Am I making a mistake by giving dizzy the year off while she goes barefoot?

AmiRobertson

AmiRobertson

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Hello me again! So I have been doing loads of barefoot research, dizzys diet has been changed to fast fibre, micronised linseed and farriers formula. She has been off work now for 4 weeks (since going lame and having X-rays) she is still not quite sound but is living out during the day and in at night with hay. The back shoes have been off for 8 weeks now and the fronts are coming off this weekend and she will be out 24/7 from the beginning of June. And I am keeping her feet clean and scrubbed regularly.

I was going to effectively turn her away until November as she is 3 and a half and having not had the greatest starts in life before coming to me I wanted her to go and be a baby for a while before essentially rebacking next January after a couple of months of groundwork.

However the more I am reading the more I am seeing that the ridden and Inhand work on different surfaces is key to the barefoot working. I am better off giving her a month in the field to adjust and then introducing some walks Inhand leading onto light hacking? Or is my original plan fine as it is?

Oh she is being measured for hoof boots as well when her fronts come off so will have them ASAP :)

Thank you for reading!
 
If you don't condition her feet, then her feet will never become conditioned ;)

Lots of in hand walking on smooth tarmac will do her feet the world of good, even if you have to boot at first, and then boot to get to the smooth tarmac :)
 
Given her age and lameness, I don't think there's anything wrong with giving her some time off. So long as you are aware that the real barefoot rehab starts with exercise. You could always put some pea gravel down around the water trough in order to give her some stimulation while she's turned away.
 
I am better off giving her a month in the field to adjust and then introducing some walks Inhand leading onto light hacking?
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This is what I would do, and in fact we have done with our youngster. I would also lunge or free school as well on a forgiving surface once you start leading in-hand and light hacking as it is the movement that promotes and stimulates growth.
You need to stimulate the feet at the same time as getting them used to 'rough and hard' surfaces. If the horse appears a bit ouchy, ride/lead/exercise on a soft surface for a while, then return to the road after a couple of days. We have been doing this for the last 3 weeks and horse is doing fine -we have not used boots at all.
 
I think I will give her a shorter period time off so maybe 1-2months without shoes living out and then start the walks as we are doing this to hopefully correct her pedal bones which are currently flat and her soles are very thin and basically it's been on and off lameness since I had her. Lots of 'no one would blame you if you put her to sleep' comments but I want her to have a chance which means we do this properly :)
 
And I am keeping her feet clean and scrubbed regularly.
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Take care not to overdo it! The healthiest feet are those that get lots of stimulation by contact with the ground and hard slightly abrasive surfaces- Too much washing will destroy good as well as bad bugs.
 
Picking out is good, but I personally would scrub (with something mild like just soapy water) once a week?? Thrush likes moist and warm, so the drier the feet are the better! If you see/smell thrush then once scrubbed you can spray with something (eg iodine/ salt water/apple cider vinegar) and then leave dry-just picking them out, for a week.
 
Oh ok I will reduce the scrubbing although I have only been using water and a brush no soap etc and then giving them a spray of iodine. Thank you so much again for the advice :)
 
AmiRobertson said:
I am currently picking out everyday and scrubbing 2-3 times a week. Is that too much?
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that's more than I do in an entire winter.(between 10) :D
If I had thrush I would treat it very hard daily for a couple of weeks. Appart from that all I do is run a bradawl around the white line to remove any grit after riding and wire brush the feet out thoroughly when I come to trim them. The rest of the time the mud etc just packs in.

Sorry I am not familiar with your horse's history but why is it shod at 3.5 and already has flat feet and thin soles? I think if you have the answer to that ie poor diet, poor quality nutrition or whateve the previous owner did (or didn't do) then you will have a better chance of working out how to progress.
Good for you giving the horse a chance. Hope it works out.
 
Hello paddy thank you so much for that. It's a very long and sad story I bought her 8 months ago as a rising 5yr old and I am not ashamed to say that through my lack of experience and impulsiveness over how much I liked her I didn't notice. Also as luck would have it the vet I picked (not seller) to do vetting wound up being arrested two weeks later for being in dealers pockets. The Seller ha bought her from ascot early last year and she had been brought over from Ireland. Tb who didn't make the grade for racing. When she had been with me for a month we started experiencing some serious napping which was down to a back problem which a lot of physio has solved but when the dentist looked at her he confirmed she was actually an early 3. Her problems are down to the idiot who shod her and backed her so early and it makes me so angry. However this horse has an amazing temperament and an enthusiasm for life and work the little ridden work we have done she has been so forward pleasing I am determined to fix her problems and I have a very good support network :) the sad thing is there are so many others like her out there :(
 
Just read through your other post.

