Any one else's unshod/barefoot horses feeling their feet in this weather?

Mince Pie

Mince Pie

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As title really :) I'm finding that cobby is really starting to feel his feet at the moment, he's on a barefoot diet and has time in so his feet can dry - I've put him on the shoeing list for next week to have fronts on for the first time since I bought him 5 1/2 years ago!
 
Not any more; had her shod on Friday and she walked away sound - having hobbled in very sore indeed. She's been unshod for the past 18 months and nothing has changed except the weather, rotten!
 
Nope my mare seems to be fine :)
She only trips when she is gawping around and not looking where she is going, not because she is feeling her feet :D
 
I've just had my mare's fronts taken off. I'm not riding atm because of a whiplash injury so took her for a walk today, down the stony lane and up & down the road in a circular route. She coped fine, her shoes have been off a week. We had her hinds taken off 18 months ago to introduce her to the herd and never had them put back on. We changed her diet to our usual high fibre, low sugar one, at the same time. She did have rather tender feet at first, so I was really pleased today that she had no problems. The farrier is prepared to come back at short notice and put the shoes back on but thinks she will cope.
 
Ours are all fine :)

Bruce's fronts have flared slightly, but still rock hard and sound on tarmac and gravel.

Both TB's still rock crunching and without a care in the world.
 
no, its interesting because the last time the weather did this and their routine was disrupted with being in a bit more etc was when he was footy but right now he is doing pretty well (he isn't rock crunching yet anyway).
 
My lad is sore, but he was trimmed a bit short last week, and I think he is sugar sensitive, and as the grass is like Spring grass at the mo I think this is his problem, he is fine with his boots on.
 
My chap is much better since adding mag ox to his diet (was very footy at beginning of june)......but then, he's also in at night so feet get chance to dry out.
 
Ok guys, seems to be him then - he's out at night and in during the day with soaked haylage. He gets a small feed of dengie good doer chaff, crushed oats and linseed (was footy before the oats) with some limestone flour to balance.
Last few weeks he has been a bit pottery on the stony paths but really strides out when on grass, farrier has ruled out LGL.
 
Don't know about the TB, as he doesn't leave the field. The kiddo is still turning boulders to dust with his immense feet. If anything, his collateral grooves have gotten deeper; hoof pick barely reaches the bottom, now!
 
It bugs the life out of me that people think horses that were sound all winter are now unsound because of the rain, and putting shoes on.

IT'S THE GRASS!!! Or you might have let them get thrush.

Shoes will mask the issues, they won't solve the problem. If your newly shod horses go on to get get full blown laminitis you will have no-one to blame but yourselves.
 
I'm well aware that grass is a contributing factor CPTrayes, hence the reason he is in a field with sparse grazing overnight when the sugars are lower. Correct me if I'm wrong but nob molassed chaff and linseed is a good diet for 'barefoot' horses?? The haylage is soaked for nearly 20 hours to get rid of all the sugars - can't use hay as even soaked hay makes him cough.

Also if you bothered to read my last post we (the farrier and I) have already ruled out LGL and he is only very slightly overweight which is being worked on.

We ruled it out by trotting him up after a week of being turned out during the day to see if there was any change. We also walked him up a gravel track both in hand and ridden. There was no change. I trust my farrier implicitly so if he says there is no LGL then I believe him.
 
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Mine is shod and has fabulous feet, yet has a loose shoe! Never lost a shoe or had anything like that in his life. Definitely weather related i'd say.
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
I'm well aware that grass is a contributing factor CPTrayes, hence the reason he is in a field with sparse grazing overnight when the sugars are lower. Correct me if I'm wrong but nob molassed chaff and linseed is a good diet for 'barefoot' horses?? The haylage is soaked for nearly 20 hours to get rid of all the sugars - can't use hay as even soaked hay makes him cough.

Also if you bothered to read my last post we (the farrier and I) have already ruled out LGL and he is only very slightly overweight which is being worked on.
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You have not answered my question. HOW have you ruled out LGL? If you have come up with a reliable test for it, we'd all love to know, because as far as I know there isn't one at the moment except to totally remove the horse from grass and see if it gets better.

Your horse is already fat, by your own admission, which makes him a loaded gun as far as LGL is concerned in warm wet grass growing weather.

Your definition of "sparse" may not be mine. It is amazing how fast the lawn can grow in this weather, and all that growth in any lawn is being eaten off in any "sparse" grazing.

If your horse was mine I would have him off the grass completely for three days and see how unhappy he was on the stones then. You've had him nearly six years and one spot of footiness and on go a set of shoes? Makes no sense to me but if you want to waste your money that way and possibly risk your horse going lami without you being able to see the warning signs that's entirely up to you.
 
