ahh Barefoot / Unshod again !!

[Horseback Rider]

Whilst cowering in the corner I thought I would let you know that my farrier came last Saturday and after speaking to him I have decided to have my TB's hind shoes taken off next time he is done.

when I got him a year ago he had been turned away unshod and although his feet weren't in great condition more due to diet my farrier has doen a wonderful job with them.

Although this may sound harsh my main motivator behind this decision is money. I pay £ 80 a set every 6 weeks and because everything has gone up and up and I am struggling financially I need to save wherever I can.

My farrier (who is also experienced in barefoot) has said that he can see no reason why he won't cope and in the winter I am realisticly only going to be riding at weekends hacking or in the sand school.

I grew up with horses and seem to recall that the only horses I knew with a full set where those that did a lot of competition or road work. Ponies that where only used in the riding school never had shoes and never had a problem but then they lived out nearly all year round on good grazing so their enviroment was probaly closer to the wild than the way in which many horses are kept now.
I have been reading all the posts on here about " barefoot " with interest and wonder why if many of us have been doing it for years it has suddenly become a phenominon ( can't spell that ) ??

I don't see it as a completly permanent thing if my boy can't cope then the shoes will go back on.

I am going in to hiding now so you can all blast your comments at me !!!

 

[ferrador]

all sounds sensible to me , whats the problem ?
chris

 

[Horseback Rider]

thanks ferrador !

It's just after reading all the threads on here about going barefoot I feel I am now going to be added to the group who think I am doing it because it's " fashionable " ATM.

I just don't see what all the fuss is about really ? ;-)

 

[ferrador]

the barefoot brigade are on the whole extremist , the idea of proper foot care is to do whatever is needed , too many horses wear shoes , too many horses are barefoot , the majority of farriers are in the best position to advise correctly , sounds like you have a good one
chris

 

[amandap]

For many BF is a huge learning curve and I urge you do learn all you can about diet and management to help your horse. Good luck.

 

[maggiesmum]

the barefoot brigade are on the whole extremist , the idea of proper foot care is to do whatever is needed , too many horses wear shoes , too many horses are barefoot , the majority of farriers are in the best position to advise correctly , sounds like you have a good one
chris

Geez..... you make us sound like a terrorist cell!

Personally I found that not only can TB's cope without shoes on all surfaces but that shoes can mask all manner of other issues, my horse was considered to be a bit of a dangerous git - turns out he suffers from LGL which nobody noticed because of the shoes, once the shoes came off it became blindingly obvious that grass = pain = unpleasant behaviour!

I think the idea of proper footcare is to take a good look at your horses diet and act accordingly, not every owner can deal with a barefoot horse and sometimes they just don't have the facilities to.

OP - money is a great motivator and nothing to be ashamed of, times are hard right now and i'd be permanently on beans on toast if I had to shoe both of mine
Do some research and take a holistic view, you never know you might be able to get em all off and as you said if it doesn't work you can put them back on.
Let us know how you get on

 

[brucea]

^^ What she said

Would cost me £300 every 6 weeks for my four - I'm pretty glad I dropped out of that mullarkey!

 

[cptrayes]

Another here who's not ashamed to admit that saving £800 per year per horse is a great motivator!

Farriers who tell people that their horses won't manage barefoot without having a single hardworking barefoot horse in their care?? Farriers who, in my personal experience, meet their previous client out affiliated eventing on a horse that they said would never work barefoot and don't even think about asking how on earth the "impossible" was achieved?? I wonder how many turkeys we'll see queuing up to vote to be eaten this Christmas ?

 

[soloequestrian]

There is no way I could afford to shoe my three and still eat. And they get all the benefits of being bare.

 

[mrdarcy]

Absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to save money! Why put shoes on when horses don't need them. A set of four hoof boots for those who take all the shoes off might set you back a couple of hundred quid but will probably last 12 months, if not longer, depending on how often you use them.

But a huge part of successfuly barefooting is nothing to do with the feet per se. It's about the management of the horse. Shoes mask so many issues. With shoes off there is no where to hide. Diet, diet, diet. Talk to your farrier about suitable diet for barefooting. If he can't help then there is plenty of info on the internet or just ask on here.

