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

[Oberon]

Hi Oberon, PP was as a general vit/min supplement rather than for his feet - would you say one of the balancers instead or is PH a balancer as well? He's on such restricted rations that I feel he needs a vit/min supplement of some kind

PH is the whole deal - alongside forage, sunlight and the horse's internal bacteria - you won't need anything else. You even get added vitamin E in it (which is helpful for oldies/restricted rations).

It's a general vitamin and mineral supplement,but they called it Pro Hoof as the makers are hoof nerds

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Are his feet that bad in winter? If not, I would, at his age, test for Cushings. Sometimes the feet can be the first sign. I have a friend who tested her Arab for it because of sensitive soles, no other symptoms, and the Vet was very surprised it came back positive. A tiny dose of pergolide has sorted him out completely.

never been this soft. I took his shoes off in October last year and he was sound from the word go on all surfaces, then he went to his loaners and was shod and now I have him back and hes as above.

Ive got a tub of equimins hoofmender for him which I will start shortly as his biotin is finishing and though this was more comprehensive than just biotin. Hoping once he can come in and dry out the feet will harden up and he wont be as sore.

If he continues to be then I will get him tested as have never though about the above before, thank you

 

[Goldenstar]

I had one shod yesterday , he's a hunter BF since mid march , he's worked right though but just could manage enough work BF his hind feet where an issue too I had to boot him behind as well as in front when the weather was wet .
Did everything bare strip grazing at night in during day low sugar diet etc etc he's a horse that has complex and severe health problems in the past I feel this be linked to some of the issues .
I had planned to send him autumn hunting BF and shoe him for the opening meet but he would not take the extra work without getting sore and I would worry about boots for hunting type situations so I took the desision to shoe.
On the positive he's been worked all summer but goes into the season with a healthy whole foot so should finish the season in better shade than last year when he went into the season having had shoes on since April .
His frogs are 50% larger and his heels are much less contracted he's landing heel first he finished last season landing toe first .
My trimmer who has been so helpful has talked a good farrier into doing him despite his book being full so he has a nice set of natural balance shoes on.
He's looking trim for him having been in work all summer and has more muscle than I have even seen him with.
So there's a lot of good come out of it but I feel a bit deflated I will do the same next year and see if I can do better.

 

[Oberon]

Are his feet that bad in winter? If not, I would, at his age, test for Cushings. Sometimes the feet can be the first sign. I have a friend who tested her Arab for it because of sensitive soles, no other symptoms, and the Vet was very surprised it came back positive. A tiny dose of pergolide has sorted him out completely.

Obi's soles are what tipped me off re Cushings. Vet thought I was being a bit over zealous in testing him when he looked otherwise well (although his coat was a bit duller than it had been) and his level came back at over 200 . Then it went to 500 ..now (on 2mg Prascend) it's 127. He has looked well the whole time.

When this pic was taken his level is 127 - would you guess it?

 

[cptrayes]

I had one shod yesterday , he's a hunter BF since mid march , he's worked right though but just could manage enough work BF his hind feet where an issue too I had to boot him behind as well as in front when the weather was wet .
Did everything bare strip grazing at night in during day low sugar diet etc etc he's a horse that has complex and severe health problems in the past I feel this be linked to some of the issues .
I had planned to send him autumn hunting BF and shoe him for the opening meet but he would not take the extra work without getting sore and I would worry about boots for hunting type situations so I took the desision to shoe.
On the positive he's been worked all summer but goes into the season with a healthy whole foot so should finish the season in better shade than last year when he went into the season having had shoes on since April .
His frogs are 50% larger and his heels are much less contracted he's landing heel first he finished last season landing toe first .
My trimmer who has been so helpful has talked a good farrier into doing him despite his book being full so he has a nice set of natural balance shoes on.
He's looking trim for him having been in work all summer and has more muscle than I have even seen him with.
So there's a lot of good come out of it but I feel a bit deflated I will do the same next year and see if I can do better.

Good decision GS please don't beat yourself up about it. These horses are only alive in the first place because they have been bred for us to ride. Most horses will go through their whole lives having no problems with shoes.

Happy hunting! I'll think of you as I pop my next hedge on Saturday

 

[Fransurrey]

First bit as a quote, second was a reply-to clarify-if he's lame without shoes and you cannot find a cause-shoe him, I have yet to see a horse go down with laminitis after being shod when not coping without shoes.

Actually my own horse did exactly this, in 2008. That doesn't mean don't shoe, but what I'm saying is that if you shoe without addressing other concerns (weight, grass intake, foot health, foot balance), then beware. I was going through a rough time back then, so let things go. It cost me £400 to learn that and I should have known (much) better!

 

[Fransurrey]

It suppresses something that causes inflammation, and it encourages something else that suppresses inflammation. I cant' remember all the long words, but we had a gut specialist on here a year back who wrote it all in a post.

lol, that was me. I was working in gastro-intestinal disease, looking at mechanisms of inflammation and wound healing. Most of the work has been done on S.boulardii (a related strain), which is used routinely to treat botulism and cholera related diarrhoea in other countries. Sadly, I work in respiratory, now (was made redundant), but there's lots of free info if you look for it. The yeast suppresses IL-8 (pro-inflammatory cytokine) and produces an enzyme that cleaves Clostridium toxin, amongst other things. It also binds to bacteria, occupying binding sites that would otherwise enable the bacteria to bind to the gut wall, the first step of infection (and trigger of inflammatory pathways).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2761627/

 

[Serephin]

I haven't read all the thread, but just wanted to hijack - I am currently giving my horse Equimins Advance Concentrate Powder. Is is as good as Pro Hoof? Its been two months and he definitely looks more shiny than he did before. I also feed yea-sacc.

His feet are good, but he does feel the odd sharp stone.