anyone imported a horse from spain and had trouble with their feet?

StormyMoments

StormyMoments

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i am supposed to be (hopefully) importing a horse from spain but obviously horses in spain are shod in a completely different way to over here and have very long, very upright hooves...

has anyone had any trouble when trimming their feet to our kind of length?

i will be speaking to the farrier next week when he comes to give the other two a trim but i was just wondering if anyone had any experience or tips! :) thank youu!
 
Not me thankfully but several friends i know also with spanish horses have found problems. Not with the horses feet themselves, but farriers either shoeing them too tight, letting the heels drop or just completely trying to change the shape of the feet, which ultimatly leads to a lame horse, remedial farriery and as big bill! Not much advice im afraid as havent been there personally but get a farrier you trust, preferably one thats used to shoeing iberians as their feet are very upright and should be allowed to be that way, not turned into wb feet as a lot of them try to do. Also if you join the facebook bapsh and spanish horse passion pages theres lots of knowledgable, experinced people that can offer advice and probably give you recommendations depending on your location. Good luck, theyre a wonderful breed to ride and own :)
 
Yes. The horse came from Portugal with upright feet and the farrier proceded to turn them into "English" feet with a longer toe and a lower heel and at 9 he had a diagnosis of navicular. It was actually probably a ddft
strain inside the foot from a long toe and low heel.


I think they can safely be made less long, but need much more care taken about whether they are made less upright.
 
StormyMoments said:
thank you! would barefoot work? just let him mainly self trim so his hooves shape to how he moves?
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A lot of people do have pre's barefoot, i personally keep front shoes on mine but may go barefoot when his feet are a bit stronger, theyre a bit prone to cracking and splitting at the moment. If you do though again make sure you get a good barefoot trimmer, its just as easy to have problems as with shod horses if trimmed incorrectly.
 
Hello, I live in Spain! One big factor to think about is the change in climate - it is so humid out here that hoof care is quite different to in the UK so it may take some time for the horse to adapt?

I don't see much difference in the way my horse is shod to the way my horses in the UK were shod, but maybe that is just each farrier to his own and what not (also my boy is a CDE so may have naturally different shaped feet to the proper Spainish Horses?).

I hope you have learnt some Spanish to make him feel at home when he arrives :)
 
StormyMoments said:
thank you! would barefoot work? just let him mainly self trim so his hooves shape to how he moves?
Click to expand...

Good question.

I wasn't the person who imported him, I took him on after a long lameness which all the remedial shoeing and medication available didn't cure. I did a barefoot rehab on him and he was sound in three months, rock crunching in six and has been sound ever since. His feet now look like any warmblood's, not Spanish at all. He is 1/16th TB and the rest is Luso/PRE, not purebred, but I have heard of other typical Iberian feet doing the same thing in this country.

So my preference would certainly be for barefoot and let him trim himself. The good news is that if you start when he arrives, I have found that it is often horses with upright boxy feet who do the transition with no issues at all.
 
Hello, I have three Spanish horses, all with typical "Spanish feet", all barefoot, all who mostly self-trim. Resist the urge to "English-ise" the angle and length of the feet at all costs! I hjave seen many Spanish horses in miserable pain with this course of action; trim them as they grow, I would say. All horses are not the same.
 
Another one here that lives in Spain, except its not humid in my part, just hot and dry..

when I had a Spanish farrier for my horses (Appaloosas from the UK) he tried to make one of the mares feet upright and boxy, the other one he gave odd sized feet! In the end Ive gone barefoot with mine and self trim...

I agree with Cortez and possible got bare and let them self trim and see how they go
 
How exciting for you :) I've just bought a PRE and I'm waiting for him to arrive in England at some point next week. His back feet look pretty normal to me, his fronts definitely have more heel than I'm used to but he's just passed a five stage vetting and he has a heel first landing so I'm not too concerned about making quick changes. My plan is to take him barefoot and let him self trim under the supervision of my very talented farrier.