From that additional information, given how early she was backed I would definitely give her a good few months off to be a baby.

There are some medio lateral imbalances and distal descent in her hooves, as well as the thin soles and flat p3 angle.

These are all resolvable :). But it sounds like she's had a bit of a rough start before you got her, so I'd say there's no rush at all.

Good luck with her, she looks like a sweetie :D.
 
Will share my experience as may help. I gave my 4yr old ex racer the winter off so about 5 months in total, I'd taken him barefoot last August and he'd coped ok.

Having the winter off did us no favours, it's only really been since he stared hacking work in Feb with boots that I've seen his feet change, I wish now I'd kept up hacking all winter, it's really been in the last few weeks he's got so much better... I even hacked him out without his boots the other days and he walked the best he ever has.

I do think the mineral supplement (Forage plus) I give him has been instrumental though, he's been on it about 3 months now and you can see how he feet are growing differently at the top, by the time he's grown a whole new hoof his feet will be much smaller and tighter and I presume because of that his sole will also be thicker...
 
Trying to edit!

I did feel my boy needed a break though, he's matured physically and mentally over winter so the time off did him the world of good in that way. Maybe give her a few months off then start hacking with view to having good hooves by spring 2014?
 
AmiRobertson said:
I am currently picking out everyday and scrubbing 2-3 times a week. Is that too much?
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Somebody posted a link from here about foot care, sorry can't find it.

What it said was that picking feet out everyday is important because the bacteria multiplies fast around the frog and everytime you pick the feet out, you remove a whole lot of that bacteria in one go. It might be immediately replaced with more mud, but without so much of the bacteria.

I kind of had the opposite problem to you. My mares feet were better when she was out on the forest, and got worse when she was kept in the field. As she was unhandled, she couldn't come out until the last couple of months.

I'm noticing that just going for walks it's having a really good effect on her feet, getting them back to how they were. We are also getting on top of the thrush as getting her out on the roads is giving them a chance to be stimulated and a chance to dry out which this winter has been a nightmare.

And it's fun.:D
We wander around, she grazes a bit on the hedgerows, we stop and chat to people, she gets fussed.
And we walk up hills which is good for both of us.
 
Thank you guys :) all invaluable advice and experiences! This all very new to me so this is all massive help. So I think dizzy can look forward to 2-3months in the field being a baby and then some lovely strolls! And fingers crossed for some healthy hooves next spring ready for her to be brought on :)
 
AmiRobertson said:
Hello paddy thank you so much for that. It's a very long and sad story I bought her 8 months ago as a rising 5yr old and I am not ashamed to say that through my lack of experience and impulsiveness over how much I liked her I didn't notice. Also as luck would have it the vet I picked (not seller) to do vetting wound up being arrested two weeks later for being in dealers pockets. The Seller ha bought her from ascot early last year and she had been brought over from Ireland. Tb who didn't make the grade for racing. When she had been with me for a month we started experiencing some serious napping which was down to a back problem which a lot of physio has solved but when the dentist looked at her he confirmed she was actually an early 3. Her problems are down to the idiot who shod her and backed her so early and it makes me so angry. However this horse has an amazing temperament and an enthusiasm for life and work the little ridden work we have done she has been so forward pleasing I am determined to fix her problems and I have a very good support network :) the sad thing is there are so many others like her out there :(
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gosh, what a nightmare but well done for sticking with her. Anything up to a year off is not going to hurt at her age. She has a lot of childhood to make up. :)
I am sure a good trimmer or farrier will be able to help you get her going out for walks in hand to give her an interest and you will gradually start to build up the sole.
good luck with her.
 
Thank you paddy :) it has been a nightmare but she has also changed my life in so many amazing ways and I can not let her down. I think that's the most fustrating part for me is that when we ride and work together it's just works and she responds to every slight aid from me like she is an extension of myself sounds so cheesy but I have not experienced it with any other horse.
 
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