read that the whole transition to barefoot takes approx 6 months. It is also advised that it is better for your horse if you can ride during this transition. I am only a plodder, just do walk trot and a bit of canter on a variety of surfaces. I have a little arthritis in my finger joints so I want boots that are quite easy to put on.
Has anyone had experiences with Boa? I think I am leaning toward them. Please help!
 
As you are only planning to take the back shoes off can I suggest that you try him without boots to begin with and see how he goes before you put yourself to the possibly unnecessary expense of boots. Many, many horses cope perfectly well without hind shoes.
 
Sorry I didn't read your post properly (where's the embarrassed smiley?!?). Is he sore on soft surfaces as well as hard? Can you ride him in a school or on grass to help stimulate the frog back into proper function to begin with, before progressing onto roads?
 
I used Boas on my old horse's hind feet, you do have to wrestle with them a bit to get them on on, getting them off is OK. I found them a lot easier to get on than Easiboots (aka Swearyboots) though ;) The main drawbacks I found with the Boas were the tread, which I found was terrible if I rode on wet grass or mud and my old horse would slither around all over the place. They also tended to rub the tops of his heels sometimes, they may have been a bit too loose but they are very easy to overtighten so I erred on the side of caution. They also were good at falling off if we cantered and 'hunt the hoofboot' became a game I was very practised at. They were brilliant if all I did was walk & trot on the roads though which was great because the reason I needed them was because my horse scuffed his hind heels when he walked downhill on roads & he took too much height off them.

Good luck! :)
 
I think the Old Macs are easy to put on once you get used to them. They are a bit of a fiddle at first, but they open out well so should be okay for stiff joints - there isn't much riving around with them. I've heard that the Cavallo Simple Boots are good to put on too.
 
Depends on the size and shape of his feet. If he can fit into the Easyboot Gloves then they are easily the best boot on the market at the moment. Renegades are also really good. Old Macs work well for lots of people - a good tip is, to prevent rubbing, use the pastern wraps that come with Boas rather than the ones that come with the Old Macs. The Boa wraps are better, but the Old Macs are better boots.

I should also add that thrush is diet related - so have a look at his diet, cut out any feeds with molasses in (most commercial mixes and cubes contain molasses), look for feeds low in sugars/starch, watch his grass in take and avoid Horselyxs and things like that as they are basically just huge lumps of sugar!
 
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Have you tried soaking his feet twice weekly in something like cleantrax, apple cider vinegar solution? That along with cramming sudocream and or anti fungal cream into the frog cleft may well help.
 
Thanks everyone for your advice. have left my big softie for a few weeks to let him get used to no shoes. Did have to feel so sorry for him at first, he wouldnt walk and kept lfting his feet up and holding them in the air. He is a bit of a softy though I must admitt! Big confession< I went out and bought some Boa boots for him, did manage to get them on quite easily, but havnt ridden since as we have had a couple of weeks in Cornwall. Sat in morning and gunna give em a whirl for first time!

Ps have tried everthing and I mean everything for his thrush, but the scabs around his heals have healed quite nicely without doing much of anything. Tried expensive hoof supplements and even honey! Wii keep you posted on the ride in morning,
 
he wouldnt walk and kept lfting his feet up and holding them in the air.
Click to expand...

Don't be surprised at this - often when the shoes come off it must feel like your foot feels when it is recovering from beihaving "gone to sleep" - the sensations and feelings are strange for them at first.

For several weeks after my big chap's shoes came off, he pawed everything, and tested every change df surface. It seemed like he was looking for things to paw at!

Thrush - I honestly find that Milton works best - either as a tub or preferably in a spray. Not a fan of creams and gunks. Milton soak and then let it dry in the air. Sorts out thrush quite quickly.
 
I think there must be different sorts of thrush or something because I found milton was rubbish, but cider vinegar was good :o My mare had quite bad WLD and thrush when her shoes came off, this stuff was brilliant :cool:

http://www.pioneerpersonalcare.com/White-Line-Disease-Herbal-Balm(316264).htm

If you use their liquid soap and then apply the balm after it seems to get rid of anything fungal. Once I'd got on top of the problem with this I only needed to squirt cider vinegar on her feet a couple of times a week to control the thrush.

My experience is that once you get the hoof balance right and the heel/frog get some decent stimulation, thrush improves no end - this is presumably why your farrier recommended taking off the hind shoes. I was squirting cider vinegar on for years because P's front feet tended to get a bit whiffy (yes I'm a hoofpick sniffer :o). Last winter her trimmer took quite a bit of height of her heels to try & stimulate her heels and frogs to develop better structure, they were always slightly contracted and weak. Her frogs have definitely improved since & they are plumper than they were, they exfoliate a lot better and I can't remember the last time I needed to use the CV because he feet were smelly. So maybe something similar will happen with your horse ;) Hope so, good luck! :)
 
Couldn't agree more with these posts, you should find that your horses feet improve no end without shoes. We have never needed boots on hind feet, but they are all different.

(Why not go the whole hog and take the fronts off as well).

Renegades,are the best we've used.

Good luck.
 
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