Have you bought your horse yet or just in the planning stage? Feel free to pm me if you want to know anything about my experience of it.
 
thank you all hes a pure bred andalusian stallion called legardo ( i need to change that!) i have traced his breeding back 15 stallions but havent bothered much futher but there is nothing else in him :) i am waiting for the ministry vet to see him to vet him and do the transport paper work but we are having a few comunication issues as we dont speak spanish or valenciano and the lady we know whos doing the translation has no idea about horses so its all getting a bit complicated :o if all goes to plan he should be on his way as of the 20th but we may miss this shipping space with all the messing about of paperwork...

im thinking getting him here and letting him aclimatise for a few months before removing his hind shoes and then hopefully early next year he will be able to go barefoot totally like my other two are although taz is wearing fronts at the moment... my farrier is good with their feet i have used him for two years and he did remedial work on taz and he lets missys feet grow how they want (upright very much like an iberian) although she is barefoot because shes only 3 1/2 but i trust him to do a good job and i will speak to him when he comes out next week :)

thank you for all the advice!! fingers crossed that i may have a lovely black stallion on his way over very soon!! eeekkk :)
 
I wonder if our richer grazing plays a part in the deterioration of the feet of iberians (and other imports)? I guess their system has evolved to cope with dry stalky and much more sparse grass rather than Our well watered greener stuff.
 
My first Spanish boy was lame shod conventionally but went really well in natural balance shoes. Have kept using natural balance for my current lad and my farrier keeps the natural Spanish shape of his feet which are very hard and tough so he is okay barefoot also. Agree it is trying to 'English' them that causes the problem.
 
SM- you must be really excited, i speak OK Spanish and I'm moderately bilingual in horse. If I can help at all your translator can text/email me I would have pmd, but I'm on my phone
 
The stud where mine came from, all the horses are unshod and I can't say I have seen one boxy set of feet that are so say, typical of the breed.

If you are importing and the horses have had this upright conformation all their lives, a farrier changing that suddenly can possibly induce problems as the tendons, joints etc will not be accustomed to new angles and balance no matter how small. This has nothing to do with importation or the breed. They have grown with a certain foot conformation and I think if you told your farrier, he/she will respect that and trim/shoe sympathetically.

Also, genetics play a big part. So, to say all need to be the same is unwise. I have seen some very different feet from the breed. Some had self trimming feet, hard as stone, others I saw were not as good.

With mine, we respect the sole plane and stick to that. I don't try and change what the foot is trying to do.

I agree with Natwood, do get in touch with BAPSH and call one of the many UK breeders. They are immensely knowledgeable and are very helpful :) Most people are of the opinion that the breed are not "special" when it comes to feet and common sense should apply as with any other horse :D
 
Lived in france for 7 years and bought a iberian gelding from Portugal, at the time I used an english farrier, 'big mistake' when he got hold of him he tried lowering the heels etc of his fronts as he said he was too up right, my boy suffered severe lameness for over 6 months, changed to french farrier who spent time allowing him to revert back to the way he was, he was 10 years old. You would think leave a horse of that age the way he is if he is sound.

I just dont understand why english farriers have this thing about lowering the heel on these horses especially if they have lived life with that hoof shape/angle! Surely they know that it will affect the horse a great deal regarding soundness.
I now work with barefoot I dont use farriers any more.
 
Yes, I have friends who have imported Spanish horses and had a lot of feet troubles.

Too true about the English farriers, who think all horses should have hunter shaped feet! Hopefully the younger ones are more educated.

It would be a good idea to take his shoes off for a bit, just to see what the horse wants to do with his feet, and not be governed by what a farrier thinks they should look like.

Good luck with horse.
 
I have a lusitano-he's now 10, been over here since a 2yo. he's barefoot, has great feet but doesn't grow major amounts of horn. his feet aren't boxy but they are completely round (made boot fitting interesting given he also dishes). he was shod for a few years but I had a very good farrier so had no problems.
 
I was riding a PRE stallion for someone (one in my avatar) and he was unshod for a lot of the time, and had no problems!

The owner did eventually shoe him even though I thought he didn't really need it, and he coped ok and the farrier was very good at just leaving the hoof as close to it's natural shape as possible.

I preferred him barefoot, we use to go out on the roads no problem and he was happy tortting along :)
 
I had trouble with an imported Spanish mares feet, due to the farrier dropping her heels. As someone else said, if they have had long heels all their life, the tendons. ligaments etc. are shorter, and dropping their heels puts too much strain on them. Plus, it puts strain on their muscles too.

If you plan to show your stallion, or breed from him, make sure that he is properly registered and graded for breeding. You can check this at www.lgancce.com. It should also be in his passport. I just mention this, as there is a very disgruntled lady on FB who can't understand why her filly can't be graded, registered, or shown as a Purebred. The problem is that she is Purebred but her sire isn't graded.
 
I was very lucky with mine. His feet are more English than Spanish. I had him shod at first, then went unshod for a couple of years but the increase in roadwork made me put shoes back on again.

I was told right at the very begining that the problems occur with "Spanish feet" when the farrier tries to change their shape. Just make sure your farrier leaves them be!
 
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