Too many farriers still peddle the myth that if a horse isn't working very hard then he can go barefoot but the moment you want to up the work, or do lots on the roads, you need to shoe. This simply isn't born out by the evidence. In fact the opposite is true, harder working horses have much better barefeet than horses that don't do very much.

As for barefoot being a fad, or fashionable - that's not what we're about. We do it because it's better for the horse. We are passionate about it because its better for the horse. And sometimes we are a little over the top about it because we all started out with shod horses and have seen the huge benefits with going barefoot, seen many horses transformed from lame and unrideable to sound and happy riding horses. It really does work - that's why we shout about it!

So get those hinds off - but why not the fronts too?

 

[shirley123]

hi I have a han/tb - he takes after his thoroughbred side and that includes his feet !!. he has been barefoot behind for many years and i have never had any issues what so ever. Approx 3/4 weeks ago have gone barefoot in front. ( he has had past issues with collateral lig. but recovered sound and has been since). Everybody laughed at me when i took him barefoot and all i can say its the best thing i have ever done, so read up on the diet and get plenty of information on environment etc then go for it you have nothing to lose. I am going to make a few people eat there words at the yard

 

[Horseback Rider]

I am only taking the hinds off first as he can be a bit wussy on the front. He lost a shoe in the field the other day was only off for a few hours max but he was a bit footsore after it went back on so am gonna try the hinds first and see how he goes!

Thanks everyone for your support xx

 

[Orangehorse]

I don't know why removing the shoes is seen as a fad, it was simply routine management years ago. Hunters had their shoes off in the summer, polo ponies in the winter. They were the only leisure animals, most others were working. Many farm horses did not have shoes. Ponies probably weren't routinely shod, except the ones pulling carts every day. I expect working carriage horses didn't have a break from shoes, but they didn't last all that long anyway, so when they went lame they were replaced.

It might be an interesting reserach topic.

 

[Oberon]

^^^^^^ What she said.

 

[AndySpooner]

Rapidly coming to the conclusion that horses will benefit from being bare foot in all but really exceptional circumstances.

Diet, exercise and proper trimming are the key, in that order.

 

[amandap]

Can I squeeze 'management' in after exercise AndySpooner? lol

 

[LucyPriory]

I use DETECT......

Diet (appropriate for each individual horse)
Exercise (plenty of appropriate)
Time (to change regime, build up exercise etc)
Environment (sloshing around in pee and poo soup is not helpful)
Committment (to feed, work etc as necessary)
Trim (important but won't fix mistakes in any of the other areas)

 

[amandap]

I like that LucyPriory. Time is so important and an often forgotten factor. As for commitment... crucial.

 

[giveitago]

..he may be footy for a while but thats quite normal. It takes a bit of time for their feet to harden so whilst he may seem like a criplle on day one, persevere and just take it steady.

Best of luck!

 

[ferrador]

you barefooters really crack me up , if a farrier attends to a horse and it goes footy you scream and shout , yet it is quite acceptable for you you to remove shoes and butcher its feet and then say it is normal if it goes lame for weeks because it is going through a transition period
chris

 

[Dizzle]

My TB is also barefoot, has been since January, before that he was on a five week rota, £70 every five weeks was, well, ouch!

We did have a slightly tricky patch over the summer, but a change of trimmers and he has turned into Mr Rock Crunching, so much so I rode him up the rocky gravelly track from the school on Thursday night, I haven’t ridden that since he had shoes on and he was fantastic

The main reason his shoes came off were because he cracked his front hoof from the coronet band down, the only way we can think of him causing this injury was standing on himself (yes, it was the time he was learning turn on the forehand!), if he hadn’t of been wearing metal shoes he never would have cracked his own hoof open like that. The farrier told me that in six months time I wouldn’t be able to get a shoe on that hoof, so I took pre-emptive measures and took them off.

The single biggest mistake I made though… not hacking my young horse for six months, I thought he would be fine in the school and walking round the XC course at our yard and he wasn’t he got bored and sour and a wee bit naughty, bought hoof boots in June and have done nothing but hacking out since, he is now back to being forward going in the school and laid back on hacks!

