another barefoot query

[siennamum]

I want to keep my youngster barefoot as long as possible. He hates the farrier anyway, so the decision is slightly out of my hands.

He has good feet. Although they were allowed to grow long & distorted till he was 3.5 years & were then drastically cut back, they are now a really nice shape. The farrier trims them, I shape them a bit between visits (stop flares developing).

We have no arena and so a lot of his work is on the road and I'm concerned about how much work he will stand. What do I need to watch out for, he is sound as a pound and goes up rocky tracks these days like a mountain goat.

He gets a NAF hoof supplement, 24/7 turnout & roughage, that's it.

Am I more likely to need to put shoes on him in Winter as his feet will get softer from being wet so much, or should I give up on the Winters and aim for him to try barefoot in the Summer?

I wondered whether he shoudl start coming in at night to allow his feet to dry out and harden... any advice or recommendations welcome.

 

[LucyPriory]

One of the best things you can do for a youngster is to hand walk them over as varied terrain as possible. Always listening to them and not forcing them to walk on something which their feet are not ready for.

So long as you build up carefully and feed an appropriate diet you will not wear your youngsters feet out.

Where most people go wrong is not listening to their horse, doing too much too soon and feeding an inappropriate diet.

Wet is not a massive issue if you horse has healthy feet and can access dry for at least part of each day. The hand walking counts towards this.

The walking will is incredibly important in allowing young baby feet to develop properly into robust, tough adult feet. It breaks my heart to see so many adult horses struggling to stay sound on 'the feet they were born with'.

A bonus is that this is great preparation for any young horse, correctly done they get experience without being trashed.

 

[Kallibear]

The more work he does the faster and stronger his feet will grow. Lots of gentle regular road work is excellent stimulation for his feet!

Don't worry about his feet being 'bare' looking - if he's quite happy on them then you're doing great. Putting shoes on a good pair of feet that don't need them is sacreligious!

As for the wet - as long as you can keep the thrush at bay (difficult with constantly wet feet) then it won't do him any harm - mine are in mud 24/7 over the winter and it doesn't affect his ability to zoom about over rough ground at all.