Cptrayes I have edited my post :)

He has been footy for about 4 weeks, since before we moved yards. When we moved we were required to spend 72 hours in for him to be wormed - no change in his footiness.

He is very slightly overweight and it is being worked on.
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Broke_But_Happy said:
He has been footy for about 4 weeks, since before we moved yards. When we moved we were required to spend 72 hours in for him to be wormed - no change in his footiness.

He is very slightly overweight and it is being worked on.
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If I was in your shoes with a suddenly unhappy horse after 6 years of barefoot I would be testing for Cushings and Insulin Resistance before I would be masking his problems with shoes. If your photo is recent it looks as if he did not grow a good summer coat? Does he twitch or get irritated if you squeeze the top of his neck just in front of the wither?

Worming can in itself cause a sensitive horse to go footie. It is well documented on barefoot forums.


Broke_But_Happy said:
We ruled it out by trotting him up after a week of being turned out during the day to see if there was any change. We also walked him up a gravel track both in hand and ridden. There was no change. I trust my farrier implicitly so if he says there is no LGL then I believe him.
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That is not a test for LGL it is only a test for changes in footiness between daytime and nightime grazing.

Your farrier would be far from alone in being a farrier who can't tell a case of LGL. What reason does he give you why your horse is suddenly footie after 6 years or more? Are you absolutely sure he doesn't just have a bit of thrush?



ps I am arguing with you because there are only two reasons why I can see that you would have posted. One is that you feel uncomfortable about shoeing a horse who has been without them all this time and want support in your decision to do that. The other is that you are still hoping that you might avoid it.
 
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I appreciate that, and you're right - I would rather avoid it, but there are different ways to skin a cat ;)

Yes that photo was taken yesterday, he always has had cat hairs from when I've had him (I got him when he was 5).

I'm wondering it is the change in surface that is the problem - just before I left the previous yard a load of large angular stones were used to re-lay the path that we used to get between the field and his stable, we also have similar stones on the bridleways at the new yard. He is happy on tarmac, and rounded stones, but I would have thought that he should be better on the 'sharper' stones after 4 weeks :confused:

I have just ordered 85% mag ox from ebay and will give him a couple of weeks on that before reviewing the situation.

ETA: yes sure it's not thrush - have been treating his feet just in case and farrier (saw him Weds) is happy there is none there.
 
OK, mag ox is a great idea :D Can I also persuade you to put him on yeast? Brewers yeast is cheaper but varies in quality and palatability. Yea-sacc is what I feed, 15g a day. Yeast has two anti-inflammatory effects on the gut and one of my horses is an out and out laminitic if he is not getting yeast and another that I lost recently was footie without it.

For the sake of your purse if nothing else, I hope that works for you both :)

Lastly, because of the wet, I would also flush his soles and frogs liberally with milton, or 3% hydrogen peroxide, or purple spray or anything else that will zap thrush, daily for a week or two, just in case.



ps if mag ox works and your boy is not a picky feeder, find your local farm supplies shop and buy it as Calmag. It will cost you about £15 for 25 kilos - 3 years supply!
 
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CPT - can I just ask you a question please? :)

OP said in her post above that her horse is sound on tarmac and rounded stones, but still "footy" on sharp stones. Would it not be normal for any horse to take...what can I call it....an "off" step if they were to randomly step on an isolated stone, in order to self-prevent themselves getting a bruise? (I hope you can make sense of that question!)
 
Why would anyone prefer to keep their horse in pain in order to "prove" that being unshod was best, when the simple, and time honoured, solution is to shoe? Is this not why shoes were invented in the first place: to protect horses feet when the horn wears down faster than it grows due to the workload, or perhaps chipping of the feet?
 
Cptrayes, thank you - he's a cob so not fussy at all! :rolleyes: I will look into those.

Hollyhocks - yes that is exactly what he does, but he also strides out better on the rounded stones/grass/tarmac - hence the reason I thought he was 'footy'.
 
Cortez said:
Why would anyone prefer to keep their horse in pain in order to "prove" that being unshod was best, when the simple, and time honoured, solution is to shoe? Is this not why shoes were invented in the first place: to protect horses feet when the horn wears down faster than it grows due to the workload, or perhaps chipping of the feet?
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No one sane would Cortez.

But there are many of us who would not have a horse who had been fine for 18 months without shoes shod because it suddenly went footie for 10 days, as you have. Some of us would prefer to investigate what has changed that means our horse can no longer cope, because it is usually an issue that will affect the health of the whole horse, not just its feet.
 
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