 

[Dizzle]

you barefooters really crack me up , if a farrier attends to a horse and it goes footy you scream and shout , yet it is quite acceptable for you you to remove shoes and butcher its feet and then say it is normal if it goes lame for weeks because it is going through a transition period
chris

My farrier did a fantastic job shoeing my horse thank you very much, he's also done a fantastic job on a tb at work who had no heels on his hinds and the horse has remained barefoot and in full work and now has lovely hind hooves with good heels.

If a trimmer trimmed my horse and it went lame I would scream and shout.
If a farrier shod my horse and it went lame I would scream and shout.

I changed trimmers because I wasn't happy with my last one, just the same as I would change farriers if I wasn't happy.

 

[ferrador]

dizzle my point is that the bua crowd slam farriers all the time yet say it is acceptable for a horse to go footy when you adopt their way . it is not acceptable for anybody to lame a horse for what ever reason in my book
chris

 

[Laura1812]

Actually KC La Pierre teaches first and foremost 'Do No Harm', but not sure if he and his army qualifies as BUA!!

But I agree horses should not be left in pain.

 

[ferrador]

laura 1812 , you must understand my point then ? if you read hundreds of posts here on many different threads , too often people say that you should expect you horse to be lame whilst it goes through a transition period , surely that is totally unacceptable whatever the chosen protocol ?
chris

 

[Dizzle]

What's BUA?

Personally I don’t find it acceptable for a horse to be footy/lame/footsore, mine has always been fine on hard ground/soft ground and only had issues if he stands on a stone, hence my not hacking for six months and using alternative surfaces to condition his feet without causing discomfort.

I also don’t find the effect of the concussion caused by using metal shoes on the road acceptable for his long term joint health.

 

[AndySpooner]

you barefooters really crack me up , if a farrier attends to a horse and it goes footy you scream and shout , yet it is quite acceptable for you you to remove shoes and butcher its feet and then say it is normal if it goes lame for weeks because it is going through a transition period
chris

Of course a horse will be footy if you take shoes off. The shoes have changed the feet and made them weak and sensitive, so it will need some time to allow its feet to adjust and recover. Thats why they put boots on them! No one in their right mind would expect to take shoes off then cart about as though years of shoeing hadn't any effect.

People only go through a transition period if their horse was shod in the first place.

We've all seen young horses walking about in their 'new shoes' as though their feet belong to someone else, and the farrier wisely says 'he'll get used to them.' Just another transition, till his feet go numb. Its a lot easier to ruin good feet than try to restore them.

 

[ferrador]

barefoot uber allis, spelling might not be correct , it basically means barefoot at all cost , or at least thats how it translates in my part of the world
chris

 

[Laura1812]

laura 1812 , you must understand my point then ? if you read hundreds of posts here on many different threads , too often people say that you should expect you horse to be lame whilst it goes through a transition period , surely that is totally unacceptable whatever the chosen protocol ?
chris

No I totally agree with you. There are enough tools out there - pads,boots, casts, wraps etc to make sure that no horse has to be lame in the transition period - in fact it is counter productive because you will likely end up bruising feet which is rather unhelpful if you are trying to heal them.

 

[cptrayes]

I think it's perfectly acceptable for a horse to be footie on stones or difficult surfaces when its shoes first come off. It's not acceptable for the owner to fail to protect it from that with avoidance or boots, but I don't know of any trimmers who would not give the same advice.

If you say that you cannot take the shoes off a horse who will feel the lack of them, then you would be preventing the very horses that it helps most from improving their hoof quality.

I also happen to think that it was perfectly acceptable for the rehab horse that I had to be quite sore when his own weight bent his desperately weak feet in the middle (I have the photos of a change in angle in 24 hours). The alternative was that he was so unsound and uncomfortable in shoes, after multiple failed treatments for navicular, that he was booked in to be put to sleep. At ten now has years and years of wonderful sound life left to live and a couple who absolutely adore him to look after him. He would have chosen the moderate amount of discomfort he went through for less than three months to be given the rest of his life pain free, as he clearly now is from his demeanour and his performance.

As with all things, it depends on the horse.

It's "barefoot uber alles" Ferrador, with an umlaut that I don't have on my keyboad over the u. I don't know a single person who posts on this board who would subscribe to that point of view but I know plenty of trolls who will try to get some frisson going by accusing people of it.