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

Oberon said:
FWIW - if anyone wants my opinion :D

I think shoeing a horse to improve their comfort is excellent if that is the best thing for the horse. And the owners should be commended for putting their horse's need first.

I would beg all those that are shoeing though to please allow a break from shoes once a year for a few months - just like we used to 'back in the day'.

That way you get the best of both worlds :).
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Sorry to hijack this thread OP.

If you were to pull the shoes for a few months, which months would be the most beneficial for the horse? Horse doing hacking and RC activities all year round. Out 24/7/365.
thanks.
 
MissMistletoe said:
Sorry to hijack this thread OP.

If you were to pull the shoes for a few months, which months would be the most beneficial for the horse? Horse doing hacking and RC activities all year round. Out 24/7/365.
thanks.
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I do it to suit me ie when there's less to do with a particular horse I remove the shoes if you can do twelve weeks in each year it makes a huge difference.
It's only recently I have come to realise you can remove the shoes and do a degree of work useing boots or completely BF I am still feeling my way with this
I think the hardest time to remove shoes is mid July though August when the ground is hardest ( may not be a issue this year).
 
Pale Rider said:
BBH, a fatty crest, fat pads near the shoulder, puffiness over the eyes.
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If you had a good doer with small fat pads on shoulder but normal crest and no puffiness over eyes would you worry.
Hes fatter than I would like but not in show condition very difficult to get wieght off until he's hunting hard.
 
I ride my friends barefoot Arab x and he's become very foot sore recently. Farrier says its the wet weather.
Having read through the thread I will speak to his owner about this. He is also very careful on his feet after they've been trimmed. He's not being ridden at the moment. I asked yesterday whether shed checked his digital pulse and she did not know what I meant. I read somewhere that this is more relevant to laminitis than warm hooves??

Thank you CP and others. Very informative thread.

In the land of the blind the one eyed man is indeed King. :rolleyes:
 
Clava said:
...but all of my horse have great feet in the wet winter and don't need boots and they are 24/7 in mud??? however, come the spring and the grass things change rapidly :(

So how can it be the weather for them?
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I'm finding that the grass is still very spring like because of the weather, my fields look sparse but all the horses are holding their weight so i know they are getting enough grass. added to that the never ending wet and they are all suffering with soft coronet bands and softer frogs than usual. After that early hot spell we had and then it turned wet i had the first case of foot abcess i've ever had in any of them, and they all live out 24/7 through the worst and best of the weather and have for the last 6 years.
 
Goldenstar, if the crest looks, sort of wrong, when he has lost weight, he's probably IR, if your worried, I'd get him tested. You know what your dealing with then.
 
Ibblebibble said:
I'm finding that the grass is still very spring like because of the weather, my fields look sparse but all the horses are holding their weight so i know they are getting enough grass. added to that the never ending wet and they are all suffering with soft coronet bands and softer frogs than usual. After that early hot spell we had and then it turned wet i had the first case of foot abcess i've ever had in any of them, and they all live out 24/7 through the worst and best of the weather and have for the last 6 years.
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Yes the weather has an effect in terms of diet IMO, but not in terms of the wet which I was responding to. :)
 
Pale Rider said:
Goldenstar, if the crest looks, sort of wrong, when he has lost weight, he's probably IR, if your worried, I'd get him tested. You know what your dealing with then.
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No his crest looks great when he's in work looks fine now too he was very overweight when we got him I would now say is the looks abit too well category he has gained in his spring rest but not a huge amount but we are on his case the whole time I hate to think what would happen if you just turned him out.
If I can't settle these feet down I am going to shoe him and up the work.
 
MissMistletoe said:
Sorry to hijack this thread OP.

If you were to pull the shoes for a few months, which months would be the most beneficial for the horse? Horse doing hacking and RC activities all year round. Out 24/7/365.
thanks.
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Whichever time of year is easiest for your schedule.

I would say spring is the hardest time though, with the rich grass.

However - everyone seems obsessed with the weather being the cause of all hoof issues (even though it's just as wet in winter ;)) so perhaps everyone needs to move to a warmer climate to have happy hooves :rolleyes:
 
Ah yes Oberon, but it's not warm enough in winter for "spring grass"!

Did you see the photo of the problem tracks? Is it normal for a good unshod horse to be happy enough to walk on it? I've never had to ride on anything like this before :confused: Also for my cob, who has been unshod for at least 5 1/2 years, how long would you expect it to take for his feet to adjust to that kind of ground?
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
Ah yes Oberon, but it's not warm enough in winter for "spring grass"!

Did you see the photo of the problem tracks? Is it normal for a good unshod horse to be happy enough to walk on it? I've never had to ride on anything like this before :confused: Also for my cob, who has been unshod for at least 5 1/2 years, how long would you expect it to take for his feet to adjust to that kind of ground?
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Ah yes - but aparantly it's ALL ABOUT the weather :(.

I saw the problem tracks. They wouldn't be a problems to me - but if your horse is uncomfortable and you don't know how to help him and can't use boots - then shoes are the way to go :).

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Thanks for that, how would you get him used to it? We have access to all kinds of terrain and he's on a low sugar diet. How long should it take him (I know it's a rough estimate as all horses are different) to get used to walking on this type of ground?

He is very pottery and reluctant to walk out, should I walk him on tarmac for a while to get his feet a bit harder before asking him to walk on the stones? The track to his field is stony and downhill so he'll be exposed to them constantly in short doses either way.

ETA: as an afterthought, put him in a hunting situation and he'd go anywhere through adrenaline! ;)
 
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Equilibrium Ireland said:
If you suspect IR please get a vet to do a definitive test. Honest to dog. It was like the woman who told me she had the ulcer test. Run finger along belly. If they react you need ulcer meds. Excuse me, the herbal cure. Funny how when her associate's horse was diagnosed via scope with ulcers they used the real meds. Some horses are more reactive to others about certain things. A horse can be IR and not react and a horse can be not IR and react to the test.

Funny how we're ultra critical of a farrier doing certain tests for LGL and then offer up this test for IR.

Terri
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Are you talking about my posts? If so, I suggest you read them properly :mad:

I did not say that a sensitive neck was a test for IR. The test for IR is to take blood samples and measure the levels of insulin in the blood. But if your horse has sensitive feet and a sensitive neck, then it would be a very good idea to rule out IR, don't you think :confused:

There is no test for LGL that I know of. If you know better please let us know.
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
Thanks for that, how would you get him used to it? We have access to all kinds of terrain and he's on a low sugar diet. How long should it take him (I know it's a rough estimate as all horses are different) to get used to walking on this type of ground?

He is very pottery and reluctant to walk out, should I walk him on tarmac for a while to get his feet a bit harder before asking him to walk on the stones? The track to his field is stony and downhill so he'll be exposed to them constantly in short doses either way.
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:) :)
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
Thanks for that, how would you get him used to it? We have access to all kinds of terrain and he's on a low sugar diet. How long should it take him (I know it's a rough estimate as all horses are different) to get used to walking on this type of ground?

He is very pottery and reluctant to walk out, should I walk him on tarmac for a while to get his feet a bit harder before asking him to walk on the stones? The track to his field is stony and downhill so he'll be exposed to them constantly in short doses either way.
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Bump, sorry :o
 
Broadly speaking there are two reasons why you'd be struggling. One is under developed weak feet, and the other is sensitive feet which is usually dietary related.

I know everyone seems convinced that it's the weather playing havoc, but to me it sounds like your horse is struggling with too many carbs. Whilst this remains the case, I doubt he'll ever be happy over that surface, no matter how much conditioning you do. So if you don't know, or can't fix what's making him sensitive then you're right to shoe, if booting's not for you.

Another thing to bear in mind is that without a good strong wall connection, it is likely that you may not have completely adequate sole depth, which won't be helping. Wall connection is compromised by carb overload, so the two things are closely connected.

You may find that if you increased his exercise he'd be sounder over tough surfaces, but you'd have to boot in the mean time; feet will only improve if correct biomechanics are in effect, and for this the horse must be moving comfortably.

I apologise if you've answered any of this in the last 11 pages and I've missed it ;). Have you ever removed grass 100% and kept him on soaked hay to see if his comfort over tough surfaces improves? Would be an interesting test.

Other than that, I can only think to suggest posting hoof pics, if you haven't already, to see if there's anything obvious that could be causing you problems?
 
For those of you whose horses are struggling at the moment, has anyone considered the possibility of thrush? I've not read all the posts but my lad has been struggling a bit on our stony tracks, which is much the same as those pictured above. Nothing in his diet had changed, including grazing - he's still only out at night on a small field grazed by
 
Blasted phone posted too soon! Grazed by another horse all day and I'm reluctant to believe it can be the wet weather since he was happily rock crunching in Exmoor and when he came home, as well as for a while up until recently. Exmoor has more than its fair share of rain so if the wet is a factor I'm not sure how Nic keeps hers going at Rockley since they live out, albeit with shelter but we all know most horses don't use shelter provided for them.

I (sticking my neck out here maybe) think it's thrush so I've started using Red Horse Field Paste. Don't know if it's working yet as only started yesterday. Has anyone else come to the same conclusion and treated for it?

Dom's hooves have no smell or signs of anything lurking that I can see but his frog is slightly sensitive to the hoof pick so of course stones will hurt. I just hope I'm right and this fixes it for him.

Anyone gonna shoot me down in flames for being so obviously dumb now? ;) :)
 
I'll get some hoof pics today. Two stroke, how would you say the horse has too much carbs - he barely gets anything other than 1/2 scoop oats per day?

Took him out yesterday along the roads, walked out lovely. Seems to be just the rocky tracks he's having problems with... Shoes are going back on tomorrow so I have 6-8 weeks to tweak his diet etc. Have got some mag ox and brewers yeast to add to his diet, and, on Nic Barkers advice will start giving him salt as well. ow long should it take for the changes in his diet to take effect? I only want to shoe him once!
 
We're not doing too badly this year considering the conditions i.e. the grass round here is lethal. Off work with a shoulder injury so his feet are reflecting the lack of exercise but really not too bad considering no work.

Routine is pretty similar to winter in that he spends half his time out at grass standing in mud but comes in either day or night depending and spends that time in his stable with hay so I guess the feet do get a chance to dry out.

I seem to get less thrush and mud fever since I got the diet perfect and started mineral balancing, the only time I get an issue with thrush is on box rest if he is standing on poo for a long period of time. Talking of diet Brewers Yeast has always seemed to help him, combination of the b vitamins for good quality horn and the yeasts for the stomach calming properties.

However as I said I am finding the grass a particular issue this year to the point that he went footy when the yard decided to turn him out earlier than my instructions (about 4- 5) when the grass sugars were especially high. If I leave it to after 6 but usually even later he's fine. A little matter of 2 or 3 hours makes the difference between a horse who happily walks on stones and gravel and one who looks for the verge.

The grass is really the only difference between winter and summer for me so in my mind it has to be a key factor.

It is difficult on livery yards to provide the right environment and I have sympathy if you have to shoe as it can be tricky to get everything right but judging by the amount of people unable to ride and waiting for the farrier as yet another shoe is pulled off I don't think it's only the barefoot horses who are struggling.
 
Hmm criso, you may have something there, my boy is put out between 4 and 5 in the evening so maybe the grass has changed and he's getting to it too early! Something else to consider! Think I'm going to keep going with the field paste too though just to be on the safe side!
 
When the horse is on a fibre based diet, grass is usually the main culprit for carbs (I was using 'carbs' to refer to Non Structural Carbohydrates, which include sugar and fructans).

Diet changes can have an effect very quickly. A friend recently moved her horse to my yard, and I could immediately see the horse was struggling badly with the grass - burning feet, hobbling round on smooth concrete etc. I advised my friend to remove the horse from grass 100%, feed soaked hay and a small feed with minerals, yea sacc and charcoal. Within three days the horse was comfortable again.

It's not always that quick, of course, particularly if there are structural improvements needed in the feet, but you should be able to notice some improvements fairly swiftly. Until the horse has a well connected hoof capsule and adequate sole depth, though, I think rocks can always pose a challenge. I know my TB would not cope on stones, but he has very weak feet that are proving a real challenge to improve. My youngster on the other hand, sails over rocks - but his feet are pretty strong.
 
bikerchickone said:
Hmm criso, you may have something there, my boy is put out between 4 and 5 in the evening so maybe the grass has changed and he's getting to it too early! Something else to consider! Think I'm going to keep going with the field paste too though just to be on the safe side!
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There may be your issue. This is the peak time for sugar in the grass - it's been building and building all day (whilst your horse has been in, waiting to be let out on it ;)). Then he goes out and starts scoffing when the sugar is at it's peak... and you see where I'm going with this :). Are you able to put him out later? The later the better, really.
 
I also think my experience illustrates how difficult it can be on livery yards.

I'm on full livery during the week as I work long hours in London and sometimes travel for work.
I had arranged with my yard manager that he went out last thing on the nights I can't get up, which was fine as she finished the yard, did her own horses and put Frankie out last thing. Probably about 6 - 6 30, he goes out between 7 and 8 when I go up which is usually about 3 times week during the week.

Then she got some helpers and on the days they finished off the yard he was going out before 5pm. No one told me this but I noticed he was footy from time to time. He's just being hand walked because of an injury but I did notice.

This all came out when the yard manager left and I was going through his routine with them and I had to fight really hard to get him turned out late enough. I think I am now the 'difficult' owner
 
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